A Boost For The Locavore Movement

When you purchase that colorful box of Italian entrees from the freezer at Tesco, you have no idea where the contents come from, do you?

Anyone who feasted on Findus beef (so-called) lasagne or spaghetti bolognese for the past, oh, say, year, would never have known that they were enjoying something so far removed from the Emerald Isle.

The horse meat as beef scandal has taken another step up the ladder of spew-inducing news with the abrupt withdrawal of Findus Italian cuisine from stores all across Ireland and the U.K.

Turns out that the amount of beef in the lasagne and spaghetti was in the range of 100%, which as even the most mathematically challenged can determine, is not at all within the range of reasonable error.

The worst of it isn't even the fact that horse was put in place of beef without warning the client.

It's the fact that horses are treated with drugs not fit for human consumption, under the assumption that the horses wouldn't be eaten by humans.

So did your lasagne or pasta bolognese contain phenylbutazone, or not?

Grand that we've been advised to examine our homes for the presence of Findus products, and to return those not eaten.

What about all that was consumed already?

You wouldn't be worrying about this if you subscribed to the locavore philosophy, which preaches that you buy from local suppliers. That way, you know where things come from and can be aware of the sorts of practices that the farmer follows.

You wouldn't be purchasing ground beef from a cattle farm that has a large contingent of horses. Why take a chance that the meats could be co-mingled?

Know your supplier. Eat local. Buy local.

And stay away from convenience foods, especially anything originating in a country like France where they eat horses, don't they.

Stick with the boiled bacon and cabbage. Eat local. Eat Irish.