Since finishing Eating Animals a few weeks ago, our meat intake has gone down drastically. Though I didn't know it, my infrequent meat questioning over the years had placed me at the precipice of vegetarianism and it seems Foer's book has pushed me over the edge.
I certainly didn't intend to become an almost vegetarian in 2010, but now when it comes to eating animals, I no longer care for it. The mental leap it now takes for me to eat meat simply trumps whatever wonderful taste it may provide. (Someday, it would be nice to have that sort of resolution when it comes to my Coke, Andes Mints and Ben and Jerry's intake.)
Last week we decided to go without meat entirely, which provided a new level of thought regarding our food (ESPECIALLY since I don't eat cheese either).
For breakfast, Stella and I had our usual feast of four hard boiled eggs and yoghurt. For lunch, I munched on rice, beans, avocado sandwiches, oranges and chips and salsa. Dinner was the tricky part, but we managed to score a few great ideas. One is my sister Jamie's AMAZING curried lentils, which we scarfed down over the course of a couple of days. Kari also managed to find a vegetarian Caribbean curry that was quite tasty, despite a what-the-hell recipe.
In the end, a meatless week felt like a healthy week. We primarily traded meat for fruits and beans, and the healthier we ate, the less junk food we consumed as well.
- For when we do eat chicken, I think I have found a nice alternative to the factory farmed raised poultry. It's not quite as good as knowing a local farmer, but it's close, especially for us California kids. It's called Mary's Chicken and it can be found at Whole Foods (at least the one in Pasadena). You can check out their website for the details and even watch a video from the farm. We have definitely gone with Mary a few times since going almost veg a few weeks ago.
4 comments:
I', pretty skeptical of "free-range". I wasn't able to view the video on their site but I noticed they didn't say anything about de-beaking. It seems their main concern was on the quality of the meat. I don't know. I wouldn't trust them.
I'm pretty skeptical of free range as well (I've read about farms that have a six by six foot patch outside a barn that houses thousands of chickens). And I haven't found any info on whether or not they debeak and I'm not sure of their slaughter practices. BUT from the info they do provide, as well as the video, I think it's a good option for us LAers who don't know a local farmer.
Interesting that we've shared this same trajectory but pretty much independent of each other. Well, I guess not completely independent...that Pollan book was a big influence for me. Anyway, I haven't missed meat at all.
Josh, The hardest thing about eating no meat is finding good recipes! I have an excel spreadsheet with some good vegetarian recipe links to websites. If you're interested I can send it your way.
Post a Comment