Posted 03.30.2007 at 5:27 pm
10 Comments
God, that hurt a little. Anyone who knows me well knows that there
are few things I love more on this earth than foie gras and
slow-braised pork shoulder. I am a foodie, through and through, who
believes that the world is rightest in front of a plate of lamb sugo or
pan-seared sweetbreads. But I also believe that what we eat, as a
culture, is of global economic and ecological importance. I’ve known
for a long time that it’s best to eat foods grown locally and
sustainably. I’ve made a point of buying produce from the Greenmarket
here in NYC, and I even subscribed last year to a local farm’s
Community Supported Agriculture program to get weekly bags of Long
Island–grown fruits and vegetables. The next step toward eating in a
way that’s environmentally healthy is to reduce my personal consumption
of meat products. Delicious as they may be, the chickens, cows and
piggies I’m so fond of cooking are not very efficient sources of
energy. In other words, the input of water, fossil fuels, electricity
and chemicals required to process an animal for the market are many,
many times greater than the input required to produce plant-based foods.
According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
the production of one calorie of animal protein requires more than 10
times the fossil-fuel input of a calorie of plant protein—so that meat
calorie packs 10 times the carbon emissions as well. And the USDA
reports that almost 50 percent of all water used in the U.S. goes
toward irrigating livestock feed crops. Vegetarians love to quote a
1981 Newsweek story (“The Browning of America”) that stated, “The water that goes into a 1,000-pound steer would float a destroyer.”
There are plenty of other environmental arguments for eating less
meat: crop monoculture for producing livestock feed causes topsoil
erosion, feed-lot runoff pollutes groundwater with nitrogen, the need
for more land to raise animals necessitates forest clear-cutting, etc.,
etc. Crazy stuff if you get into it, but I’m not going to bang any more
drums here (although if you’re interested in learning more, you can
visit goveg.com), because it’s time for me to explain that little asterisk up there in paragraph three.
*I do not intend to give up meat entirely, because I derive immense
pleasure from the occasional over-the-top beautiful meal, and I’m not
about to reject the tasting menu at Per Se in favor of roasted veggies.
In ancient times, people ate a primarily plant-based diet with the
occasional supplement of meat during special occasions like feasts,
festivals or when hunters were able to make a big kill. Meat wasn’t an
everyday staple; it was a celebration food, and the eating of animal
flesh was done with some reverence. That’s the sort of attitude that
I’d like to work toward in my own home. My ground rules are these:
- On a day-to-day basis, when I’m cooking for myself or ordering
a casual meal at a restaurant, I eat vegetarian food—maybe a little
seafood from time to time, but not much (ocean over-harvesting is a big
problem too). - If a friend or family member has been kind
enough to cook for me, or if I’m visiting a country where food is
scarce, I’m not going to be “that guy” who asks for a special menu. I’m
going to eat whatever they serve, meat included. - On the rare
occasions (a few times a year) when I have the opportunity to eat a
really fine restaurant meal, I will order the best stuff on the
menu—which will certainly be meat-related—and I will eat it with glee.
As I get older, I realize that the thing about sustainable living is that it does truly need to be sustainable,
as in holding your fastest sustainable pace in an endurance race. It’s
not about being hardcore or extreme, it’s about maintaining your best
possible performance over the long haul, and that means something
slightly different for each of us. Yes, I just got back from a trip to
touchy-feely Santa Fe, where I evidently drank the water. Come back
next week for your regularly scheduled snarkiness. —Megan Miller
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I have to say I was a little disappointed when I reached the bottom of this article. You say, "On the rare occasions (a few times a year) when I have the opportunity to eat a really fine restaurant meal, I will order the best stuff on the menu—which will certainly be meat-related—and I will eat it with glee"
I think that's shortsighted to say that Vegetarian or Vegan menu items aren't comparable to the meat items. I'm going to assume it's ignorance and that you've never eaten at a good vegetarian restaurant. Giving up meat is one of the easiest things to do. I am happy about the reasoning you chosen for not eating meat. That's the same basic reason I stopped eating meat 13 years ago. I think if you look around, especially if you travel, that you'll find plenty of exciting non-meat items on menus. Having an obsessive relationship with doesn't have to come at the expense of animals or our planet. Try HappyCow.net for travel suggestions.
While I agree with Paul (first poster) about the great vegan-based choices available, at least it's a start for someone who obviously has a strong attachment to animal-based food. I'd gladly take a world where animal-based food was seen as a special-occasion food. Unfortunately, as with most things, the special-occasion can often become the the thin-end of the wedge, so most folks seem to find it hard to sustain a diet where they only occasionally eat meat (eventually going back to full 'carnivore' :-)), unless they grew up in that way. Much better to at least have the goal of going fully veg*n eventually if you want to have a fighting chance of succeeding, whatever you reasons (environment, health, philosophy, spirtuality etc).
BTW, great research study on effects of meat-vs-vegan diets on global warming at http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060413.diet.shtml
Basically you reduce your personal greenhouse emissions more than if you traded a convential gas-powered sedan for a hybrid-electic vehicle.
Giving up meat on a day to day basis is not necessary at all. We North Americans are definitely over-consuming meat, but this doesn't mean that the solution must be equally extreme: giving it up entirely in the "day to day" context you cite in rule #1. I think that's a possibility, but it's an extreme possibility and entirely unnecessary at this time.
I'd like to raise another problem with us westerners: we don't pay attention to the wisdom of old, well-established cultures, like that of China. The average daily diet in China includes meat; much less meat than us in the west, but at least it includes meat, and this diet has still allowed China to avoid the issue with meat and resources that we here face in the US, Canada, etc. They eat a lot more meat that comes from animals that consume less, such as pigs and chickens, and they always have a variety of vegitables in their diet.
I'd say that's a much better starting point for reducing meat consumption, not only because it would substantially reduce meat consumption in the west, but because it doesn't abandon meat in the daily diet. The Chinese, and many other cultures around the world, are smart enough to know that you need to strike a balance with meat. And hopefully, people will learn this.
I'd be happy with that situation.
Graham - agree that less meat is better, but there's little to no evidence that eating meat is good for you vs a plant-based diet. Plenty of research on the topic, but start with http://www.goveg.com/healthConcerns.asp
Also the meat that the Chinese peasant eats (or used to eat - typically raised within spitting distance) is nothing like the hormone-stuffed, deadly bacteria-laden meat that the majority of American consumers have access to.
Meat's meat and man's gotta eat.
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I was raised eating meat.I have afriend that is just a vegtable eater. I can say my health is better with a blend of foods.
I was raised eating meat.I have afriend that is just a vegtable eater. I can say my health is better with a blend of foods.
I was raised eating meat.I have afriend that is just a vegtable eater. I can say my health is better with a blend of foods.
eat everything and drink everything in moderation