I recently read Michael Pollan's impassioned (and alarming) book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, that explores "our national eating disorder." It's difficult to be a proud carnivore (or a fast food eater) after reading it but somehow I didn't plunge headfirst into a vat of vegetarianism. In one section, Pollan insightfully reports about the deplorable living conditions of factory-churned, corn-fed cattle, so shortly after reading it, I earnestly sought out humanely-raised, grass-fed meat. I figured if I was going to continue to assert homo sapien's food-chain dominance, I can at least do it with a clear conscience.
Essentially, grass-fed means the cattle are born, raised and harvested to meet USDA Approved Grass-fed Protocol. This edict forbids the use of artificial hormones, confinement feeding, animal by-products and antibiotics. Turns out, there's not a helluva lot of places you can buy grass-fed beef in Tampa Bay. In fact, I only uncovered one reliable place: Whole Foods. And Mark Malowski, Meat Team Leader at the Tampa location, reports their three-month-old grass-fed beef program is booming. So much so, it sells out the day it arrives (Monday).