The Adnostic

Lately I have been trying to adhere to the Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman views on what to eat and how much meat to consume in particular. You probably know the Pollan mantra by now: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" and in this talk by Bittman from the EG conference explains his views on why we need to eat less meat:

The meat industry contributes to greenhouse gasses and pollution. Eating too much meat increases your risk of cancer and other diseases. We can also contribute the high levels of obesity to the meat and processed food rich western diet. The recommended amount of meat that we should be eating per week is a half pound and the average American eats that in a single day. Because of this I have become a Fexitarian, someone who is mostly vegetarian but eats meat and animal proteins on a semi-regular basis.

I'm never going to stop eating meat, but I've greatly reduced the amount of meat that I consume. My husband and I usually eat out for lunch and I usually try to order vegetarian when we do. When I cook at home I almost always cook vegetarian. I do this or two reasons. One reason is simply because cutting meat out of the shopping list makes for a cheaper grocery bill. The other reason is that we eat out regularly and the usual one vegetarian option on a restaurant menu is never nearly as appetizing as the MANY meat rich options available. If I see a vegetarian option that looks appealing, I'll order it, but most of the time I'd rather get the steak.

Not buying as much meat also makes it easier for me to justify buying more organic and local produce and opting for the local and organic meats and cheeses. I don't know why, but it's nice to be able to know what farm your meat and cheese came from.

Here are a few places that make it easier for me to flex my vegetarian muscle:
Nuba - A Mediterranean restaurant that serves a wide variety of vegetarian plates and pita sandwiches.
The local farmers market - Naturally. I just wish they all were open year round. I'll have to get saddle bags for my bike so that I can do some of my shopping at the far away winter market next year.
Choices/Urban Fare/Whole Foods - WF you're awesome, but you're across the bridge. Choices and Urban Fare, I wish you would try harder to sell local foods and please sell a wider variety of organic and I wish you would label your produce better.
Epicurious & Tastespotting - Most of the recipes in my cookbooks rely on meat. It's nice to be able to go online and find tons of vegetarian options to choose from.

It's still not easy eating green, but resources like this make it a lot easier than it used to be.