A Plant-Based Conundrum

“Plants furnish food and flavorings; more than half

the Earth population relies on grasses, rice, corn, and wheat

as their primary source of food.”

— Encyclopedia Britannica

Pride, satisfaction, flavor, and nutrition are some of the awards that come from the garden, through the kitchen, and to the table. (Photo by Paul Moore)

You can pretty much dial-for-a-diet these days. When you know your need, there’s a diet that can help get you to your goals. Weight Watchers. Atkins. Paleo. Keto. South Beach. Vegan. Vegetarian. Raw. There’s even the Saint-Tropez diet and an important one that’s little known called the Lyon Diet. Of course, my favorite is the Mediterranean. At their core all highlight eating foods that are pure, fresh, natural, wholesome, and nutritious. It’s just a combination of what and how much of the foods in a particular diet are right for you.

Research and studies continually show a diet— not a formulaic program but a daily regimen— that is heavier on vegetables, fruit, fish, grains, and nuts with a lower intake of red meat and dairy is beneficial for our well being. By this proportion alone, eating this way is inherently plant-based. Equally important is being somewhat active through some form of physical activity as well as keeping our mind working by engaging in conversation, hobbies, even doing crossword puzzles.

Enter the plant-based diet craze. This gets a lot of attention, as it should, but it also packages an approach to eating that’s been in front of us all of our lives and has been in existence for hundreds if not thousands of years. Hummus. Tabouleh. Rice dishes. Genovese style pasta with pesto. Gazpacho. Minestrone. Ratatouille. Greek salad. Succotash. Apple pie. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The blend of iced tea and lemonade called Arnold Palmer.

Plant-based doesn’t necessarily mean taking meat out of the equation. The cooking of Italy, Turkey, Greece, the Middle East, and Vietnam all have numerous preparations where meat is put in the back seat.

“With meat and fish reduced to flavor elements, vegetable recipes are generally low-cost, popular peasant food elevated to upper-class tables, too delicious to ignore.”

—FAITH WILLINGER, RED, WHITE, AND GREENS, 1996

The importance, awareness, and acting on eating more fruit and vegetables, lessening the amount of red meat in our diet, and using healthier fats like those that come from the oils of olives, seeds, and nuts needs to be embedded in our decision making. It’s a wonderful place to start because there are plenty of other discussions and choices to make like organic or conventional, wild or farmed, hormone free, non-GMO, white flour or whole wheat, refined sugar or honey, yes to extra virgin olive oil, no to margarine, and so on.

Read also: Ravenous Food Shopping

Which brings me to plant-based meats (oxymoron), meat alternatives (better), or alt meats (my favorite). The potential for the scale of these products to be in the mainstream of our food system is awesome. If a plant-based hamburger helps to get us toward the management of meat consumption it’s a step in the right direction. However I also have to believe anyone who follows a vegetarian or vegan diet isn’t craving a food product that looks, smells, tastes, and replicates fat and blood like real meat.

Regardless of who the customer is, an alt meat hamburger is a processed food. As demand increases they’ll become another part of the distribution system that makes the carbon footprint a little deeper. And the jury is out which is better when it comes to the line-by-line nutritional comparisons with real meat especially when considering the portion size served with other plant-based foods.

The bigger issues are the environmental damage created from factory farming, low grade commodity meats, highly processed foods, and matters in the rendering business. In fact, this was one of the original motivations for the creation of alt meat. The little meatballs in canned Italian Wedding Soup, the cold cuts in pre-made convenience store sandwiches, or meat-filled heat-and-serve burritos— there are a lot of problems with this stuff. It’s going to take an enormous amount of alt meat demand to rein in the food manufacturing business to replace the utility, cutter, and canner grade meat used in these processed foods.

There are really good veggie and garden burgers out there. I’ve had some with the same fixings and condiments as beef burgers and they can be delicious. And there’s no trying to hide the fact that it’s composed of vegetables instead of vegetables made to resemble something from an animal.

Eat more fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds, nut oils and consume less red meat and dairy. Easy. A Mediterranean-style diet checks those boxes. Inside of this way to eat is a pantry primarily composed of plant-based ingredients. Fill your shelves with oils, vinegars, herbs, spices, pasta, rice, grains, nuts, and seeds. Combine these with a few fresh ingredients, be physically and mentally active, and we will all be much better off as far as our diet and our planet is concerned.

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