The End of Meat

[Kin]

An interesting opinion piece in the New York Times today, some of the choice points being made are:

We cannot protect our environment while continuing to eat meat regularly...

We cannot claim to care about the humane treatment of animals while continuing to eat meat regularly...

We cannot protect against pandemics while continuing to eat meat regularly...

These are all paragraph headers that are then elaborated on. Basically the argument makes the case that eating meat regularly is bad for our health, our wallets, our planet and animals themselves.

Because I'm trying to use our bizarre circumstances to get in better shape I've been changing my diet a lot lately and purely for health reasons it's involved less meat and different kinds of animal protein. More fish, more chicken, less beef, almost entirely no pork. That said, the idea of ever completely going vegetarian or vegan is super-outside my comfort zone. I'm a lifelong burger/brisket/ribs lover and the thought of going completely without is a big bummer at a time when comfort foods are frequently calling. I've been trying to also buy the meat I do eat from small, local organic suppliers but cow farts are cow farts and there's not going to be a vaccine for climate change. 

Anyone else feeling this? Or changing up their diet? I know it can be tough right now when we're not able to shop as much as we used to and a lot of people's employment is up in the air but as the article says a meat-free diet can be less expensive than the meat we're buying.

 

[Highlander]

I would love to be eating a lot more fish than I do. It's just so frickkin expensive in BC, at least where I live. Perhaps the coast would be cheaper.  Grocery stores here compared to Ontario suck to say the least.

With meat I try to eat primarily entirely grass fed. The omega oils at least line up like fish when the cows eat only grass.

I liked the story from Australia a few years back when they were overproducing so much wine that they were feeding it to the livestock.  Happy animals for sure.
The used to have some beer drinking pigs in St.Kitts but the tourist where feeding them so much beer that they were developing cirrhosis of the liver. Now they only get O'Doul's. 

 

[Kin]

I would love to be eating a lot more fish than I do. It's just so frickkin expensive in BC, at least where I live. Perhaps the coast would be cheaper.  Grocery stores here compared to Ontario suck to say the least.

For what it's worth, because of limited shopping trips I'm not eating a lot more fresh fish. But because I'm lucky enough to live around Little Italy/Little Portugal I have a lot of options for really good quality canned/smoked fish. So it's not prohibitively expensive.

 

[bustaheims]

We already limit our red meat quite substantially, don't eat much in terms of pork products, and try for at least one veggie meal a week. I couldn't go all the way with no meat, but if I was confined to mostly poultry and fish as my options, I'd be okay.

The biggest thing I'd miss if we stopped farming cows would be cheese. I love me some cheese.

 

[herman]

I stopped beef for almost a year for environmental reasons (associated health benefits were a bonus). Largely thanks to this video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NxvQPzrg2Wg

More meatless meals, leaning towards chicken or fish (and crustaceans/mollusks!) when needing a protein.

I still watch steak videos, and might indulge once in awhile now like a good omakase treat.

 

[Highlander]

We already limit our red meat quite substantially, don't eat much in terms of pork products, and try for at least one veggie meal a week. I couldn't go all the way with no meat, but if I was confined to mostly poultry and fish as my options, I'd be okay.

The biggest thing I'd miss if we stopped farming cows would be cheese. I love me some cheese.

I love me some cheese too!  Remember the cheese advert, "Want your kids to leave home, then stop cooking with cheese".  I tell my U.S. friends today about that campaign and it always gets a good laugh.
Or the SNL mock commercial; "Eat Pork, while you still can".

I really think one very good steak a month is within reason, a burger and brew whilst out is not bad. 

And I also love me a very good bone in Wiltshire Pork Choppy once in a while (Pan fried of course).

We are bit of Sashimi freaks and still waiting for our favourite in town to re-open. If I win the lottery, I am hiring my own Sushi Chef and live on that raw fishys.  Lol

 

[Kin]

I stopped beef for almost a year for environmental reasons (associated health benefits were a bonus). Largely thanks to this video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NxvQPzrg2Wg

More meatless meals, leaning towards chicken or fish (and crustaceans/mollusks!) when needing a protein.

I still watch steak videos, and might indulge once in awhile now like a good omakase treat.

Well, I think the point is it's all sort of connected. If you're eating beef often enough for it to be a serious health risk then unless you're fairly well off then odds are you're buying factory farmed or processed beef which is where a lot of the environmental/ethical concerns pop-up.

The problem though is not whether or not an ethical minded consumer occasionally has a 40 dollar steak, it's how do you say that's alright while at the same time saying that the 5 dollar double Big Mac isn't ok without claims of elitism. And if cheap beef is ok, then you're back to factory farming/processing.

Because, sadly, this is sort of one area where the free market is not producing a great result.

 

[Bender]

Generally I try to stick to poultry, but I do love a good steak. I think I could go some sort of vegetarian offshoot or nearly 100% pescatarian but there's no way I'm going vegan. I lost some weight a few years ago (not a ton, but made a concerted effort) and Greek yogurt and egg whites factored in huge if I went meatless - great protein source and good for satiety.

I really don't know what we do, especially if you don't go whole hog vegan (are there any agricultural/sustainability downsides? Would most get converted to cash crops like rice/corn/wheat/potatoes etc?) Part of me is a bit of a technocrat and thinks we're all going to eat lab grown meat at some point, but on the other hand livestock are big business...

 

[Kin]

Generally I try to stick to poultry, but I do love a good steak. I think I could go some sort of vegetarian offshoot or nearly 100% pescatarian but there's no way I'm going vegan. I lost some weight a few years ago (not a ton, but made a concerted effort) and Greek yogurt and egg whites factored in huge if I went meatless - great protein source and good for satiety.

I really don't know what we do, especially if you don't go whole hog vegan (are there any agricultural/sustainability downsides? Would most get converted to cash crops like rice/corn/wheat/potatoes etc?) Part of me is a bit of a technocrat and thinks we're all going to eat lab grown meat at some point, but on the other hand livestock are big business...

One of the things from the NYT piece that was surprising was that there are fewer people employed as farmers today than there was 150 years ago despite the massive explosion in the population. So a ton of farming these days is automation and corporate farming so we shouldn't worry too much about agricultural downsides.

 

[Bill_Berg]

If I cut out beef and cheese, I would just do full vegetarian, or vegan. I can easily live without chicken, pork, fish, and other animal protein. I buy quarter cows from local farms to fill my freezer. I do try to fit in a couple of days a week meat-free and have played with the idea of cutting meat out entirely, but not sure I would be capable of that.

 

[Kin]

If I cut out beef and cheese, I would just do full vegetarian, or vegan. I can easily live without chicken, pork, fish, and other animal protein. I buy quarter cows from local farms to fill my freezer. I do try to fit in a couple of days a week meat-free and have played with the idea of cutting meat out entirely, but not sure I would be capable of that.

How much space does a quarter-cow take up? The farm I buy from offers them and I'm tempted but not sure I have the freezer space.

 

[Highlander]

When I was young we used to get a half cow and half pig and that would fill up a standing freezer (not sure the cubic size) to the gunnels, everything was stuffed in like a puzzle of protein.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

If I cut out beef and cheese, I would just do full vegetarian, or vegan. I can easily live without chicken, pork, fish, and other animal protein. I buy quarter cows from local farms to fill my freezer. I do try to fit in a couple of days a week meat-free and have played with the idea of cutting meat out entirely, but not sure I would be capable of that.

How much space does a quarter-cow take up? The farm I buy from offers them and I'm tempted but not sure I have the freezer space.

I've purchased one for the first time this year. It's going to be tight!

 

[Bill_Berg]

If I cut out beef and cheese, I would just do full vegetarian, or vegan. I can easily live without chicken, pork, fish, and other animal protein. I buy quarter cows from local farms to fill my freezer. I do try to fit in a couple of days a week meat-free and have played with the idea of cutting meat out entirely, but not sure I would be capable of that.

How much space does a quarter-cow take up? The farm I buy from offers them and I'm tempted but not sure I have the freezer space.

I've purchased one for the first time this year. It's going to be tight!

Basically it's a foot high layer in my rather large chest freezer, plenty of space to spare in that thing, but there's no way it will fit in a regular fridge freezer. Probably would fill three standard fridge freezers or more. I also am not getting all the knuckles and various soup bones which would be another box or two worth of stuff.

 

[Bullfrog]

It's an interesting topic that I've thought a lot about. I'm honestly not particularly concerned about the ethical side of the argument (outside of egregious treatment), but the environmental impact is important. I love meat too much to give it up, but my family is careful with portions. While we have meat most nights, sometimes it's just a little sausage mixed in a pasta or rice dish. Usually we'll have one or two meatless meals during the week and almost all of our purchased meat is from local suppliers. We have a little of everything: poultry, fish, beef, pork, and chicken.

I could probably give it all up, but I'd really struggle for awhile without chicken. Thankfully I love, love, love veggies.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Amazing progression from the global need for reduced beef consumption to ten posts later, trying to determine how much cow can fit in a freezer.  ;D

 

[Kin]

Amazing progression from the global need for reduced beef consumption to ten posts later, trying to determine how much cow can fit in a freezer.  ;D

It seems incongruous, I guess, but it's as much about reducing our purchasing from large factory farm or processing operations. By making bulk purchases from local suppliers you can effectively accomplish that while not necessarily eating any more beef than you otherwise would.

If I am going to keep eating beef, as I said I probably would in my first post, I should figure out the best way to do it.

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

Bought 50 lbs of buckwheat flour and 50 lbs of roasted buckwheat groats at the start of the pandamic.  I love my meat but  buckwheat has all the essential amino acids and I could survive on it. 

 

[Highlander]

Amazing progression from the global need for reduced beef consumption to ten posts later, trying to determine how much cow can fit in a freezer.  ;D

Thats because a great Ribeye will never be conquered. Neither will a Filet Mignon with homemade  B?arnaise.