Music of Accompaniment

If there was a song to best fit my blog it would be this. We never really know for sure, and this blog is a column of discussion. So eat what your heart desires…

Am I What I Eat?

Ever since he was a little boy his great Aunt Jane cooked the most delicious dinners. She was always there to provide him with energy before the long day, or before one of the many sports he played. Or maybe even just after school when he was hungry. As part of the family, aunt Jane was indeed Lebanese too. And she assembled incredible Lebanese meals; unlike the meals he would eat at his friends house. Leaving home would be hard for a number of different reasons. Jean Brillat-Savarin once said “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Would this change to cafeteria food, and the struggle for food as a college student forever change who he was?

So there he was in a different state at Chapman University, away from his community, his friends, and family. Away from the food he knew for so long. There was always regret he didn’t learn more of the great recipes that Aunt Jane had mastered. However, soon enough writing became his favorite leisure thing to do. This writing, mostly about food, was becoming a new way to cultivate his mind and escalate his energy, food wise of course. Killin’ two birds with one stone…  At eight in the morning in the grass, pen and paper in hand, with ninety percent of the student population still asleep, there was no where but the beach he would rather be.

Besides the lack of food, he was excited for the new semester. The atmosphere on campus was warm and inquisitive, a friendly face or two but the rest full of opportunity. The good vibe from the music playing was short lived, interrupted when the professors told him how much work he’d be doing. He wouldn’t have time to write about food! He would have to earn his health with every new sentence, while simultaneously studying for all his courses.

Practice does make perfect though, and he knows multi-tasking can be very rewarding.

Everything came down to a decision he needed to make; should he stay in the school or not? Well, the cons are that there would be a lot of juggling, weekends would be workdays, and projects can always be intimidating. Pros included his teachers looked like they could keep the class interesting, he would be outside of his comfort zone, and possibly that projected he wanted to do could be incorporated with his writing about food and family somewhere down the line. Oh, and not to mention there were some cute girls all his classes.

He had a vast image of himself leaving freshman year. Able to multi-task with new acquired techniques and boundaries, writing in his future classes would decease to faze him. He would wonder if dropping out of college was really worth writing and eating healthy for the rest of his life from the comfort of his Aunt Jane… Some say you are what you eat, he would learn to say you are what you make of it. Cavemen didn’t have gluten free…

American Childhood, Lebanese Recipe

Finally it ceased to snow. We were creeping into March now, where the whether is exponentially warmer and the flowers come out. The sun warmed the skin on my back, birds who seemed to have disappeared were back chirping louder than ever, not to mention summer must have been right around the corner. Spring was a time of utter joy in Salt Lake City. And a time for Mjaddarah.

But as us humans often say, nothing is perfect – kind of like the appearance of Mjaddarah ( shju-du-(d)rah). On sunday morning when it is still cold and my comfy, soft, warm bed is impossible to part from, mom was there to nuzzle me out for church at 8 AM. We would learn the Old Testament and New every week at my grade school. My great Aunt Jane who helped raise me went to church every sunday. And when we had family reunions with my grandma’s six sisters and all of their offspring, I was surrounded by catholics. Growing up, there was no skipping church on sunday.

Some advantages were held to being catholic. One had to do with the delicious meals Aunt Jane would make. Lebanese dishes on Lebanese dishes were made throughout my childhood, and I have to say, they were much better than your average American food. Not to mention the crazy weddings we hold, but that’s another story for a different day. Do you know how big the US army is? The answer is roughly 600,000 people. Every time Aunt Jane cooks, she cooks for an army, whether my brother and I have five friends, just my family is sitting at the table, or my five billion first, second, third, fourth, fifth, fourth twice removed… I have a lot of close cousins.

The most memorable times of Aunt Jane’s cooking, however, came when just my brother and I, and generally a couple friends were around in the Spring time. Lent always comes in the Spring, and is a time of fasting for catholics. When I say fasting I mean we don’t eat meat on Friday’s. Be not struck with fear, this is where Mjaddarah comes in, providing all the protein and essential goodies one needs. So on Friday’s when we finished school at 12:15 and the new Spring sunshine awaited, Mjaddarah would be waiting for us on the stove in a large pot; fit for two armies. The plan was simple: fuel up with Mjarddarah, and proceed to the front yard for some good old fashioned football. When Mjarddarah and football are in the same sentence, thats the part of american culture I love.

Nothing was more frightening than playing football with the fifth graders at recess. They were bigger, stronger, louder, and fiercer than us fourth graders. One year made the biggest difference at that age. Jake lived behind me and we had hung out plenty of times; playing Fifa on playstation, creating tin foil boats for when it poured rain, or even driving to the hospital after a formidable game of frisbee. But his friend Jackson I didn’t know. So when he came over after school one friday, I wasn’t too sure.

A nice big bowl of Mjaddarah is a great dish to use when warming up to someone! It is not the best eye candy, nor is like anything most Americans have ever seen. When first placed on the table neither Jackson nor Jake were sure about the Majaddarah. And I wasn’t too sure about Jackson. Neither one of them should be judged by their cover.

Now I can’t really speak for Jackson, but when the first bite of Mjaddarah nests in the tongue, the soft, savory rice and lentils dwindle down in the mouth, and there is no looking back before the stomach has reached full capacity. Even then wanting more is not unusual. Jackson went from looking timidly at the Majaddarah to finishing off the entire amount Aunt Jane put out!  After our first encounter it was impossible to keep him out of my house. We became good friends and still talk to this day.

“Muslim, Christian and Jewish families of the Middle East all savor it, and there are versions of it with South Indian and other spices. It is endlessly versatile.”http://open.salon.com/blog/emma_peel/2009/02/10/mjaddarah_lentils_caramelized_onions_and_rice

While catholics aren’t the only people in the Middle East who savor Mjaddarah, I will describe some unique ways my aunt made the recipe. I have a few of my own personal ways even, one in which I simply add greek yogurt. Everyone can personalize the recipe for themselves.

Credit – Aunt Jane

You know those days when you don’t feel like moving at all, but maybe sit in front of the TV or meander around the house all day long? Or maybe your feeling spicy and you want to go clubbin’ until the AM. My personal favorite way of eating Mjaddarah goes better with the first mood I mentioned. Lebanese, or Syrian bread, most often known as pita, is rather simple to find at most markets. Or you could be lucky like me and know someone who makes it, OG style. Either way, using your hands to wrap the Mjaddarah with a blanket of Lebanese bread provides a mouth-watering taste. It’s like a burrito, only safer, healthier, and more comforting.

If your feeling more up for the ladder situation, there is a way to eat Mjaddarah that fits the party life as well. We will use a fork this time, but still bring a compliment to the table. This extra can be done in different ways, but the general idea is using lettuce or coleslaw on top of the Mjaddarah. Aunt Jane uses a nice lemon and oil sauce on thin slices of lettuce. The sudden and provocative taste of lemon counteracting with the Mjaddarah suits most people quite nicely.

Like a marine without a gun, the taste of Mjaddarah on it’s own can be equally as dangerous; don’t be thinking the recipe needs additives. The meal will swoop an average joe of his feet with nothing but its unarmed self. This method can be recommended for any given day of the week.

I provided the recipe above in Aunt Jane’s hand writing. I will have to say the best way to make Mjaddarah is in the photo I took above, and if you click on the photo, it should blow up in another screen where you can easily read the recipe. If unable to figure this out, I have provided a very similar recipe below in typed writing from a recipe book called The Lebanese Kitchen. No promises this recipe is as good as Aunt Jane’s, so you’ll just have to do a little bit of work for the legendary, homemade version.

Credit – The Lebanese Kitchen

Here We Go… Current Food Issues

It deeply saddens me to bring my audience the fact that California has filed suit against Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, an other food retailers and manufacturers. Unfortunately in this day and age, it happens whether just or not. It is part of the job of the government to insure the safety of the population and the rights of the people, and this affects everything we do, and eat for that matter. As for the details on the reason I am sad…

I couldn’t care less about Whole Foods and the other food companies. What I do care about, however, is Trader Joe’s. Ever since I can remember my mom was always going to Trader Joe’s when we came to California. I didn’t even know what this supposedly awesome store gave to their customers that my relatives we’re so fanatic about. I mean I knew they sold wine.

The big attraction, specifically is the ginger candies. When one put’s those solid, sweet candies into your mouth, you get a rapid array of ginger moving throughout the creases of your tongue. Before you place them in your mouth it already starts to water! I could eat ten of these candies in a single day. And in fact, my mom and me probably did a number of different times.

So if you haven’t figured it out yet, there is something wrong with these candies, or at least so the California government says. “Under Proposition 65, a product that contains even small amounts of lead or other chemicals identified by the state as harmful to the human health must carry a label warning to consumers.” (Democrat Press) And in the government’s tests, this candy contains lead. They ran a series of tests, filed suit, and have since verified lead is contained in the ginger candies as well as a number of others.

As far as the candy goes, I don’t believe we will see them for a while. As far as Trader Joe’s goes, they will be fine, though will probably have to pay a large fine. “If found to be at fault by a judge, the candy makers and retailers could be fined up to $2500 per day for each violation.” (Press Democrat) This adds up very fast when I think about how long I have been consuming these candies.

Who would have thought that these candies would be banned before anything else? After all, the famous contributor to lead isn’t candy, but paint.

Because I have been biased, I will talk about Whole Foods as well. “At Whole Foods, the suit named the market’s “bulk ginger” and The Ginger People Baker’s Cut Crystallized Ginger Chips as not complying with the law. The suit did not identify which company manufactured each specific product sold at each store” (Press Democrat).

This current food event relates to a larger issue than crystallized ginger candy. Do you think all products containing trace amounts of lead should be labeled in every state, as they are required to be in California? Or should GMO’s be labeled on all foods sold in the grocery stores? Some would argue that California or the United States have too many laws requiring labels for different ingredients. Others would say that we don’t have nearly enough of these labels. Just recently, Proposition 37 was widely being debated in California over whether or not food manufacturers should be required to Label GMO foods. While this didn’t pass, it is only the beginning stages of a long fight over GMOs and their alleged harmful effects on human health.

Even people on my Instagram feed get involved with issues like these. Kelly Slater posted a picture checking yes for Prop. 37 along with “Why would Monsanto and other chemical companies spend $41 million to defeat a food labeling bill? What is there to hide in food? Plenty. “ Check out his Instagram to see all the fun comments, and the issues we will see debated widely in the future.

What makes a good food writer?

Nothing makes for a more kick ass food essay than incorporating a bomb recipe. However, after looking at a few essays from expert writers, I realized that it takes more than bacon to draw in the reader. Sure, they see the title of the recipe first. But once they start reading the introduction, solely mentioning the greatest food on the planet won’t keep the reader intrigued.

Possibly the most cliché tip a writing teacher can give is “start your essay with a question.” While this method often seems juvenile and cynical, I was drawn in to Ernest Hemingway’s birthday recipe by a series of questions. “Were you expecting a stiff cocktail? Fresh marlin? Braised wildebeest? Ernest Hemingway has become such a legendary character, it’s hard to think of a recipe that could match his macho reputation.” Yes Mr. Author, I was in fact expecting something from your carefully chosen gourmets. So what could the recipe be? After counting these off I didn’t know what the recipe would entail, allowing my easily distracted mind to finish the essay.

I’m sure Manhattan is a really cool city. You see things in magazines and many other forms of media. As ignorant as this may sound, I’m not from Manhattan and I’m not interested anymore after hearing endless stories about the history of someone’s life in Manhattan. “Born and raised in Manhattan, he would run errands with his mother to Washington Market, where farmers unloaded their produce onto the Hudson piers.” How many stories do you think have started out like this? When Mr. Author starts his story out this way, I start playing x-box. I guess this means… create a unique and relatable intro.

Incorporating culture is something I thoroughly enjoy when talking, reading, or writing about food. America is built on not just the generations and generations that have existed in the US, but family’s from around the world as well. Something special that these immigrants bring to American culture is the food they sit down to throughout the day. I guess I’m biased for foreign recipe stories since my ancestors are from Lebanon. Sorry Manhattan natives!

I was going to start this paragraph along with my essay “coming home from grade school to a warm and delicious meal is one of the greatest things ever.” Then I noticed this sentence is similar to sentences in the past. In any case, this meal I came home to, and my personal favorite Lebanese dish was called Mjaddarah. Every friday during Lent we would eat this meal, but also on random days throughout the rest of the year. Out of a number of delicious meals my great Aunt Jane would make for me, Mjaddarah has the greatest background and distilled taste in my mind. I will use this for my family story and recipe project. While it is just a meal, I plan to paint a small picture of my childhood and the Catholic/Lebanese foundations I grew up on. Truly amazing happenings can be told through something as small and simple as food.

Food Research Project: The Avocado

Birds are chirping outside and dew is just barely beginning to evaporate on the tips of grass. The last days of March are coming to an end and what a great month it has been! Weekends were filled with spring skiing, two birthdays in the family have passed, and the valley is gaining bloomed flowers and warm sunshine. And on this fine Saturday morning, my dad and I decide to spend some quality time doing what we do best, watching TV.  In the middle of our movie (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), my dad decides to grab a spoon and an avocado to snack on. Between the food, Harry Potter, and the couch, everything seemed to be in place.

Watching my dad eat that avocado brought me back to the first time I ever laid my eyes on one.  I recall my dad eating an avocado when I was around seven years old, eating it in the same manner as he was now.  But he never once offered a bite to me, but how could he not? He knew green was my favorite color!  I guess he thought avocados were only for adults, and I would cringe at the though of eating one. Little did he know that when I got older I wouldn’t be able to get enough of them, especially since I’m willing to pay so much for it whenever I stop by Chipotle or Jalepenos in Old Towne Orange.

I still remember wondering, “Where did dad get this type of food?” I had gone grocery shopping with him many times when I was younger, always going to the Albertsons right down the street from my house. Surely it couldn’t have grown in the harsh winters of Salt Lake City, or anywhere in Utah for that matter! “This must be a conspiracy, and my dad has to be working for the black market,” I thought. But never before had I seen such gracious and smooth scoops of something edible.  Eventually he let me had a bite.  It was then I knew avocados would be a part of my future. That bite changed my life.

Some would argue the conquistadors took over south-central America for land, gold, and other plunder. I would say the avocado is what kept them anchored.

After a long night out with the boys I felt drained the next morning. Reaching for my water bottle next to the bed, I realized I needed something more substantial and filling. That was when I thought of Chipotle. Just the thought of the infamous steak burrito had me drooling…. I had to raise my friends from the grave and make the trek to Chipotle.

Credit – stitchuptees.com

As a college student I don’t think I could be more broke. Between supporting sorority girls at their philanthropies, attesting to my friend’s thirstiness, and eating out, my bank account continues to dwindle. So when the damn guy at Chipotle asks if I know it’s $1.90 extra for guacamole…

On a Sunday afternoon I managed to make it over to Chipotle, despite my lack of transportation and in-sufficient funds, to do some research on avocado’s and consumer demand. Confirming they charge $1.90 extra for guacamole, whether on a burrito or on the side, I was flabbergasted by the results I witnessed. Out of the 34 people that came in while I was there, 26 purchased guacamole! The general percentage of guacamole go-getters was 70% of the people who stepped through the door.

I have to say that this time, I didn’t even get guacamole. I didn’t even get a steak burrito! The veggie-new burrito I ordered was the best bang for your buck, coming with your choice of three sides at $4.50.

Something I looked for in Chipotle was the type of people who didn’t order guacamole. While a large group of nurses who came in all got guacamole, I saw a couple younger men who looked to be college students pass up the guacamole. The reasons for this are obvious. The nurses, however, probably took into account the hours they just worked and the health benefits of avocados.

Whenever I make the trek to Chipotle my friend David is down, he absolutely loves their burritos. When I went with him after my project’s topic was decided, I noticed that David orders guacamole on his burrito’s; so I asked him how he felt about paying extra. “I’ve gotten used to being charged that much so it doesn’t phase me any more. I know I’m going to be already spending a lot on a burrito, so I feel like a might as well go it,” he said.

Another young couple came in for burrito bowls. Naturally, the lady ordered first and when asked if paying extra for guacamole was ok, she helplessly looked at her boyfriend and asked “can I get guacamole?” His reply was complacent, not phased but not too stoked on the idea. He wasn’t ordering any guacamole for himself…

Sitting quietly while taking my notes, one young man in his late thirties was ordering a burrito with his two kids and wife behind him. When the guy behind the glass asked him if it was ok that guacamole was one-ninety extra, his reply was apparently something that doesn’t happen that often. He said, “two dollars? A whole two dollars extra? Nah, forget it.” I took notice to see his wife ordered guacamole right after the scene…

Thankfully I was able to catch this guy on his way out. After introducing myself I told him his reaction was exactly what I was reporting about, and why he didn’t pay extra for guacamole. “I think it’s ridiculous, absolutely absurd. Your already paying $6.00 for a burrito and they want to charge you $2.00 more.” I went on to agree with him and we moved the conversation to a more economical standpoint. “I can see if there’s a shortage in supply why they would charge that much, but we’re in California. There’s no shortage of avocado’s here,” he said.

So what does this all mean? Well, given the percentages, people are very willing to spend extra on that avocado, and companies like Chipotle can get away with it. CJ, a cashier and fellow guacamole server at Chipotle, gave me the memo on how often this reaction comes from the customer. “I’ve been working here for four months now,” he said. “That’s the second customer I’ve seen have a loud and upset reaction to our prices. Most people still say yes but if they don’t I can understand where they’re coming from.” They don’t care how much they have to afford, even if the price for a little avocado is 25% of the burrito.

Sometime between 7000 and 5000 BC, God with his gracious fingertip allowed the avocado a place in this world.  Archeologists have found domesticated avocado seeds buried with Incan mummies dating back to around 750 BC. Today, they are amongst the most important fruits traded in the entire world, and this isn’t for no reason. They are arguably the most tasty and nutritious fruits on the market.

When eating avocado’s you can be as creative as you want to be. Five minutes ago I just threw some on my sandwhich along with turkey, tomatoes, lettuce, and mayonnaise. My personal favorite in the sandwitch department, when I can get my hands on some bacon, consists of turkey, bacon, and avocado. If you don’t like this combination I don’t know how to appease your apetite.

A more common method, such as the one Chipotle uses, is mixing avocado with a series of ingredients like pico de gallo or many secret methods that various restaurants use. Combined with Chips, this makes a delicious apetizer before a delicious meal or goes well in a burrito.

Like I said before, you can be creative. Thanks to my teacher, I have mixed avocodo, a central american orignal fruit, with Mjaddarah, a famous lebanese dish. To understand how truly great this combination would be, explore my previous blogs! I promise you won’t regret it…

Because the avocado is in such high demand, places like Chipotle can abuse the price. And I’m not just criticising Chipotle, but many other restruants charge extra for guacamole, or avocado. They realize how much people want to enjoy the substance, and use the monopolist price to achieve the highest income per distribution.

I can tell you now, until I plant an avocado tree in my backyard and start producing, I will be a victim of this doop. Avocado’s are life; they give you pleasure, healthy ness, and overall well-being.

Stay Jipper, Write Well

Dear Good Friend,

Writing about food can be made very simple or extremely difficult. It’s all about what you put into the exploration and commitment. So decide now between a couple scoops of ice cream or a master piece tiramisu.

If you want the tiramisu you have to conquer a few road blocks, but don’t stress as its not hard. Maybe the hardest part is picking the right topic. Pick something you’re passionate about so you stay interested and energized throughout the process. This is arguably the most important part.

Once you have the right topic, decide how it is different than any essay you’ve read before. What is your personal connection to the topic? How will you distinguish your findings from the unlimited amount of useless/helpful information out on the web? Asking questions like this will help you create a piece intriguing enough to influence opinions and change even the smallest habits, for the biggest long term accomplishments.

So you have your topic and unique characteristics. But whose opinions do you want to influence? Your audience could be athletes, college students, older folk, or anyone who is trying to make a difference in their own lives. No matter what, knowing your audience is crucial to writing a great manifesto so you can appeal to the emotions of your readers.

For me, it is easy to create my own point of view on a topic from the information I have received. The hard part is finding the information first. There are a lot of facts and statistics out on the world wide web and elsewhere  and it’s up to you to find what is viable and worth your time. Only then can you form your opinion and give readers a good piece.

Creating writing about food with impact can be a stressful process. Writing something people can actually incorporate into their lives for the better is a lot of pressure. However, if you break it down into simpler steps, the process can be made much easier for the writer. Find a topic you are passionate about. Recognize your audience. Make a distinction between good and bad information. And lastly, have fun with it. Your piece will be more pleasant to create and better to read if you enjoy the entire process; so keep smiling.

No Matter Where Your From; Two Films

America is blessed with a vast amount of resources. When the first settlers arrived here, they were flabbergasted by the all the lumber, fresh water, and potential for profit. Others are simply just drawn to the beauty of this country. One of the things that this beauty brings to the people in the United States is food. We are completely self sustainable and while many companies ship food and raw materials across borders, it is due to want rather than need.

One film, King Corn, one episode from America Revealed, Food Machine both, talk about how food is produced in the United States, though from two totally different perspectives. As we look at the films we can learn a lot about how America is so great, but some problems that we have created as humans looking out for self-interests.

King Corn is a film about two brothers who notice that everything in their meals is made up of corn. After doing a hair test with unfriendly results, they realize the dependence on corn production for all of the food in the grocery store, and move out to their ancestors land to grow corn. Before watching this film, I knew corn syrup was in most foods and soda. I used to buy the Mexican coke at the gas station because I liked the idea of natural cane sugar rather than corn syrup. However, like me, like the majority of Americans don’t know the degree of how much corn syrup is actually infested into our food. Hopefully they as well as whoever is reading this watches the film so they can understand.

After seeing the endless fields of cornrows, all containing crunchy corn that is unable to be consumed, I started to realize how deep we really are in our dependence on processed food.  Part of the reason for this is because the government is so involved. They subsidize this production in order for farmers to be able to pay this production, so not only is it not cheap to produce this corn fast, but it is not profitable. So what happens when we want to produce corn the right way and can’t grow it fast enough?

America Revealed: Food Machine also talks about food production, but from a different perspective than King Corn. We get to see a wide range of how food is produced in America in ginormous amounts. One of the biggest issues that this episode brings up, which is close to me personally, is the ratio of water to agriculture in California. With California’s amazing climate and weather, year round crops can be produced massively; they’re not stuck up in some greenhouse, but out in miles and miles of fields. There are also not a lot of mountains in California and the general area is pretty low in elevation. This along with the low amount of precipitation, California doesn’t receive a lot of water year round.

Where I’m from, Salt Lake City, we have the Rocky Mountains and sometimes 800 inches of snow that falls in the winter. This produces a large spring runoff and water is abundance. Sometimes, us mountaineers take this fact for granted. People like California have to borrow water from places like us, which is a huge problem in terms of sustainability. It is possibly to dam water in mountainous regions where spring water flows, but this is of great cost to the ecosystem around the dam.

Since I watched this film I have had a hard time drinking water in the cafeteria. Without ice, it feels warm and dirty to me, and I wonder if the water reaching all of the avocados in California is cleaner.

For my personal situation Food Machine had a greater impact. Although there is corn syrup in all the food at Albertsons back home in Salt Lake, the issues in Food Machine we’re much more relatable to me. It would be interesting to pick someone from the Midwest and show them both the episode and the film, and see what their reaction is from comparing and contrasting the two.

No matter who you are or where you come from, you should watch both of the films. They have a great deal to offer in terms of food production, sustainability, and our future as a country. We have so many resources in the United States and should be blessed, rather than take our land for granted. In the future, we will need how to use these resources properly.

My Food Manifesto: Wilson’s Wager

Wilson’s Wager

Since when could you inject testosterone into your system for a little t boost? There are seemingly more and new diseases everyday now, many which didn’t exist 50 years ago. We as a society could blame a number of different things, but arguable the main cause is what we put into our body. Have you ever really thought about the statement you are what you eat?

You’ve heard it before, but probably didn’t seriously consider this phrase. I say this because something is clearly terrible wrong with the way most Americans eat. We are one of the most obese countries in the world. Cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are all growing in numbers. Some manifestos of my classmates are about reversing our diet to what the caveman consumed. They are on the right track to saving a lot of lives.

Until recently I hadn’t, really thought about this phrase my 6^th grade teacher introduced to me. I have always strived to eat very healthy though. My mom was a big health freak and yoga instructor, so naturally I would eat naturally made foods the majority of the time. Also, I was always envolved in multiple athletics requiring a pristine energy filled, nutrient rich diet. I never realized how important my diet was to my daily life.

But seriously, we expel energy every single day. Whether we are at work, the gym, or simply moving around in our daily lives, fuel is being spent from what we consumed before. To regenerate our body, we have to consume foods helping with the muscles and cells in our body.

I’m not here to talk about diseases and else. That would take forever considering the new number. And I’m not here to tirade on the horrible effects of meat for everyone who enjoys a good steak. My goal is to argue that no harm can come from eating a more plant based diet. Whether meet is bad for you or not, research has shown the health benefits of consuming more plants. I want to stray the common person away from consuming meat on a daily basis to covering three quarters of every plate with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; basically, a plant based diet.

“The universe is nothing without the things that live in it, and everything else that lives, eats.” – Aphorisms of the Professor

Right here on the campus of Chapman University, it is prevalent how effective eating more vegetables is to our overall health. Recently I went to our cafeteria where I took watch of the type of people who took plates from each food section. Fortunately, softball practice had just finished and I saw all the girls go straight to the salad bar for their food. I would say they are all in pretty good shape too. Most guys, however, who don’t really watch what they eat went straight to the italian section and followed with a plate of asian food. This is not the healthiest way to eat at the Chapman dining hall.

The traditional notion for what an athlete eats is a very meat and protein based diet. In high school, I played lacrosse and hockey, and the goal after practice was always to eat a large steak. However, there are plenty sources of protein that provide for a healthier choice.

Americans today (largely attributed to college students) make some of the worst decisions on food, which is prevalent in our health statistics. We will often eat at fast food places because we’re in a rush, and can’t wait to cook a solid meal after working out. Or maybe we have a budget for the month and fast food saves the most cash. The bottom line is whatever we eat is fuel for our bodies throughout each day, and eating healthy now provides for long term healthy energy production. Knowing this, people should be willing to blow more cash on food and spend more time making meals. After all, we will function better and achieve more throughout the day.

A recent published article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the harmful effects of what we used to think were healthy foods, mainly dairy products. Findings “pointed away from meat and milk as the building blocks of a healthy diet, and toward whole, plant-based foods with little or no added oil, sugar, or salt.” The article goes on to say heart disease and certain cancers strongly associate with animal protein-based diets, and pain relief along with other issues are reduced when consuming dairy ceases.

Credit The Plant Based Diet.com

When I was growing up the doctor was always saying to drink four glasses of milk per day and red meat is important in your diet. Knowledge from the past drastically conflicts with different research present today. However, no one ever said there were negative effects of eating a more plant based diet.

The American people solely are not to be blamed for these bad decisions. After all, the government doesn’t allocate money properly. Yes they produce enough to feed a large population, but this is done in an irresponsible manner, which will catch up to everyone in the future.

When I say irresponsible, I mean the government spending on livestock and poultry counts for over half of US agriculture cash receipts, exceeding $100 billion per year (USDA). A number of issues arise when looking at this statistic. This spending would be justified if the majority of our plates at dinner should be covered with meat. But a balanced meal with more vegetables, fruits, and grains is proven to be healthier for us.

For anyone who has seen the film King Corn, they understand the ramifications of this government spending, which keeps two brothers clothed as they create the movie. After realizing the majority of their bodies are made up of corn, the two brothers move to Iowa to grow on an acre of land- and learn a lot in the process.

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Ironically, farmers in Iowa can no longer feed  themselves. They cannot even eat a single cob they grow! All the corn is fed into an industrial process that feeds cows, pollutes the environment, and ends up in all of our process foods. In the movie, this corn-fed beef and high fructose corn syrup is linked to diabetes and other negative health effects.

Salt Lake City, where I was born and raised, has the “inversion effect.” The inversion happens when warm air traps cold air in the valley between mountains, and we get thick smog; partially from the clouds, largely from trapped pollution. I don’t know when I became such an environmentalist, but I could largely attribute it to looking at thick smog every time we went without a storm every two weeks. I would prefer to always breath the air in the first picture.

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One of the largest contributions to pollution on a global perspective is food production, according to a United Nations report. But at the same time, we have a large population to sustain and doing so will almost always add to pollution. The UN report states that the only way to feed the population without adding to the environmental problem is to move towards a vegetarian based diet.

The seventeenth-century philosopher Blaise Pascal posits that a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in Him. If God does not actually exist, the person will have only a finite loss, of luxuries and pleasures. This apologetic philosophy is called Pascal’s Wager. Research out there hints a lot of things, but nothing bad has ever resulted from eating more plants and whole grains for nutrients rather than meat. Not only is it better for our health, but for the environment. We may lose out on the finite luxury of a juicy red stake, but in the end, this method of consuming is more beneficial to our livelihood and our souls. So next time your at Costco buying food for the rest of the week, buy a little less steak and a lot more salad.

Credit – Roman Catholicism.org

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