I am a flexitarian.

What is a flexitarian?  As the name suggests it is a flexible title.  As a practice, it means something different to each person.  For me, being a flexitarian means that I am very picky about what I eat, in keeping with a set of principles about how I believe food should be produced and transported to my fork or my fingers.  This means that I do not eat meat on weekdays but for the rare exception like the free range “happy chicken” I enjoyed with Chelsea’s family on a Wednesday night a couple weeks ago. 

Last night was one such exception.  My family went out to Fogo de Chao to celebrate my mom’s new job.  By now my family is used to my weekday abstention from meat, but this was a special occasion and I wanted to fully partake in the dining experience with my parents and brother.  Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian steakhouse, a veritable homage to animal protein.  The cooks, decked out in heavy gaucho pants, boots, and red cravats, hasten purposefully around the elegant dining room, offering the finest cuts of juicy, pink, perfectly-seasoned meat to the expectant patrons.  I declined the chicken, pork, and lamb, but enjoyed filet mignon wrapped in bacon, bottom sirloin, and the house special picanha.  The beef was cooked to perfection, allowing the marbled succulence of the muscle speak for itself.  As a foodie, I appreciated the unadulterated taste of meat and the exciting dining experience from abundant salad bar to the creamy flan at the end.  I was disappointed, but not surprised, when I learned that Fogo de Chao gets its meat from the distributor U.S. Foods’ Stock Yards brand.  The meat is factory farmed, corn-fed, and was probably shipped a few hundred miles to get to my plate. 

I chose to reduce my meat consumption years ago because of the costs of factory farming.  Meat production in the U.S. consumes an exorbitant amount of grain and degrades precious farmland.  We do not eat happy meat.  The meat we eat in the United States is mostly corn.  Corn-fed cows produce the marbled, fatty cuts of beef that we love.  But cows are not supposed to eat corn – their stomachs are designed to feed on grass and silage.  A diet of cheap commodity corn makes them sick (think too many of those delicious FiberOne bars) which, paired with the close quarters of feed lots, makes for less than hygienic living conditions.  High doses of antibiotics are an effective solution for the unnatural conditions of feed lots.  The same method comes in handy for the chickens we produce, who are unable to move for most of their short lives because their breasts are too big to be supported by tiny chicken legs.

Now is not the time for me to discuss how I feel about corn subsidies as an economist and citizen – that is something for a later date – but I will say that the modern U.S. of American diet is a product of political decisions made in the 1950s supported by consumer demand for cheap food following the Second World War.  For those of you who are interested in learning more about what we eat, I suggest Food Inc, a film by Robert Kenner and Michael Pollan, or King Corn, which will further explain just how corny we’ve all become.  Do you know what you are eating?  Do you know what the meat you are eating ate?

TIME Magazine did a great article on weekday vegetarians and flexitarians in its most recent issue.  It references the Meatless Monday movement, a trend started in 2003 which has now been picked up by some of your neighbors as well as celebrities like Sir Paul McCartney and meat loving chefs like Mario Batali.  The movement’s website provides new meat-free recipes every week for the daring soul who wishes to consciously cut meat out of his or her diet one day a week. 

For the most part my body’s protein cravings are satisfied by PB, black beans, and yogurt but I’m a good German and find it hard to resist the occasional bratwurst at a summer barbeque (with kraut of course) or a Reuben sandwich (again, with copious amounts of kraut).  Not to mention if you put chicken tamales in front of me on any given day, chances are I will happily devour them con salsa picante, por favor.  And the recipe for the best Brussels sprouts I know how to make calls for bacon grease and we all know there is no substitute for that.  So you see the beauty of being a flexitarian is that a foodie like me can consciously and effectively reduce my consumption of meat, contributing to my own health and the health of the planet, without feeling terrible about giving into the occasional carnivorous tendency.  

Would you give up meat one or every day of the week?  What factors determine what you choose to eat?

Until next time,

Anna