A common question- Ryan, how do I find real food?
A fun and easy solution- Your local farmer’s market. When shopping, talk to the vendors. Get to know them. The Ideally the people working the stands own/live/work on the farm. Talk to them about how they farm. A lot of these places are too small to pay for the “Organic” certification. But be aware that many places without the organic do use chemicals. Just talk to the workers and ask!
I shop almost exclusively at farmer’s markets and food co-ops, and most of the meat I eat comes from local ranches. I bought a quarter cow which yields around 100lbs of meat, and lasts about a year.
A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program is great for produce. You pay a set amount of money for a weekly/monthly delivery of whatever is in season from a local farm. Search the web- “CSA Program in *my city*”. In San Francisco, look into Full Belly Farm.
Beyond Farmer’s Markets, Here are some links to find real food near you…
If you are in a supermarket, choose organic and local. The less ingredients, the better. If what you want can’t be found organic and local, maybe that’s a sign you shouldn’t eat it.
A good general rule for food from Michael Pollan – “Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can’t pronounce”. Want something complex? Buy the raw ingredients and make it yourself!
And if you want to learn about why you should eat locally and seasonally, and source food from real farmers and ranchers, check out my original “Mindful Meat Eater” essay –
The Mindful Meat Eater 
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