Go vegetarian… if not for you, then for the planet

The practice of vegetarianism isn’t new, but the tradition has gained global acceptance in the past century as we’ve searched for better ways to eat — for us and for the planet.

Those who have adopted a strict vegetarian diet have done so for reasons encompassing ethical, religious, cultural, psychological, or economic beliefs. Valid arguments to be made for vegetarianism include our own health, animal cruelty, and the protection of the environment.

Besides, the old saw that eating your vegetables is good for you has more than a morsel of merit.

A diet rich in vegetables reduces the risk of major killers like heart disease (veggies are cholesterol free), stroke, and cancers, while cutting exposure to food-borne pathogens and the chemical additives found in factory-farmed meat.
Vegetables are rich in antioxidants, folic acid, zinc and other vitamins and minerals essential for health.

World Vegetarian Month was founded in 1977 and every October carnivores (or omnivores) are invited to give meatless fare a try. In their plea that an all-vegetable diet can be both life changing and world changing, organizers are asking non-vegetarians to eat meat-free for the day or throughout the month and to learn about the benefits of a vegetarian diet. You may even decide to go meatless on Thanksgiving. Being vegetarian doesn’t mean missing out on the rituals of holiday.

Tofurky anyone? This meaty textured mix of wheat gluten and organic tofu is a great turkey alternative. Try it with your pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes.

Eating vegetarian needn’t require total obeyance, either. Many of us are discovering vegetable dishes can be the mainstay of our diets, with meat as the garnish. The ethnically inspired tastes of vegetarian meals — from curried chickpeas, samosas, gyozas, or a stir fry, to exotic soups and salads — are variety enough to satiate our taste buds and cravings. That’s been the case for millennia.

The earliest records of vegetarianism as both societal concept and practice are tied to ancient India and the Greeks of the 6th century B.C. In both cases the diet was connected to the idea of nonviolence towards animals (known as “ahimsa” in India) and was promoted by religious leaders and philosophers.

The animal cruelty factor still plays out today, but it’s less a spiritually than an intellectually driven campaign and populist thought aligns itself closely with the quantum of other factors influencing the vegetarian decision. Chiefly, we want to be able to eat without discounting the pleasures of flavour, texture, and aesthetics. Or chew over this thought from Albert Einstein.

“It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.”

Meat production — on a factory level — has a direct correlation to deforestation. Rainforests in places like the Amazon basin are being felled to graze hamburger cattle. Livestock grazing is causing the spread of desert areas (the size of England and Scotland every year), and wastes fresh water (on irrigated land, 1 lb. of vegetables uses 25 gallons of water, but 1 lb. of beef uses 5,214 gallons).

A recent study by Cornell University economists estimated that for every person who switches to a pure vegetarian diet, an acre of trees will be spared annually. Further, vegetarianism is a viable answer to feeding the world’s hungry. If we reduced meat consumption worldwide by 10 per cent, enough grain would be saved to feed 60 million people and would free enough land to grow a further 12 million tons of grain each year.