Let’s Eat
Jessica Haller
DeVry University

Let’s consider where hamburger comes from. Reading Pollen’s, The Omnivore Dilemma, it sparked an interest in me to not only follow the path of where the corn is grown and what it is used to create, but also what does corn feed that provides dinner on the table for us. One big contention in today’s day and age is how is the corn grown and used to feed the animals which sustain us. You see in the super markets all the time now, organic carrots, corn, potatoes, lettuce, grain fed hamburger. What does all of this mean?
Taking a step back and looking where it originated, we see cattle herding. Herding cattle is as old as Time itself. As old as when the first cattle where domesticated over 50,000 years ago, and as old as the cattle drives done in the Old West. Now imagine living back in the days of the “Wild West”. Being part of a cattle drive and moving the cattle from the East coast and “Going West.”
The cook or the “Boss man” of the cattle drive was the “man who owned the cattle they were herding -- but everyone also knew the cook was the man even the boss deferred to most often. The outfit's chuck wagon was a rough equivalent of a traveling general store, and the cook was not only the chief clerk of that store, he was usually the closest thing the cowboys had to a doctor, surgeon, dentist, tailor, and fussy maiden aunt.”(Old West, 2012) You being the “Boss man” have to feed the entire crew and making sure that you have enough to feed all. Beans will suffice but at some point you will need meat to feed the hungry crew.
As the Boss man the cattle that are being herd across the country are yours, so you get the pick of the herd to use a food, clothing and/or shelter. You and another crew member take the one cow aside, so as to not spook the others, and kill it. You take the hide of the cow, preserve it so you can use