Ever had a food question?

Hello, my name is Marybeth, and I have food questions.

Ever feel like you need a support group just to get through the grocery store? I know I have.

Even with all the education I have in veterinary medicine (specifically large animal medicine), I still have questions about how my food is raised, what is the best way to cook a particular cut of beef, and what some of the strange package labels mean.

I did not grow up on a farm and I do not have a farming background. I did marry a veterinarian/farmer, and we live on a cattle farm now. We have lots of friends who are farmers, and I am learning from them every day.

I have been paying attention to some of the questions my family and friends and our veterinary clients are asking. Everyone has so many questions about their food, and no one seems to know where they can go to get the right information. There are so many places you can look on the internet that will talk about the newest food fad, or why whichever food of the day is bad for you or which one is the new superfood. Where should you look first? Who can you trust? Is any of that stuff even right?

Who hasn’t wondered what the words “organic,” “hormone-free,” and “antibiotic-free” really mean? If one carton of milk says “antibiotic-free” but the carton next to it does not, do you think that the unlabeled milk does have antibiotics in it? Does it have antibiotics? What is an antibiotic, anyway?

Have you heard about grass-fed beef, but don’t really know what it is, or what is the difference from the “regular” beef you buy at the grocery store? Do you wonder why pigs and chickens live inside, but beef cows live outside? Have you heard about beef cows and dairy cows, but don’t really know what the difference is? Is there a difference?

I have wondered these same things, and I have heard lots of people ask these questions, and so many more.

Let’s talk about this stuff! Let’s get some questions answered!

I’m going to be tackling questions just like these, and lots more. I’ll be showing you what I learned in veterinary school, and what I learned by becoming a farmwife. I’ll be using places like the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture as references and resources (and I’ll be sure to tell you when I do), but I’ll mostly be using my own veterinarian/farmer knowledge, and the knowledge of lots of farmers around me. We’ll talk about how things are done and why they are done that way.