This month's blogging has a theme: vegetarian. And not only will the recipes I share be veggie friendly, I myself will be giving up my carnivorous ways for the next four weeks. This also means that the format of the blog will be changing just a little bit...instead of sharing a single recipe every week the blog will read a little bit more like a diary.
But first, why on earth would someone who eats meat choose to give it up?
My position on vegetarianism doesn't arise because I think it's wrong to eat animals, I have less extreme reasons for wanting to consume less meat.
First: money. Meat is expensive, especially lean meats like chicken and turkey. Taking meat off the menu one or two nights a week is a great way to lower your food budget.
Second: treatment of animals. Again I re-iterate, I have nothing against the basic idea of killing animals for food. I do, however, have a problem with the way in which the practice currently occurs. In order to meet growing demand, farmers have had to change from traditional practices of farming to high-output factory style. Unfortunately, factory farming requires animals to live in conditions that are utterly inhumane. So I do my (admittedly small) part in lowering the demand for meat...hoping that if enough people do the same we will no longer need to raise chickens in conditions like these.
Third: sustainability. As the world population continues to rise, the number of people who will want to eat meat at every meal does as well. This means that, globally, more and more space will need to be devoted to the production of animals; leaving less space for everything else. Increasing demand also forces suppliers into more and more dubious practices (such as factory farming)...practices that will only get worse as increasing numbers of individuals demand to eat meat multiple times a day.
(I could go on and on about the above points....but I won't, since others before me already have. For more information about the problems associated with being an omnivore, see Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals".)
Which brings me back to the theme: a month without meat.
Accordingly, the format for the blog is going to change just a touch: instead of a recipe book, it's going to read just a little bit more like a diary. But of course this blog wouldn't be the same without sharing a recipe or two, and so I will choose the best meals of my week and tell you how to make them. If nothing else, I hope that you are inspired to take meat off the menu once in awhile.
Happy reading!
First: money. Meat is expensive, especially lean meats like chicken and turkey. Taking meat off the menu one or two nights a week is a great way to lower your food budget.
Second: treatment of animals. Again I re-iterate, I have nothing against the basic idea of killing animals for food. I do, however, have a problem with the way in which the practice currently occurs. In order to meet growing demand, farmers have had to change from traditional practices of farming to high-output factory style. Unfortunately, factory farming requires animals to live in conditions that are utterly inhumane. So I do my (admittedly small) part in lowering the demand for meat...hoping that if enough people do the same we will no longer need to raise chickens in conditions like these.
Third: sustainability. As the world population continues to rise, the number of people who will want to eat meat at every meal does as well. This means that, globally, more and more space will need to be devoted to the production of animals; leaving less space for everything else. Increasing demand also forces suppliers into more and more dubious practices (such as factory farming)...practices that will only get worse as increasing numbers of individuals demand to eat meat multiple times a day.
(I could go on and on about the above points....but I won't, since others before me already have. For more information about the problems associated with being an omnivore, see Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Jonathan Safran Foer's "Eating Animals".)
Which brings me back to the theme: a month without meat.
Accordingly, the format for the blog is going to change just a touch: instead of a recipe book, it's going to read just a little bit more like a diary. But of course this blog wouldn't be the same without sharing a recipe or two, and so I will choose the best meals of my week and tell you how to make them. If nothing else, I hope that you are inspired to take meat off the menu once in awhile.
Happy reading!
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