Frankenmeat: Yea or Nay?

This week, a molecular biologist at Stanford named Patrick Brown told the world that he’s developed the first veggie-based “meat” that tastes exactly like animal meat, and that it could be ready for consumption by the end of the year.  This isn’t your average veggie meat from companies like Gardein, Brown claims this new meat is indistinguishable from “real” meat – even by “hardcore foodies”.

His motives seem to be good – he pursued this work in order to avoid what he calls “by far the biggest environmental catastrophe”.  The benefits are obvious – if this new meat can wean omnivores off the animal-based stuff, how can it possibly be a bad thing?  It would free up grazing lands to grow plants for humans, and could make it possible to feed a planet with 9+ billion people.  And of course it could save billions of lives of animals that currently suffer horribly in factory farms.

A planet of vegans and vegetarians could do the same thing, by the way.  And do we want to become a world living on engineered food?  The Frankenfood that Monsanto has created via their GMOs is wreaking environmental and bodily havoc on the world.  Do we want to encourage more genetic altering of our food?  Maybe this new veggie meat really is made from whole-food sources without harmful chemicals – I’m sure we’ll learn more in the months to come.  And maybe this is the only answer to save the environment and the animals in a world completely addicted to the stuff.   

But to be safe, I’ll continue to focus on organic, whole plant-based foods as nature intended.

Valentine or Vegantine?

There's nothing wrong with Valentine's Day.  


I'm all in favor of a holiday that celebrates love.  The problem is that over the years it's been hijacked to only focus on romantic love, and cultural/marketing engines have defined a standard of perfection that we can't possibly live up to, and many of us utterly reject.  Love is different for everyone - why should we try to fit ourselves into one-size-fits-all?


I knew things had gone too far when I heard on NPR this morning that the Waffle House, White Castle and Chick-fil-A restaurants were accepting reservations for Valentine's Day dinners.  I understand that times are tough for so many people.  But are people so desperate to try to live up to the standard of a candlelit romantic dinner that they'd settle for these money-making charades?


My advice (for what it's worth) is to celebrate love.  I have no data to support this, but I believe vegans have extra capacity for compassion, so be a Vegantine!  Put a note in your child's lunchbox today that tells them you love them.  Pick them up from school early and do something they'd enjoy.  Give your dogs extra treats, brush your cats.  If you have a romantic someone, cook them a delicious vegan meal or dessert (lots of delicious options in The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau...I've been dying to try the No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie) or how about a candlelit massage?  Better yet, give love to someone who doesn't usually get to experience it: volunteer to walk dogs at a shelter or go hug a cow at a farm animal sanctuary.  


There are infinite expressions of love.  Find your own.