A Meaty Subject

Last weekend I attended the Farmed Animal Conference sponsored by the Animal Place Sanctuary in Grass Valley, California.

The sanctuary holds cattle, pigs, goats, chickens and other animals rescued from corporate farms and while I know that the Happy Cows of California are no more "happy" than those raised in Wisconsin, I drove away from the conference with real hope that the large-scale farming practices in the United States will be abolished in the distant future. 

What gave me hope was the innovations of new food products being developed that may replace the farming industry in the future.  

I was surprised to hear Carol Adams, author of “The Sexual Politics of Meat,” speak about her invitation to the headquarters of The Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger. She endorsed these plant-based burgers which “taste like meat.” I can attest to the great taste of The Beyond Burger and am waiting for a special occasion to dine at Kronnerburger on Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, where The Impossible Burger is prepared by a culinary expert. Foodies from New York to California are dining on this seemingly impossible fare, a burger made from plants that actually "bleeds."

A young woman from Alameda who is a marine biologist has paired up with a biochemist and founded New Wave Foods.  Their product, a plant-based shrimp, uses the same red-algae that sea-based shrimp feed on and that provide shrimp their color.  The New Wave shrimp were delicious and, yes, they tasted like shrimp!

Rescued Roosters at Animal Place

Also highly innovative is The Good Foods Institute based in San Francisco. GFI pairs venture capitalists with companies like Memphis Meats and MosaMeats. These companies use cell-based science to produce meat in a laboratory from biopsies of cell cultures from cows, chickens, and pigs. No slaughter is involved and the meat is made without the antibiotic and hormone additives rife in the U.S. meat industry or the GMO corn and soy that is used to fatten up the animals.

Attorney Erickson with Companions

Last, I listened in awe to a woman attorney who founded the Animal Legal Defense Fund in Cotati, California. Joyce Tischler grew up in New York and she was inherently "an animal person" from birth. She became a political activist and then a lawyer with a Big Law firm. One day, Big Law paired Ms. Tischler with a case in which the Bureau of Land Management was killing 500 burrows a day and some people wanted it stopped. It was this year-long case that cemented Ms. Tischler's desire to pursue animal law as her sole legal practice. Today, the ALDF works on several fronts including the AgGag law in which corporate farms try to stifle the truth about the horrific farming practices in the U.S. while the ALDF is legislating for full disclosure.

Finally, I am heartened to see animal law take a forefront at the Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon and to see another leading animal advocate, Bruce Wagmann  -- and a Big Law attorney - write the book (literally) on animal law in the U.S.

Soon, the Impossible Burger will open their large-scale manufacturing plant in Oakland near the coliseum, offering 80 jobs to local residents.  Now, this is a company that I can get behind!