Rethinking Meat

Vegetarianism. Not eating meat. Wikipedia describes vegetarianism as follows:
"Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes all animal flesh, including poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, and slaughter by-products... The reasons for choosing vegetarianism may be related to morality, religion, culture, ethics, aesthetics, environment, society, economy, politics, taste, or health."

When I was a child, I believe that I did not eat meat every day, because either my mother didn't want me to or it simply wasn't made available to me --we lived an alternative lifestyle, living on communes and a very modest budget.

When I was a young woman, going to the University of California at Berkeley, I chose not to eat meat on the basis that it was immoral and unhealthy.
Back then, in 1992, I cared a lot about the impact that we were having on the environment, and my research lead me to learn about how cattle farms were destroying the rain forests.

I quit all fast food and all beef then and there, and have never eaten it since, other than the couple times a boyfriend talked me into taking a bite of his filet mignon, only to spend the next couple hours hugging the porcelain bowl.

Then I found I had gallstones, and after severe complications following my gallbladder removal my doctor told me that I needed to eat meat, lean meat, but meat nevertheless.

So in the late 90s I took up eating meat again. Mostly chicken and turkey. Occasionally I fell to the powerful smell of bacon, but other than that it was all lean, white meat for me. And, living in Marin county, I found ways to buy "range" chicken, way before it was marketed and trendy.

And, living in Marin County, I was surrounded by vegetarians and their new uber breed - vegans. I found that I ate meat maybe 2 times a week, and the rest of the time enjoyed and created delicious and protein rich vegetarian and vegan meals.

It wasn't until I broke with a vegetarian boyfriend and was at a picnic with barbeque chicken for Lucas Arts that I broke down and had meat again. This spiraled into years of eating chicken and turkey, and moving into regular consumption of pork loins, roasts, chops...

And now, here it is 2008. It's been easily 7 years that I've been eating meat without even thinking about the consequences or effects on any level.

I don't know why I've been in such unconsciousness about it.

But the past month or so I've noticed that I have been repulsed by meat at every meal. I don't want it. I don't want chicken covered in thai green curry. I don't want a perfectly seared fresh Wild Alaskan salmon. I don't want barbeque drowned pork ribs. I don't want a BLT with bacon from a local farm and no preservatives or salt added. I don't want a free range organic fed turkey sandwich.

Across the board of protein source options, I've chosen pinto beans with whole grain tortillas and brown rice, walnuts and almonds on my oatmeal with flax and bananas and blueberries and rice milk, kidney and garbanzo beans on my kale, grapefruit, red onion, spinach salad, Annie's Kitchen veggie burgers on my Ezekiel 673.49 whole grain bread and you get the picture.

Do you know how amazingly fantastic it is to eat a scrumptuous vegan version of biscuits and gravy? I have made and served this to meat eating people without telling them that it's vegan. They make mmm sounds and say it's the best they've ever had. When I tell them it had no meat or dairy they gawk in disbelief. There are so many recipes and protein sources out there that you don't even have to give up your favorite meat based meals when you go vegetarian. You can simply swap out the meat and substitute one of the many delicious meat alternatives like tofu, seitan, tempeh, etc..

Okay, I know you are dying for it, so here is my VEGAN BISCUITS AND GRAVY recipe.

LEILA'S VEGAN B&G
1 tablespoon of canola oil in saucepan
1 tablespoon of whole wheat flour in saucepan
1/4 cup of nutrition flakes in saucepan
2 tablespoons purified water in saucepan
1/2 teaspoon sea salt in saucepan

Mix these together over medium heat until they make a paste.

Brown organic imitation sausage (I usually get mine at Whole Foods) in 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a cast iron skillet

Add 1 cup of plain soymilk to the paste mixture and turn heat up to medium high and stir until blended
Once this is blended add 1/4 cup more of nutrition flakes and blend thoroughly

Remove 1 cup of the liquid in the saucepan and put in blender or measuring cup.
Add 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour
Blend or stir until there are no lumps.
Return this mixture to the gravy in the saucepan.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground nutmeg to the gravy
Add the browned imitation sausage
Season with salt and pepper to taste

Make whatever biscuit recipe you want (don't use butter, milk, etc..)

Pour gravy on biscuits.

EAT THEM!

Voila!

As for other vegetarian and vegan health and recipes, there is a ton of information that is freely and readily available online. We can pretty much know anything we want about how to eat a healthy vegetarian or vegan diet, so it's no longer an issue of malnutrition and health risks for protein deficiency.

The reasons not to eat meat outweigh the reasons to eat meat.

1. Meat isn't good for my digestive system.
2. I can get the protein I need from non-meat sources.
3. The environmental impact of producing and distributing meat outweighs the environmental impact of producing and distributing other protein sources.
4. The economic cost of eating meat is greater than the economic cost of having a vegetarian or vegan diet.

I think the environmental reason not to eat meat is an ethical reason. It's a call to help take care of this planet and stop polluting and abusing it.

There are many people who believe that eating meat is a violation of spiritual or sacred principles. Traditional Buddhists adhere to the tenet that one should harm, aka kill, nothing. This includes not killing the mosquito that bites you or a chicken to eat.

I respect the idea that all life is sacred, and perhaps this contributes to my decision to eat a vegetarian diet again.

I do feel squeamish and grossed out when I think of eating dead, killed animals. It quickly makes me stop mid bite of my Tom Ka Gai chicken coconut thai soup, or makes me stop mid bite on my pulled pork barbeque sandwich.

I think the best that I can do for myself and the environment and the rest of the world is to eat what grows here in my garden and in local gardens and find combinations of foods that give me the protein I need.

I'm also considering going vegan, as cheese and eggs and milk also gross me out and have questionable nutritional value and environmental impacts. Perhaps limiting my cheese intake to that rare bite of something special with a glass of wine or a slice of apple is what I shall do.

I never have liked milk, and have rarely used or consumed it in my life. Although I love yogurt. And eggs... YUCK! Never ever ever have I liked them. Ever since I was young and we had a chicken coop, and one morning I cracked an egg from one of our hens, to help make an omelette, I saw a half formed chick in the egg. Blood, gore, a small bright yellow beak, and the tiny outline of a little chicken, were all enough to make me vomit on the floor right then and there in our kitchen.

Ever since that, eggs have freaked me out. And while I love quiche and cake, I'm finding ways to make vegan cake and vegetable pies without meat or cheese or eggs.

I just want to be aware of what I'm putting in my body and how I'm affecting the planet.

So, with this post, I hereby commence my life as a vegetarian (and sometimes vegan).

I am rethinking meat and my relationship to it. I'm rethinking my consumption of it.

I'm rethinking it out of my life.

There is a very interesting article about the impact of purchasing meat in this week's New York Times at :

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Take care.
Take heed.
Be conscious.
Rethink meat.
Act on that.

Leila Kincaid Hayes
2008
Bainbridge, Washington USA

"When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things." I Cor. xiii. 11