I really had to think about this one. My gut reaction was to write down almost everything listed as a no-no in the “No BS guideline”. I do pay attention to what I eat, but I often eat things without thinking anything about them, except how good it will taste. It was kind of a challenge to articulate the internal cost-benefit analysis of why I eat the way I do.
When I was younger, I ate a very strict vegan diet and thought too much about what I ate. It was hardcore. I didn’t wear leather shoes or belts. I got to the point that I stopped eating broccoli because I found out that it was virtually impossible to wash all of the thrips off and being a vegan and being an entomophagist are mutually exclusive. Hopefully this doesn’t turn anyone else off of broccoli, but thrips are microscopic insects that live on almost EVERYTHING that is a vegetable. (Check ‘em out: Thrips! …and a good picture) I also did a bunch of moderately fruitful research into which of the food additives with unpronounceable names were animal based. Waaaaaaay too much thinking involved there. Plus, meat is delicious!
Anyhow, I definitely try to make my diet as nutritionally dense as I can. I try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and stuff that isn’t processed very much. I don’t eat very much meat. But when I do, I try to get it from a butcher shop. The meat counter at Sentryz Liquor and Supermarket is usually where I go. It’s not the greatest supermarket in the world, but the meat counter is awesome. And it’s been there so long that they are grandfathered in and able to stock booze in the supermarket, which is kind of neat. I also think that supporting local business is really important, so generally I’m willing to spend a couple of extra bucks whenever necessary to do so. I don’t know about you, but I sleep better at night knowing that my neighbors aren’t starving.
Even though I do think that Michael Pollan’s suggestions for our diets are incredibly bourgeois, I agree with him on many levels. I think that buying locally, supporting family farms, and just generally being conscious of where our food comes from are all really important things to do. But it’s simply not possible for a good number of people. Eating this way costs lots of time and money that many just don’t have. This is unfortunate, because I think that these are the folks who would most benefit. The upswing in the number of urban farms and community gardens in impoverished places like Detroit and St. Louis is a positive sign.
Finally, here’s what I actually ate: yesterday evening I ate nearly an entire tub of Holy Land jalapeno hummus and a bag of Holy Land garlicky pita bread, some pepper jack cheese, a tomato, and some Fresh Express bagged salad with herbs. I ended up working later than I planned and I hadn’t gone grocery shopping all week, so I picked this stuff up on the way home. It was a pretty good meal: relatively inexpensive, mostly local, meatless, easy, quick, and most importantly, tasty.
True story: There was once an incredibly heated debate about thrips in my living room and the end result was that the house Dream Phone game was a casualty. I was beyond disgusted--not only about the game but also about the bugs. New Orleans has the Audubon Insectarium, where you can eat bugs sometimes. I didn't get to do it this time but the second I get back to New Orleans, I'm soo eating bugs (and not on accident while I'm sleeping).
ReplyDeleteAnd when your done with the thrips on the broccoli, check out the mites living on the shaft of every one of your eyelashes. 90% of the DNA in 'us' is something else; we're microorganism transport vehicles.
ReplyDeleteAND in terms of vegan / life relations: we are all one huge, interconnected lifeform.