I went to a vegan dinner last week hosted by some of my most lovely friends. They brought in a traveling vegan chef to make dinner for nearly 30 of us. I love eating vegan but something about this dinner left something to be desired. It wasn’t the company, the hosts, the atmosphere, or the drinks. Those were all spot on and fantastic.
What I didn’t like was the “smoked salmon fillet” on my plate that was not actually smoked salmon. The “caviar” that wasn’t actually caviar. Anything that is in quotation marks on a menu makes me uneasy.
There is a lot about veganism that I love. I love that is leaves a lighter footprint on the earth. I love that is doesn’t support the U.S Agriculture Meat Industry, I love that it’s full of plants and heart healthy whole foods. I love that it forces culinary creativity (I mean, just look at the menu at Blossoming Lotus. SO creative.)
But sometimes I feel like vegans eat more processed foods than carnivores do. A main staple for vegans is tofu, which is made from soy beans, which are often times genetically modified. Ever had meatless crumbles; a processed soy product made to look and taste like ground beef? Seems weird to me. Perhaps ground beef from pasture raised, grass feed beef would be more environmentally conscious, whole, and healthier for you.
Michael Pollan wrote an easy read called Food Rules. A couple of his rules come to mind when addressing this topic. For example:
#2: Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother doesn’t recognize as food. (His example is Go-gurt. What is that stuff?!)
and my favorite:
#10: Avoid foods that pretend to be something they are not. (Such as “smoked salmon” and meatless meatballs.)
I want to eat REAL food. WHOLE food. LOCAL and SEASONAL food. If vegans can eat that way, power to them! Obviously, I cook my fair share of vegan food and love it. But since I’m a meat eater, I’m going to live by this rule:
#27: Eat Animals that have themselves eaten well.
I won’t be eating pork that is eating and living in it’s own fecal matter and pumped full of anti-biotics to keep them from getting sick. Chickens that are being feed massively produced and genetically modified corn aren’t going on my plate. I’m going to eat the heifer Clare and Brian of Big Table Farm slaughter this summer instead.
I’m glad I experienced something out of my culinary comfort zone with the vegan meal, but honestly, I would have rather had a real fillet of Wild Alaskan Salmon than a faux fillet made of processed soybeans.
What do you guys think?
I asked one of my vegan friends this question and she said that people who think eating any animal products of any kind is wrong generally don’t eat the fake stuff because the idea turns them off. I agree it would be better to eat good meat than this stuff (but not too much!).
And as for rule #2, I don’t think I would eat much that my grandma considers food!
love it, mari. after 16 years as a vegetarian (one year as a vegan), i think your observations are spot on. nothing like knowing where your food comes from! and i’m not sure i understand where fake meats come from. the ingredient list on some of the vegetarian processed foods is frightening and FULL labratory-created foods. no thanks! remember when we all thought margarine was better for you than butter? ugh.