MICHAEL SPENCER'S MAKE IT GREEN: Vegans get fuel from food too

How do you know if a person is vegan? Easy, they will tell you! They are irritating, aren’t they? And what is up with vegetarians, anyway? Don’t they realize that animals are a good source of protein and part of a balanced diet? Why would anyone give up the pleasures of cheese, bacon and eggs as well as barbecued ribs?

This week, let’s look at the issue of eating — or not eating — animals. Why do some people make this smart choice?

What Is It?

What is a vegetarian, anyway? In popular usage, you are a vegetarian if you eschew meat or poultry of any kind: turkey, chicken, pork, beef, bison, fish and deer are all on the list. Some self-described “pescatarians” eat fish, but not meat or poultry.

It’s the vegans who really rule here. Pronounce the word like this: vee-gan. Or you can say “plant-based diet,” without all the vegetarian cooties. The idea is the same: no silk clothing, leather shoes nor belts, nor honey; no cheese, yogurt or milk. Are you dizzy yet? Or hungry?

What’s For Dinner?

When I was growing up, Mom kept an old coffee cup with a broken handle in the fridge. It was filled with bacon drippings, gleefully scooped into an old cast iron frying pan whenever needed. Your story may differ, but didn’t you learn to cook from Mom and family?

If you grew up in a meat eating home, like I did, your plate had meat on it most evenings. The potatoes and the string beans? Little more than garnish, really. The meat was center stage. You learned how to cook it.

Of course you have no idea that vegan cuisine is rich, varied and delicious.

Suzie and I have been vegetarian since 1979 and vegan since 1999. Why? A couple of reasons.

The Ethical Reasons

Those of us active in the animal rights movement want to see a day when animals are not eaten. Step one: humane treatment for the animals. Surely all can simply respect them while they are alive?

Truly awful stories about factory-farmed animals abound, all with gruesome details unsuitable for a family newspaper, alas. It’s simply that the distance between the food on your plate and the providing farm animal is great. Those raised in nonfarm environments assume animals are cared for, respected and slaughtered in humane ways. That’s not the case, though, as a simple Google search will attest. And why is that? Efficiency and profit, mostly.

Avoiding animal flesh is part of a kind heart, to be sure, but it is more, too. The story of animal rights is rich and lengthy, with early philosophical work done by Peter Singer at Princeton University. In short, it’s this: eating an animal for convenience, or for taste, or because the flesh contains nutrition is not an acceptable reason for killing the animals. Those opposed to this view say that animals and humans are not morally comparable. There is a reasonably balanced discussion of this issue on Wikipedia.

The Health Reasons

The health benefits of a plant-based diet are easier to digest (sorry). Vegetarians are healthier, by and large. Studies showing that a plant-based diet yields lower incidence of heart disease, colorectal cancers and breast cancers are legion and reliable. Some kinds of heart mortality, for example, are as much as 30 percent lower in men eating plant diets.

This isn’t complicated, as a simple Internet search will attest. And to a certain extent, it makes sense; a hundred thousand years ago as Homo sapiens mostly gathered berries, grasses and insects. Early man wasn’t much of a hunter, as it turns out.

Is it healthier to grow your own vegetables? Who knows? I know I am happier growing my own — at the very least, I know something of the food provenance before eating it. It’s a natural adjunct to life as a gardener.

The Recipes

Still, there’s nothing like a barbecued burger, is there? Nobody ever said that animals don’t taste good. Those of us who are decades removed from meat will attest, though, that a single bite of meat, or a sip of whole milk, will taste like eating a stick of butter. Those who have quit smoking will say that food started to taste better, and richer, with a fuller body and delicate taste. The palette experiences the same thing when the heavy fats and lard are no longer consumed.

Next week, I’ll answer the question that got me thinking about this topic: just exactly what do we eat, anyway?

Michael Spencer, ASLA, has been practicing landscape architecture since 1979 and is president of MSA Design Inc. Learn more at www.msadesign.com or contact him by email: ms@msadesign.com.

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