Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Conscious Eating Goes Mainstream
I was excited to hear that the NYT food columnist Mark Bittman was going to be on KUOW (our local NPR station) this morning, and was even more delighted when I heard what he had to say. Basically that the way to make a real impact on the environment and our food system is to eat fewer animal products. While eating organic and local is nice, he says, it really is a luxury and that eating less meat is a broader message that is possible for everyone to do. I found it refreshing that he did not separate meat from other animal products, arguing that dairy and eggs also have a huge environmental impact; for that reason he came down fairly hard on vegetarianism (but championed veganism). The hour-long interview is worth a listen (available here) if you have time! It gives me a lot of hope to hear these mainstream personalities preaching the many benefits of plant-based diets.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
That makes me think differently about Mark Bittman. His show is really meat-centric but maybe he is changing his attitude. Hooray!
Wow, that's wonderful to hear! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for sharing Alanna. Gwen and I just finished listening to Mark Bittman's interview. I do agree with his opinion that factory farmed meat is equivalent to factory farmed eggs and dairy and his coming down hard on vegetarians who eat factory farmed eggs and dairy. But it is unfortunate he does not separate out vegetarians eating small amounts of eggs and dairy made from local, organic, sustainable, humanely raised chickens and cows. Otherwise, a very interesting interview. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your comments! First, I just want to clarify that while Bittman respects veganism, he is certainly not suggesting that everyone become vegan--he sees nothing wrong at all with having a little meat, dairy or eggs now and then. He noted in the interview that he doesn't specifically advocate veganism for two reasons: one, he isn't willing to be vegan himself; and two, he doesn't want to turn people off by taking such an "extreme" position (a point which I can certainly understand, and although I'd love it if he would preach veganism, it would undoubtedly lose much of its mainstream appeal. I think this is a message that everyone needs to hear, and having these big foodie personalities making it more approachable is a good thing).
David, you make a very good point. Indeed, his rejection of vegetarianism is a bit odd, given the fact that he is fine with eating a little bit of meat! I think that in his mind, he doesn't see the point of excluding only meat since he considers animal products equal from an environmental point of view. He doesn't really address some of the other reasons people choose to become vegetarian (especially for ethical/animal rights reasons). But, in my opinion, the whole point of conscious eating is to learn about the larger implications of your food choices and from there come to your own decisions about what dietary changes you feel are most important to make.
interesting! i will have to listen to this interview! have you seen the show on PBS with him, gwyneth paltrow, mario batali, and claudia __ traveling spain? they call him "bittie" and he and "gwynnie" sometimes make fun of how mario can't live without meat in every meal. also, just wondering if you knew if his cookbook, "how to cook everything vegetarian" had recipes that were mainly vegan. curious!
Janice--though I have heard about that show, I have never seen it! Sounds interesting, though. And, I have looked through "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" and he does have a lot of vegan recipes--however, he uses butter as his standard cooking fat (though he is pretty good at noting vegan substitutions). It's quite an impressive tome at over 1000 pages, which makes it a little overwhelming to try and pick out a recipe! His new book "Food Matters" also contains recipes, and although they don't really have a vegan emphasis, they are pretty adaptable to different dietary preferences. It's too bad that his message doesn't fully translate to his recipes, but I suppose he isn't really trying to be a purist.
Post a Comment