I took a cooking class last night up at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. The chef instructor was Deborah Madison -- author of oodles of cookbooks and considered a doyen of vegetarian cuisine having founded Greens restaurant and gotten the Santa Fe Farmers Market off the ground -- who, much to a surprise, is not a vegetarian and enjoys occasional fish, chicken, meat when the feeling strikes. When asked her views on the subject she explained that she predominantly eats vegetables, BUT she is not going to bash meat eaters because the movements in humane animal husbandry have taken great strides to the positive and she doesn't want to discourage that. I thought that whole comment was interesting. I also noticed that the meal we had didn't have a whole lot of protein in it.... a scrap of goat cheese isn't going to cut it in a diet.
That being said, my college roommate went vegetarian, decided not to eat anything that has a face (which lead to a heated discussion about whether scallops were edible). Anyway, her dietary choices -- lots of pasta substitutes, peanut butter, cheese -- left her with all sorts of health problems, diabetes being the least of them.
The upshot of all of this is that somewhere there is a middle ground. Diet is a choice thing and whether or not you have an opinion on what the world is feasting upon, your only responsibility is of yourself what you consume. Maybe you can be compelling, but the choice of what people eat is solely their own and shouldn't matter a whit to anyone else. If you feel great eating a vegetarian diet, great! If you enjoy a steak, great! There are plenty of tables to sit at without getting up into each other's faces.
Now, can we please get back to the thread???
That being said, my college roommate went vegetarian, decided not to eat anything that has a face (which lead to a heated discussion about whether scallops were edible). Anyway, her dietary choices -- lots of pasta substitutes, peanut butter, cheese -- left her with all sorts of health problems, diabetes being the least of them.
The upshot of all of this is that somewhere there is a middle ground. Diet is a choice thing and whether or not you have an opinion on what the world is feasting upon, your only responsibility is of yourself what you consume. Maybe you can be compelling, but the choice of what people eat is solely their own and shouldn't matter a whit to anyone else. If you feel great eating a vegetarian diet, great! If you enjoy a steak, great! There are plenty of tables to sit at without getting up into each other's faces.
Now, can we please get back to the thread???
