Sheetrock's Journal: DILEMMA

The other night I decided to try out the "Internet TV" feature of Winamp. It's apparently been implemented for a while, but this was the first time I noticed it: streaming low-quality video "channels" not unlike streaming low-quality audio "channels" I can pick up through Shoutcast, but full so I can't actually join them.

Unsurprisingly it is packed with porn, along with various episodes of Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, and what have you. Finally I found an open server showing the feature Meet Your Meat 2, which I soon discovered was a short pro-vegan documentary on the lives and deaths of various animals immediately before us in the food chain.

Disappointed, I nevertheless sat through the film to get an idea of their side of things. Now mind you, I had the opportunity to visit family farms many times growing up (and in anticipation of your eager questions, I never tipped or otherwise fiddled with the livestock -- although according to the local lore such things apparently went on more than a little bit over the years) so it was a bit of a shock to see how things go on industry farms. And it definitely made it harder to get the bacon cheeseburger with cheddar and mayo down the day after, but not impossible.

It got me thinking, though, that there is a future is in synthetic meat products. A lot of energy goes into producing meat. A lot of effort goes into keeping my meat relatively disease-free, sometimes by loading it with antibiotics. As a fan of mock duck dishes (particularly curried) I can say that the texture can be faked with some effectiveness, but as a fan of seared chicken parmesano with rigatoni al dente I can also say the current crop of meat substitutes leaves something to be desired. You simply cannot take a fungus, bread it with soy milk and flour and a ton of spice, fry and serve topped with soy cheese, no-egg macaroni, and tomato sauce without wanting to hurl by the first bite.

Consequently I, like you just now, took a short yet pointless journey to end up with the realization that I'm going to continue doing a horrible thing because the alternative tastes like shit. An interesting metaphor for the larger political picture, don't you think?

You Can Get Non-Industry Meat

[the_mad_poster]

Just buy that free-range and/or organic shit. It costs a little more, but, frankly, tastes better anyway.

Re:You Can Get Non-Industry Meat

[Sheetrock]

Agreed. The local supermarket has at best a sporadic supply for some reason, but I've noticed it tastes better too. Especially organic steaks on the grill with corn-on-the-cob grilled in the husk. There's a butcher in town that might have access to the better stuff.

I do a lot of stir-fry so the difference in price has less of an impact than it might on others, but I think it's worth eating less meat of higher quality. That said, I still can't figure out why nothing beats a Whopper on a good day.

Re:You Can Get Non-Industry Meat

[Doctor O]

> I still can't figure out why nothing beats a Whopper on a good day.

That's easy. Flavour enhancers, mostly natrium glutamate. It's addictive, and it's in about every industrially treated food, including all ingredients of your beloved Whopper. (I've got my Whopper days, too, but much less since we have our kids and actually cook with good stuff, not with all that industrial shit.)

FWIW, we eat less meat, but we buy from our local butcher who gets his meat at nearby farms (non-industrial). It's *a bit*

Like drugs from Canada

[TheConfusedOne]

This is only a solution as long as not too many people choose to use it. The production levels for free-range and organic just can't handle the mass consumer scale.

Organic, 'happy' meat?

[rthille]

Well, you can spend more money and get meats which were raised in better conditions. you can eat less meat (most americans get more than they need) which will offset the cost difference and you'll be 'doing less evil' :-)

I'm the same way about shrimp (my favorite seafood) since I found out that, for most shrimp, 1 pound of shrimp means 7-10 pounds of bycatch and seafloor habitat destruction. Now pretty much the only shrimp I eat is the stuff my wife can't eat when she orders it.