Beat
the Meat
 I
got to thinking the other day about the pros and
cons of eating meat and, apart from its basic nutritive
qualities I could only think of one good reason:
Meat tastes good.
To this I need to add "Yes, but only after
the meat has been properly and carefully prepared,
I.E. killed, gutted, deboned, fried, fricasseed,
stewed, barbequed, sauced, seasoned and served
on a sesame seed bun. After all,
no sane human simply rips a leg off a cow or a
chicken
and chows
down.
Even bacon, which
is
essentially candied
meat,
is most
palatable
only when it's
been
processed
with
sucrose
and the smoke
of burned
trees."
Also, lots of things taste good, like chocolate
and vodka, but they're not the best dietary choice.
As for the cons of eating meat how about increased
rates of heart disease and colon cancer, just to
start? Then there's
salmonella, mad cow disease, and trichinosis. The
American predilection for hamburgers has resulted
in the continuing destruction of the rain forest,
the poisoning of
the water table with phosphates, massive depletion
of fresh water resources (2500 gallons of water
are required to make
one
pound of beef), climate change from increased methane
production (cow farts),
beef full of antibiotics (which research seems
to indicate tend to make humans fat) and
all for "meat" that is adulterated with
who knows what.
The idea of meat at every meal is an invention
of contemporary meat industry marketing and convenient
refrigeration. Before the discovery of electricity
meat was a
much rarer commodity. So save the planet and order
the eggplant parmigiana instead of the veal next
time. It's just that easy.
=Lefty=
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