Book Review: Year of the Cow by Jared Stone
Introduction
Introduction:
This was a book about food- with a little nutrition scattered in there- but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. It was different because it’s essentially about a man who makes a bold move to buy a whole cow (420 pounds), and that leads to a cascade of him slowly changing his whole life, from buying raw milk, to running barefoot, making dietary changes, and becoming more in tune with nature.
Major Takeaways/Ideas:
Most cattle raised in the United States is raised on grain (corn specifically) because it’s cheap and bulks up cattle quickly (but like Mark Schatzker points out in his book Steak It leaves is flavorless). There are issues with feeding cattle corn though. It leads to the rumen (the first stomach in a cow, there are 4) to stop fermentation, which may lead to bacterial infections- hence why a lot of cattle are also given antibiotics in their feed. It can also lead to acidosis which can also be prevented by antibiotic use. It turns out that 80% of antibiotics used in the United States are used on grain fed cattle.
Monocropping is actually not energy efficient, by using regenerative agriculture, it is actually way more efficient.
In terms of names: a cow is a female who’s given birth to a calf. A female cattle who has not given birth to a calf is called a heifer. A steer is a fixed male, and an unfixed male is a bull.
There are over 1000 different species of cows, they all originated from Aurochs (which would have been similar in size to a buffalo
The most common cattle in the united state are Angus, mostly because they reach full size quickly
Beef (a full cow/steer depending on the actual animal) is divided into 8 primals (which are essentially different muscle groups). They are chuck, rib, short loin, sirloin, round, flank, plate, and brisket.
When cooking beef with a lot of connective tissue, you need to cook it low and slow to break down the connective tissue
The processed food industry really started after WWII (kinda interesting that it’s the same time that obesity rates, heart disease, diabetes, and ect. All started increasing as well). One of the reasons it started is because of all the field rations that were developed for troops needed to be utilized in a different capacity.
Conclusion:
This was a pretty entertaining book that was funny at times, it’s a fun read about food. There are also some awesome recipes in there and you can learn a lot about how to utilize beef to its full potential and eat it nose to tail. There are also some fun tidbits about running barefoot, paleo, and history of processed foods and ect.
Cover of Year of the Cow by Jared Stone