You are what you eat

I struggle with the whole meat-eating thing. I really really like meat - I'm a foodie in every way. I watch countless hours of cooking competitions on TV where budding chefs concoct delish things from every kind of meat and fish, and my mouth waters.  But there are two big things hanging over my head. 

Firstly - I love animals. I love them in a big way. If I am able to donate to charity, then animals will get it every time. I sympathize with humans, but my heart lies with those who are furry, feathered, scaled and finned. So the killing thing is a big problem for me - I'm completely aware how hypocritical I am when I savour a mouthful of pork leg soup. I think they probably changed the names to beef and pork for a reason - somehow cow and pig just sound bad for marketing. Anyway... I could never kill anything myself to eat it - I'd be an instant vegetarian at that point.  It's not like I haven't seen the documentaries about fast food and the mass industrial production of food... the terrible things that happen to animals. I can't even stand to think about it - but then - I am still eating meat. To be absolutely honest, I eat more fish than meat, which might be good for me, but sure isn't good for the depleted fish populations. What is a sushi lover to do when you hear the truth about the oceans? Bad news.

Secondly, the environmental damage caused by our consumption of so much meat. It's not new - we've known about it for a while, but it's something we in the West just have to accept at some point. Mark Bittman puts it pretty clearly.



It's not hard for me to imagine eating vegetables and grains almost exclusively. In fact, although I love meat and fish, and live for the days I am well enough for us to go out, just so we can have a fantastic meal.  A great meal is a great meal - I don't have any requirements.  In fact, I actually *crave* vegetables.  I can definitely imagine having meat as a once-in-a-while treat. The bigger question is how you make a lifestyle (or foodstyle) change like this when you're living in another part of the world.

Thailand has more food than I have ever seen anywhere, but it is a seriously meat and fish obsessed country and it's not easy to eat a lot of veges (unless you can stomach a lot of extremely spicy food, which makes me very ill).  It would be better if we had a kitchen and could cook at home sometimes, but with only a simple microwave and nothing else, we aren't able to, though the supermarkets are well stocked.  So I am always always always wishing for more vegetables. I do love Thai food, but much of it is laced with MSG which is terrible, and when you can't get out too much the choice is limited.

Until we get to a country where we have a kitchen, and can control what we eat in a meaningful sense, I guess we're stuck with our horrible carbon footprint for the foreseeable future. It'll be wonderful - buying from farmer's markets again and making very clear decisions about what we eat. I'm sure fish and meat will always appear on my plate sometimes, but at a much reduced rate and, I'd like to think, from healther and more humane sources.

Meanwhile, here's some food for thought. In the distant future perhaps we won't need to farm animals for meat at all.  Who knows - according to Wiki "Many biologists assert that this technology is ready for commercial use and simply needs a company to back it". Perhaps it is like alternative fuels to the oil industry - bad for business ;)  I can't see too many of those giant industrial meat producers backing the idea anytime soon.