15 Apr, 2009
Thinking about meat vs. non-meat
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Recipes and Food|Yaktivism
I’m pretty interested in the foods we eat, how they’re made, and what effect they have on our physical (and mental!) health. Not that long ago I wrote about a book called Eating Clean. And then I read a book called Food Matters. It was that point (about three weeks ago?) I decided to become a part-time vegan.
I’ll explain more about this in a moment.
I used to have a vegetarian friend who once chastised her roommates for eating “flesh sandwiches” when she found them eating ham and cheese. In a sense, she was right (meat IS flesh, you can’t deny it), but I think it was a a slightly mean and annoying way of expressing oneself. I’m assuming her ham-eating friends had accepted her way of eating without comment, why would she feel she needed to do otherwise? She certainly wasn’t winning anyone over.
The problem is that discussing veganism/vegetarianism to meat-eating folks is like talking about politics or religion. It’s a sensitive issue. If a vegetarian defends her opinions she is practically accusing the meat-eaters of being cold-hearted animal killers. Nobody really wants to hear that by choosing meat they are closing your eyes the inhumane treatment of animals. (i.e. Is there truly a difference between a calf and a puppy?) Anyway, I don’t really want to get into all that here, but I have been teetering on the edge of vegetarianism for years.
In his book Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan describes an ideal farm: mixed crops, meat and veg and grains, all working together in a sustainable way. i.e. cattle being moved around the pasture to grow fat on wild grasses, being followed around by chickens in a special mobile coop (who ate the bugs/corn in the cow poop) and laid wonderful eggs. It was more complicated than what I’m describing, but every part of the farm contributed to some other part, like some intricate piece of machinery.
The practices which Pollan described largely disappeared with the advent of factory farming.
But I digress. I wasn’t a big fan of the Food Matters book, it was more sensational that I would have liked, and not as complete as Omnivore’s Dilemma, but I did like the idea of trying out part-time veganism (which means no animal products i.e. no egg, dairy, meat). This was something I could do, and I’ve being doing it pretty successfully for the past few weeks. (That is, except for the time I accidentally ate a hard-boiled egg and succumbed to sushi for lunch. I’ve also made exception for my morning coffee.)
I once worked with a vegetarian who ate Doritos and Coke for lunch. Just because people call themselves vegan/vegetarians doesn’t necessarily mean they eat very well. I figured this out after three days of cucumber and hummus sandwiches. I hadn’t gone grocery shopping and I was sadly under-prepared.
Here’s what I do.
Breakfast: coffee (which I make with milk), toast with almond butter, a piece of fruit (usually a banana), or cereal with soy milk.
Snacks: fruit, nuts, bread dipped in olive oil & balsamic, more fruit
Lunch: Marla’s black bean soup (which I have perfected!), or salad, or sandwich (i.e. cucumber and hummus). I had a lovely slice of toasted bread with sliced cucumbers for lunch today.
Dinner: whatever.
Dinnertime is when I stop being a vegan. I eat cheese (which I miss terribly during the day), butter, meat etc.
By leaving meat/dairy/egg out of two of three meals I’ve dramatically increased the amount of incoming fruit and vegetable. There’s no calorie counting (weight loss isn’t my main motivating factor although the few pounds I’ve lost have been a nice benefit) and it’s pretty easy. While I scrounge around the fridge for something for lunch I’m not weighing the pros and cons of ham vs. salami, margerine vs. butter. I just don’t have either.
I was a heavy meat-eater growing up. It wasn’t considered dinner if there wasn’t some meat in it. The meals always centred around meat – usually beef. You know what? It doesn’t have to. Our love affair with beef is getting us in trouble all over the place. (This coming from someone who loves a juicy medium-rare steak.)
I will still eat it, I will just eat less.
I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep this up. I miss having breakfast for lunch (I’ve mentioned my love of bacon multiple times) and I miss my yogurt. But on the flip side, I’ve been feeling pretty good. So why stop now?
