Becoming "Week Day Veg"

So no offense to anyone reading this blog why might be a vegetarian but...I used to judge vegetarians.

Sorry. But up until about about a year ago, if you told me you were a vegetarian, I probably put you in a camp of some kind of extremist and no matter what you told me your reasoning was, I was going to think that you were extreme and incapable of finding balance in your diet, or that you were pretentious about your food choices. Or both.

And while I KNOW there are people who brag insipidly about eating their all organic local blah blah blah, *yawn* this summer I believe that I have seen the light, and am finally starting to understand what it's all about.

1. Animals are sentient beings with (at least some form) of cognitive ability and don't deserve to be mistreated.

Look, these cows like jazz! Can you really bring yourself to eat something that enjoys jazz???

But in all seriousness
Does that mean that we shouldn't eat them point blank? No. People evolved to eat meat -- there are those who will try to convince you that it's "unnatural" to want to eat animal products of any kind, and while we were eating meat long before we developed the ability to digest lactose over the age of like..12 months, we still evolved to be able to digest both meat and dairy efficiently. And evolution is about as natural as it gets. However, the farming industry today is generally pretty disgusting, and mega farms zapping cows painfully in the head or forcing chickens to sit their entire lives in overcrowded dirty cages is really not ok. What's worse is how we make commercial veal. I can't even talk about that here, look it up though.
And whether you want to accept it or not, the reason we need these very efficient and extremely cruel conditions is due to our demand for meat. NOT the fact that our population is so large that we need that much meat to feed everyone. Nope. Not true. It actually turns out that people could eat less than half of the meat they consume every day and be more than fine on the protein front. Ask the CDC. If our country cut our meat intake, farmers wouldn't need to resort to cruel conditions and practice in order to meet our demand.

2. Animals require a lot of upkeep, making them pretty unsustainable long-term.
Think for a moment about what would happen if one day someone just gave you a cow. Like, for a pet. Unless you're my dear friend who happens to live on a farm with her husband and have a very large backyard complete with large shed, I highly doubt you would be thrilled about your new pet cow. 1st of all, you probably don't have the space. But you also probably don't want the increase in watering the cow added to your utility bill. And you probably don't want to pay for all the feed! And eventually if you want the cow to be of ANY use to you at all, you'll probably want to turn it into steaks, which takes it's own energy altogether.
Now think about how many people have pet tomatoes. Pet green beans? Pet peppers, pet berries, pet chives, pet herbs, you get the idea. Pet veggies are a joy to grow and lots of urbanites and farmers alike enjoy growing them as a hobby. It takes MUCH more energy and many more resources to get the same amount of food from a cow as you would from plants.

3. Furthermore, all that food has to go somewhere!! Cows release methane gas into the atmosphere during potty breaks, which in small amounts is fine. But we've got a LOT of cows with a LOT of gas and methane contributes significantly to global warming.

So what's the solution? It seems to me that bringing down the demand for meat would contribute significantly to this problem. If farms weren't pressured to meet the needs of the market we've provided them by being our good ole' consumer selves, then the terrible conditions and the morally reprehensible tactics wouldn't be necessary. And while some people go full out vegan, this just isn't the right choice for everyone. Humans are social animals, and a big way we connect with one another is through sharing food together. Thus, the food you grew up eating provided to you by your parents and grandparents helped foster that social bond and maybe even taught you how to take care of yourself in the long run (my mom's creamy chicken breasts are still one of my all time favorite things to prepare for myself and was the first dinner I ever cooked for my boyfriend).

One idea that has really stuck out to me however, in learning about all this, is becoming a "weekday veg". It's exactly what it sounds like -- your week days/work days are devoted to eating a primarily plant-based diet with nuts, legumes, whole grains, and lots of fruits and veggies. However, the weekends and holiday breaks are your choice entirely. This way you don't need to give up steak. Or burgers. Or chicken. (but you have to give up veal, really people. stop eating veal.) You just  eat them less. And if everyone --not that everyone will-- did this? Our consumption would go WAY down. And I'm starting to believe that would be better for everyone :)