Posted by Loulou on Mar 15, 2015 | 4 comments

Some people won’t eat anything that has a face…I respect that, but…

…are there exceptions?

You know, I’m actually the one who reads about all these things I write about, and so I’m going to write from MY heart and let mama and papa in on things when I feel like it or when I need their help, but actually, I’m a pretty good reader for a kitty and this is what I was perusing this morning.  You’ll find out why later…

This is from a Harvard Health website, which I trust more than others because, well, Harvard has been around a long, long time.  And I also like the Mayo Clinic advice. But this one caught my attention:

Keep in mind that there’s no such thing as the Mediterranean diet. Instead, there are many ways to go Mediterranean. Here are the basics:

• Eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds every day; they should make up the lion’s share of foods.
• Fat, much of it from olive oil, may account for up to 40% of daily calories.
• Small portions of cheese or yogurt are usually eaten each day, along with a serving of fish, poultry, or eggs.
• Red meat makes an appearance now and then.
• Small amounts of red wine are typically taken with meals.

Cutting back on meat can also help the health of the planet. According to an eye-opening book from the Union of Concerned Scientists called The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, meat consumption is the second most environmentally expensive consumer activity, behind how we transport ourselves from place to place. Making one pound of beef for the table creates 17 times more water pollution and 20 times more habitat alteration than making its caloric equivalent in pasta.

That makes eating less meat an excellent two-fer.

Well, since around here we actually do eat Mediterranean foods and lots of olive oil and occasional meat (mama less and less just because she loves cheese and would rather have a cow product than the cow itself, haha), this particular guideline seemed just about the best one I have found so far.

Woudn’t you know it, a vegetarian just stopped by for a chat and mama asked her if she ate fish and she said, “I don’t eat anything that you have to kill.” So mama said, “If a fish flopped up on the beach and died there and you passed by just then, would you eat the fish that you didn’t kill?”  And our guest said, “Oh, no, no way.” And mama respected that but it was an interesting thought.  Especially if the fish were a nice Spanish mackerel or bonito with which to make sushi!

And then at lunch there followed a lively discussion among us of the raisers of meat animals and fish and so on as they find themselves slowly winding down their businesses to accommodate the growing vegetarian culture. Would the raising of animals cease altogether and would all the meat creatures just eventually get eaten up as the business waned and so disappear as species from the earth?  Interesting.  Then would all the meat and fish farms become vegetable and fruit farms?  Well, they’d certainly have good soil from all that fertilizer produced by the animals?  Fish, maybe not.

Of course there are many who feel that we will all become vegetarians over the decades.  So will this mean less war, less aggression, less invasion of others’ lands, and will being vegetarian change our thinking apparati as it is purported to do?  Hmmm…I wonder.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (just kidding, we’re not anywhere near a ranch nor own one), you can see the dilemma I face about this meat-eating thing…

You’re lookin’ at a sautéed lamb chop, or rather I’M looking at the chop. Does that corn have a face…?