Rethinking the Vegetarian/Meat Binary

I love meat. It tastes great, fills me up fast, and supplies a lot of ways to get creative with cooking. However, I’ve recently been giving a lot of thought to returning to my high school vegetarian ways. There are three main reasons for this contemplation, 1) Depending on what you replace your usual meat meals with, it can be a very healthy lifestyle choice; 2) I love me a good challenge and could really use some more creative cooking ideas; and 3) I’m an environmentalist who cares about the treatment of animals by large corporations. The industry for meat hasn’t been the kindest or the cleanest, which makes it hard to stomach (literally) knowing the cruelty behind the deliciousness. Furthermore, according to a Ted Talk given by founder of TreeHugger.com, Graham Hill, “environmentally, meat amazingly causes more emissions than all of transportation combined.” Hill presents a new way of looking at the veg or not veg choice, which is both manageable and practical. The talk is very short and well worth a watch. By eating meat when trying to be a vegetarian, I felt that I was “cheating,” but maybe there’s an alternative to the either/or scenario.

Even though this Ted Talk answered most of my qualms with returning to a vegetarian lifestyle, I still have an apprehension about finding creative ways to maintain a well rounded diet without meat. I worry I’ll fall into the trap of replacing meat dishes with solely pasta and breads in order to get as full as I would from eating meat. So, in attempt to make the task less daunting, I turn to my good pal Pinterest for some inspiration…

Honestly, all of that stuff looks way better than the I think fatty value chicken I’ve been buying from Kroger. I think with the right pace we can all stop feeling the pressure of whether to meat or not to meat and still help ourselves and the world. There are also an abundance of internet forums on maintaining a hearty, well rounded vegetarian lifestyle that include recipes and moral support. All this combined, I’m with Graham on this one.