The Meat in the Vegetarian Argument

As part of October: Unprocessed, and leading up to my guest post on Eating Rules later this month, I thought it would be appropriate to re-post this piece, which details some of the issues of food as it relates to sustainability.

Re-Posted from the iPinion Syndicate

You may have heard that being vegetarian is green.  You may also have had a vegan activist tell you that meat is murder and you are killing the planet.  While there is definitely some truth to the argument that a vegetarian diet is a little more earth friendly, there is a little devil in the details.


The issues of food production are numerous, from health and humanity to environmental impact and sustainability.  Which issue is most important to you probably depends on a number of factors: your age, location, political views, etc.  By and large, however, beef does not fare well in any serious analysis of food issues.  At least, not conventional beef that is fattened in a concentrated feed lot.

If global warming and climate change are your primary concerns, you’ll be happy to hear that feed lot beef and dairy are the only things that you need to strike off your menu.  Chicken, fish and eggs are comparable to vegetables in green house gasses emitted during production and transport.  Speaking of fish, however, is opening a whole other can of worms.


If sustainability is what you are after, a lot of sea food is out: over fishing is stressing stocks all over the world, and aside from a few species that are managed responsibly (wild pacific salmon, e.g.) most edible fish populations are dropping at a staggering rate.  Seafood doesn’t fare well on the health test either; electronics, fluorescent bulbs and industrial practices have contaminated most seafood populations with levels of mercury that are dangerous for human consumption.


If you are a card carrying member of PETA, or sympathetic to their cause, chicken and eggs are back on the black list.  On the humanitarian scale, chicken production is much, much worse than just about anything else out there.  Feed lot beef is not much better.  If humanitarian concerns are foremost in your mind, you should probably explore expensive alternatives to conventional food at a specialty or kosher butcher shop.  If you can’t afford that, then meat is out.


If health is what you are thinking about, then a strictly vegetarian diet might not be a good idea at all.  Many people develop anemia, iron deficiency, or other issues when not eating meat, and careful management of protein and iron intake is essential for a healthy meatless diet.  Pescatarians (a word I am not entirely comfortable with, I’ll have you know) can get around this quite easily, as salmon and mollusks like clams provide massive doses of protein and iron in tiny portions.  But again, mercury is a real threat which much be considered constantly.  Farmed clams are better, but farmed salmon are terrible: they are fed other fish from depleting stocks and foul up coastal waters with concentrated waste.


Here is something that your vegan acquaintances will not be quick to point out, however: grass fed and grass finished cows are better in every way.  On the humanitarian angle, they are demonstrably healthier and ostensibly happier (in so far as we can tell these things).  They produce less methane (a green house gas) and foul up less water during their lives.  They are wildly healthier for you, with little saturated fat and more omega 3 fatty acids than salmon.  Finally, their waste is not concentrated like feed lot cows, which means that it can be absorbed naturally by the environment they are raised in.


In summation, if all of the issues in this article are important to you, you probably should be vegan.  However, if you are willing to do your food homework and buy the right products, you can put the vegan argument out to pasture with the grass fed cows.

Related articles

• Simon Fairlie: How Eating Meat Can Save the Planet (time.com)

At Foodista IFBC

I am volunteering at the International Food Bloggers Conference, and I could not be happier.  After helping the guests register, I was told to wander around and partake before getting my next assignment.  Next comes you being jealous.

I started by tasting the Deadlift Imperial IPA from Widmer, which was hoppy in a very mellow way for an IIPA, and their October Fest, which was one of the best malt dominant beers I can remember having in a long time.  As I was finishing my beer, I was treated by chef Lisa Dupar to a grilled steak Bahn Mi on a mini baguette with mango sriracha.

Immediately after thinking that was the best sandwich ever, I was forced to question myself.  Alaska Seafood gave me there version of a BLT, with Black Cod (smoked) instead of bacon.  Alaskan fish is generally the lowest mercury of any seafish, and this smoked cod was absolutely divine in flavor, texture, the very definition of perfect fish.

Speaking of sustainable seafood, I had a taste of Tonnino Tuna packed in olive oil with garlic.  Served with a touch of spice on a bed of asian slaw.  Tonnino is all line caught, verified by a third party, and their packing plant finds creative uses for their waste.  I am told that their waste water is so clean it is potable.  I washed that down with a wonderful spicy sweet gazpacho made with watermelon, cucumber, cilantro, cumin and about 10 different peppers, by chef Josh Silvers from Bistro Syrah.

Next I tasted some organic olive oil from Spain.  There were about 20 olive oils displayed, so I just told the girl manning the table to blow my mind.  She gave me an olive oil that had a strong aftertaste of cucumber (Abbe D Queiles, I think).  It blew my mind.  She also gave me an unfiltered oil (Nunez De Prado) that tasted distinctly of Kalmatas. 

There was lots, lots more, including Wonderful Walla Walla Wines, but that will have to wait for tomorrow.  All I can say for now is: NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM...

The Valentine's Menu: Black Truffle and Wild Scallops on Mashed White Beans

Some lament the commercialization of holidays like Valentines day, others decry that it is a made up Hallmark Holiday, and while these arguments cannot be refuted, they also shouldn't stop us from having fun.

For our part, we avoid buying each other presents or cards and instead focus on having a lovely, romantic day.  Though we have dined out in the past we now prefer to cook at home, making a meal that is decadent and fun.  Decadent does not have to mean environmentally unhealthy, however, especially when you live in an area that produces truffles which some believe rival the Italian.  Both black and white truffles grow abundantly in Oregon and Northern California, and though they are quite expensive the flavor is phenomenal and unique.  Wild scallops, which have been unsustainable in the past, have seen massive increases in population size recently, and most sources now say that scallops can be fished sustainably and are okay for environmentalists to eat (though if you can find out the info, individually caught is better than dredged).

Valentine's Day Dinner

It is important for us to use every excuse to spend time with and honor the people we love, regardless of whether the excuse is tradition or Hallmark made.  The way we do this, however, is up to us and not the card companies or the traditions.  Cooking a meal made from the best available local and sustainable ingredients instead of purchasing cards and chocolate boxes and dining out turns our expression of our love for each other into a reinforcement of the way we choose to live.  And personally I think it is more fun.  Speaking of fun, for desert we made a chocolate Fondue, dipping homemade donut pieces from that morning along with some fancy marshmallows

 

Our Valentine's Breakfast

 
So, for your scrutiny, here is the dinner recipe:

Wild Scallops with Black Truffle Brandy Reduction and Mashed Great Northern Beans
Serves Two

Image via Wikipedia

Ingredients:

1 small Black Truffle (~1/2 oz.)
6 medium to large Wild Scallops (~1/2 lbs.)
1/2 lbs Dry Great Northern Beans (or Cannellini)
1 large Shallot
3 oz VSOP Brandy
2 tbsp dry White Wine
6 tbsp Olive Oil
4 tbsp butter
1 Green Onion, finely chopped

The night before cooking, rinse the beans and visually inspect for rocks.  Cover the beans with water in a sauce pan and leave to soak overnight.  The following day, discard the soaking liquid and rinse the beans once more.  Cover with water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until beans are tender, about 1 hour.

Chop the black truffle very finely.  Alternatively, you can use a mandolin, cheese grater or vegetable peeler to get smaller and more regular pieces.  Melt 2 tbsp butter into 2 tbsp olive oil in a small pan, and add the truffle.  Simmer over a low heat until well browned.  This will mellow the funkiness of the black truffle and draw out its flavor (this step is not necessary with white truffles).  When truffle pieces are well browned, cover and keep nearby.

When the beans are done, drain the cooking liquid, reserving about a half cup.  Using a food processor or blender, mash the beans with 1 tbsp olive oil, the white wine, 1 oz of Brandy, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  If needed, add the cooking liquid a little at a time to control consistency.  When beans are well blended, return to the sauce pan and keep warm over a low heat.

Dice the shallot finely and brown in 1 tbsp olive oil.  When it is well browned, add it to the beans along with half of the black truffle and oil mixture, stirring well.

Sear the scallops over medium-high heat in 2 tbsp olive oil, about 5 minutes per side.  When scallops are finished, place them on a bed of the mashed beans on serving plates.  Quickly deglaze the pan with the remaining 2 oz of brandy, add the remaining truffle and oil mixture, remove from heat and stir the remaining 2 tbsp of butter to finish the pan sauce.  Pour the sauce over the scallops and mashed beans, garnish with green onion, serve immediately.

 

The Final Product

Free Sushi! (well, practically free anyway) Spicy Tuna Roll Recipe

Sunday night, Courtney had a sudden urge for sushi.  We did not, however, feel like going out, nor do we know which sushi places are good in town.  We decided to see if we could scrounge together a few sushi like items from the stuff we had in our kitchen already.

We already had nori from a previous sushi night, we always have rice and veggies on hand, the one thing that we did not have just lying around the kitchen?  Sashimi grade raw fish.  So, although every recipe you find online will tell you not to do this, we decided to be adventurous and make spicy tuna rolls from canned tuna.  The results were astoundingly good.  One can of tuna produced about 6 rolls, each roll was about 8 pieces, so we had dinner for two, for two night, from only a dollars worth of canned tuna!  Eat that, it's delicious.  All of the other ingredients (rice, nori, vinegar, etc.) were purchased in bulk, and the small portion we used was almost negligible in terms of cost.  Hence, free seeming sushi!

Our idea of a last minute meal.  Aren't you jealous?

Courtney did most of the rolling (I had always done it before, and she wanted to learn) and I made the spicy tuna filling.  So here is my spicy tuna roll recipe.

Ingredients:

1 can tuna (and because this is a green blog, take a look at this before your next tuna purchase)
6 sheets nori, dried seaweed for rolling
2 cups white rice (sushi rice for best results)
Sriracha (or other hot sauce)
1/3 to 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 avocado, cut into thin strips
~1/4 carrot, cut into thin strips
1 small cucumber, cut into thin strips
Rice vinegar [several uses, just make sure you have plenty]
1/4 cup (or to taste) sugar
Soy Sauce
Wasabi (powdered is fine)

Tools:
large, flat plate or bowl for rice
bamboo sushi rolling mat (find at Asian markets)

First, cook the rice.  For sushi, use twice as much water as dry rice, so 4 cups water to 2 cups rice.  While the rice is cooking, make the spicy tuna.  Drain liquid from can and mix tuna in a bowl with mayonnaise and sriracha (for extra spice, add a little cayenne pepper, chili oil, and/or chili powder).  When the rice is done, stir and dump it out on the plate.  Sprinkle with rice vinegar (3 or 4 tsp) and the sugar.  Mix thoroughly.  Allow the rice to cool to room temperature before making rolls.

While rice cools, get all of the other ingredients ready at your rolling station, have the mat laid out on a large cutting board with the first nori sheet, and keep a small bowl of rice vinegar next to the rice.  If the rice is still not cool enough, have a glass of sake.  When rice is cool, soak your fingers in rice vinegar (that is what the bowl is for) and pat a thin layer of rice down on the nori, covering it to the edges from left to right, but leaving a half inch to an inch of nori open at the front and back. Each time you go back for more rice, and periodically while patting it into place, dip your fingers in the rice vinegar again.  This will keep the rice from sticking to you (at least sticking too crazy much).  When you have an even layer of rice, about 1/4 inch deep (if you make it any deeper, it will not roll well, but thinner is just fine) make a little row of tuna from left to right across the middle of the roll, about a half inch thick.  Lay in one thin layer of carrots, cucumbers and avocado on either side of the tuna.

Now, roll the bottom half of the nori over the center row of ingredients, pressing down gently.  Next, bring the top half up and over the bottom, dabbing a little rice vinegar on the overlapping edge of nori to help seal it..  Now you should have an even cylinder.  Wrap the mat around the cylinder, and pressing a little more firmly, roll it as you would a rolling pin to compact the ingredients a little.  This will make it easier to cut.

Cut the roll into roughly 8 or 10 equal pieces.  Allow the end pieces to be a little bigger, or they will fall apart while cutting.  Use a very sharp knife with a serrated edge for best results.

Repeat until tuna and rice are all used up, should yield about 6 rolls.  Serve on a cutting board or platter with soy sauce and wasabi, enjoy.  Leftovers will keep well in the fridge for a day, because there is no raw fish to get funky.

Next time Courtney I think we're turning Japanese, we will attempt a gluten free tempura as well, so that we can make spider rolls!  I will post a recipe for gluten free tempura batter if it works out.

Puppy Kibble

Today, I decided to take the plunge into DIY dog food. We got the books, we did the research, we talked to our (completely unhelpful) vet, and now we are making Cleo's food. Well, sort of.

Basically, dogs need vitamins A through K and basic minerals like potassium, magnesium and such, most of which will be covered by a well rounded diet (that is, feed the dog different stuff every day, not just chicken). The only thing that she will definitely not get enough of is calcium, and especially for puppies too much or too little is a big problem. Eggshells have tons of calcium, but must be ground in a coffee or spice grinder (not just crushed) to be edible and effective.

So, although I am pretty sure I know what I am doing, until I am 100% positive, I am mixing our home made food with store bought puppy kibble, about half and half. That way, I can be sure that the correct blend of vitamins, minerals and nutrients is getting to her.

My first dog food recipe, I will call Puppy Potato Salad. This is modified from the Tuna and Potato Dinner recipe from This Book. We didn't have tuna packed in oil, so I used some canned herring (which had been sitting in our pantry untouched for months, don't even remember why we bought it) instead, after much research into its healthfulness and a little taste test with Cleo.

First, I boiled some potatoes. Only one would end up in her meal, but if I am going to heat up that much water anyway, I might as well make potato salad tomorrow. Next I mashed the herring with the oil it was packed in (dogs, especially puppies need a high protein, high fat diet).

To the herring, I added some yogurt (dogs need good bacteria in their gut just like us), grated carrot and parsley for vitamins and fiber. A little olive oil for fat content, and finally I cut up the potato (about a half cup, chopped) and mixed it in.

The result looked really terrible, but Cleo loved it. Mixing the home made food with store kibble, it made about six servings. The ingredients were probably around $3, so that makes 50 cents a meal. Not quite as cheap as a pure kibble diet, but much healthier (I hope) in the long run.

Eventually, the goal is to feed Cleo mostly with the scraps of our kitchen, but plan our meals so that the scraps will be just what she needs. I figure we should spend some time preparing her meals pretty much separately, but at least trying to overlap the ingredients. Over time, ideally, most of our vegetable waste will be composted, and all of our meat and fatty scraps will go to Cleo. In other words, the long term goal is to make Cleo part of a more sustainable kitchen.

The Oregon Trail Part III: Sea otters and Sustainable Fisheries

Day two, we wake up in Cambria tired from sleep deprivation and a long day of driving. We are also excited about the day ahead of us, and glowing about the day behind. The main attraction today is the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which we have been told is The Aquarium by which all others are measured. It is an impressive measuring stick.

As we drove up the coast, through foot hills along cliffs and over bridges, I was listening to back episodes of Good Food, a favorite radio show of Courtney and I. In one episode, Mark Bittman (author of "How to Cook Everything" and "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian") came on to discuss sustainable seafood, and mentioned the Monterey Bay Aquarium, specifically the fact that they offer a simple pocket guide to sustainable seafood. So of course, we picked a few up.

Of course, the 'simple guide,' as Bittman points out, glosses over some issues and provides some information that seems useful, but is impossible to apply at the market. So, I thought I would recap a little and provide some links.

Here is the issue in a nutshell: for most of human history the ocean has provided much more fish than we can possibly catch and consume. But recently, and I mean very recently, we have started catching and consuming much more fish than the ocean can provide. And really, that is impressive. Fish farming is sometimes a good alternative, but in some cases it is much, much worse. Farmed salmon, for example, requires feeding tons and tons of wild caught fish, and their waste flows directly into coastal waters (the 'farms' are pins in the ocean) contaminating the areas where they are grown. Meanwhile, wild salmon fishing in the pacific is sustainable (even if the way the fish gets to market is not), so farmed salmon is essentially a useless practice.

Clams, oysters and mussels, on the other hand, are best when farmed. And just to highlight the confusion, sustainability of fisheries is only one small part of the seafood minefield. The next biggest mine is mercury. If you haven't heard, it's in almost everything that we take out of the sea. And the crazy part is we put it (the mercury) there.

Our experience at the aquarium was awesome, especially the otter exhibit (did you know that otters eat floating on their backs, and use their chest as a table? neither did I). Sea horses and jelly fish are also amazing, but I don't have enough room to talk about them here. In short, the Monterey Bay Aquarium was a great experience, and very educational. I highly recommend it to anyone who is going through the area, and also highly recommend making one of the scheduled otter feedings.