| Meatless Monday represents a good idea but needs improvement |
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| Written by Justin Sharp, The Shorthorn columnist | ||||
| Tuesday, 17 November 2009 10:29 PM | ||||
  The Shorthorn: Thea Blesener The idea behind Meatless Monday is great; sustainability through moderation of human behavior makes sense. And moderation is the key word. Changing people’s behavior radically has never worked, but incremental changes can have a large overall effect. The first Meatless Monday at the Connection Café took place this week. Standard, popular meatless dishes were featured, such as vegetarian pizza, pasta and, of course, salads, in addition to some not-so-standard items of dubious design. Removing meat from one day’s worth of meals each week is a small, but easy way to have an impact on environmental issues affecting global climate. If everyone in America removed meat from their diet just on Mondays, the benefits to both the environment and overall health of American citizens would be profound. However, this initiative made a few missteps. To begin with, there is no such thing as vegetarian bacon. Putting a little sign saying vegetarian bacon in front of a basin of completely flat strips, which taste like burnt dog treats and have the consistency of charred cardboard, doesn’t make them bacon. There is no alchemical process that will turn egg whites, soybean oil, textured soy protein concentrate, modified cornstarch, wheat gluten and hydrolyzed vegetable protein into a breakfast-time treat. The ingredients in real bacon: bacon. Kind of tells you something. The same applies to vegetarian chicken and hot dogs. By definition, hot dogs are made of meat. Don’t believe me? Ask dictionary.com:
Substituting an imitation food item for the genuine article would work, if the imitation didn’t taste awful. If you want to convince people to eat less meat, don’t offer substitutes that taste noticeably worse than the food they are meant to replace. Most won’t be willing to punish their taste buds for the good of the planet unless they also get rings with elemental powers. Another mistake was the portioning. Again, a major theme of Meatless Monday was moderation in the interest of sustainability, but that theme was not evinced by the sheer quantity of food given on each plate. The servers obviously weren’t instructed to dish up meager portions so that the wary carnivores might dip into the unfamiliar waters of vegetarian dining. I personally ended up throwing away enough food to feed a Somali village and have leftovers for Ethiopia. The overall idea is laudable. But instead of trying to convince people they don’t need meat and offering a soy-based-travesty in its place, we should simply focus on popular dishes that are already meat-free and don’t require the Frankenstein treatment. - Justin Sharp is a journalism senior and a columnist for The Shorthorn Views: 566 | E-mail
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