Yesterday afternoon I drove home from the church with Ruth, my wife, who was there to help with the Kid's Camp. She mused about supper and said that we had corn-on-the-cob and tomatoes and...what meat would we eat?. I'm glad she didn't veer off the road when I suggested that we didn't need meat at all. I am an incorrigible carnivore and efforts to go veggie, even occasionally never seem to go well. But I had eaten eggs for breakfast and there was meat in my lunch so why would I expect to eat meat again?
I have found of late that I can enjoy less meat in a meal, or none at all. And there have never been better or tastier options. There are vegetable samosas at the Farmer's Market that I could probably eat daily, they're that good.
I felt guiltily smug when I heard of the Attack of the Cronut Burger at the CNE. It was the meat that made those poor souls sick, we're told, but the entire concoction sounds disgusting. Actually the KFC Double Down is probably a better example of excess, with slabs of chicken subbing for bread.
We can assume that Jesus was okay with the Mediterranean diet, with very little meat, and cultures around the world do just fine without all that animal protein. I know I would be heart-healthier if I could continue the recent trend. It would be better for body and soul.
How are you when it comes to eating meat? Is it a sin to consume too much in a world of limited resources? Have you got in touch with your inner chick pea?
I like Mediterranean food ... and probably could transfer to a vegetarian one... but I do like my salmon and chicken!
ReplyDeleteI have definitely gotten in touch with my inner chick pea. I have gone for long periods as both a vegetarian and as a vegan. In the last years I have settled on a 'mostly vegetarian' diet just because I have to cook for others in my household and it gets labor intensive to create more than one meal at a time. Vegetarianism doesn't appeal to my husband, but over the years my constant tweaking of his diet has changed his perspective enough that he has greatly reduced the quantity of animal products he consumes. He will eat vegetarian meals several times a week. Personally, I don't know if it is morally wrong to eat animal products, but I do believe we should consider being more conscious of how much of it we eat and more importantly how much of it we waste- from the factory farm to the grocery store, long before it ever reaches the table. The problem is that we have become too disconnected from the source of our food. How many people are aware that that single burger pictured above came from possibly hundreds of animals. We see a burger. we see a single cow in a field somewhere, when reality is that many animals are probably combined into that one burger. Not good for animals, not good for us.
ReplyDeleteThanks to both of you. I suppose lots of us are becoming occasionalterians -- we are learning to moderate our meat consumption and find other sources of protein. It does require thought, and you're right Lori, a lot of us don't want to think about our food sources, including those who plant, maintain and harvest under wretched conditions.
ReplyDeleteI like Mediterranean style food, particularly during the dog days of summer. Hot muggy weather withers my appetite for traditional red meat fare.
ReplyDeleteOnce cold winter weather comes, however, a very different story. When I worked in the bush doing mining exploration in a previous life, greasy bacon and sugar rich chocolate bars were what I wanted.
I once saw a nutrition article that compares the caloric head content of different foods. Veggies were very low; much less that 5 (cal./oz.??; I forget the exact units). Protein came in at 5, but saturated fats came in at 9! I suspect that the cold weather craving for meat is for the accompanying saturated fat. After all, recall the Innui preference for seal blubber in their diet.