Thursday, August 26, 2004
(7:43 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Vegetables of the World, Unite!
I am eating less and less meat lately. For a variety of reasons, my house has lately been stocked with vegetarian alternatives, and I'm beginning to prefer them, not because of any moral decision, but for health reasons. I've spent my life avoiding vegetables, since they seem to take so much more effort to prepare, but on those days that I primarily eat vegetables and grain, I really feel better. In addition, although I have long been a lover of hot dogs and lunch meats, I am beginning to wonder whether it's a good idea in the long run to make them a staple of my diet: I have a high metabolism now, but that won't last forever.In any case, a couple years ago I wrote an essay entitled "The McDonald's Essay", addressing the lawsuit that I called "Fat Guy vs. McDonald's." In the midst of an edifying discussion about personal responsibility (poor people are expected to show it; powerful people are not), I asked why it was that fast food restaurants couldn't replace their disgusting wads of meat-related program activities with healthy food that took minimal effort to prepare and still tasted good. After all, we sent a man to the moon, didn't we? This can't be so hard. The Trigger's audience to whom I presented this thesis were skeptical at best -- is it really possible, they asked, to make nutritious fast food?
I now believe it is. After living a quasi-vegetarian existence (entirely by accident) for several months now, I believe that I could easily exchange the various sandwich-based meats for their vegetarian equivalents without feeling like I had given anything up. The vegetarian chicken patties in particular are virtually identical in texture and flavor to "real" chicken patties. Real meat could be a special treat rather than a staple, which could even lead to saner agriculture policies all around.
We have the technology. In the face of our nation's obesity epidemic, I don't see how we can afford not to convert to a vegetable-based food distribution network. If we fail to seize on this singular opportunity offered to us by the growing popularity of vegetarianism, future generations will look back at us with scorn and pity.
UPDATE: Tonight's trip to the grocery store sealed the deal. I even got soy milk. I'm going to force myself to use it on my cereal for a week. The hyper-evolved bacteria hanging around in my colon are going to be upset not to get their daily intake of antibiotics, but that's probably okay. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
