Over a family dinner, the talk turned from hated foods to favorite foods to organic foods (“Yuck, organic milk!”) to industrial farming. And suddenly everyone was excited, particularly the teenagers, the eldest of whom declared that everyone must shush so that she could tell them about the evils of processed foods. “Do you guys know who Michael Pollan is?” she began, looking around the table.
Most of the younger children shook their heads. No, they hadn’t heard of the celebrated writer and activist whose mantra is “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” But the second-eldest’s face brightened.
“Sure, he’s the guy who wrote –”
“The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” supplied the lecturer firmly. “We have a children’s version that you all ought to read. It tells about how much corn is in our diet and how animals are raised in factory farms. Also you should read about the gross stuff that goes into fast food in ‘Chew on This.'” (It’s the young readers’ version of Eric Schlosser’s 2001 “Fast Food Nation.”)
“I’ve seen that one upstairs –”
“Hey, I’m talking. The main thing is, when animals are factory farmed, they’re not allowed to roam around outside, but they’re kept in cages and stuffed with food –”
“Oh! Just like … just like …!” cried the 5-year-old, raising her arm above her head and waving it, as if she were in school.
“Honey, you don’t know,” said the eldest, not unkindly, moving right along. “As I was saying, the animals in these places are raised in small cages. They’re not able to move, and their diet is –” She turned to a smaller sibling. “Well, what do you think cows on these big farms are fed?”
“Grass and hay?”
“That’s what they should eat,” put in the second eldest.
“Yes,” said his sister sharply, with a look that warned: Listen, pal, only one of us is giving this talk and it’s not you.
“Grass and hay is what cows ought to eat. But on factory farms they are fed something else: Corn, and tons of antibiotics, and sometimes even a meal made of other animals.”
“Ew!” said everyone.
“The idea is to make the livestock as big and fat as possible.”
“Just like –: tried the littlest one again.
“That way there’s more meat to sell, and the meat is cheaper, so people eat more of it.”
“Just like –!”
“Honey, let me finish,” her eldest sister said. She went on to talk about high-fructose corn syrup and its implication in childhood obesity, the ubiquity of corn in the American diet, and, gratifyingly, why fresh homemade food is best.
“Now can I say something?” asked the smallest child, still with her arm in the air.
“OK,” someone said indulgently.
“It’s just like Hansel and Gretel,” she said smiling triumphantly, “The witch keeps Hansel in a little cage while she tries to fatten him up. See?”
There was moment of silence. Everyone looked with new respect at the apparently least-well-informed person at the table. Five-year-olds sometimes have more to contribute than you’d think.
Meghan Cox Gurdon’s column appears on Sunday and Thursday. She can be contacted at [email protected].
