An Open Letter: To Meat or Not to Meat?

What would Clooney do?
(Picture from FreeFoto.com)

Dear Universe,

I'm not a vegetarian (dang sushi!) but I don't eat a whole lot of meat, and rarely ever when I'm cooking for myself. However, for the Student Kitchen Workshop in February, we incorporated 1½ dishes with meat - and the other 1½ were veggie-friendly.

I'm not really sure if there was any real reasoning behind having the meat dishes, other than the fact that they tasted pretty good. While planning this next menu, I had thought to include a pork dish but after thinking about it, and discussing with Bryanna, I realised that I wasn't really confident about my initial reasoning for incorporating meats.

My desire to incorporate meats stemmed from a desire to appeal to as broad a potential participant group as possible: To reach people who make frequent food choices based on convenience - which includes fast-food, and/or ready-made dishes, bought at the supermarket, at food courts, or of the microwaveable and/or canned variety - and usually with some sort of meat in it.

While protein can be found in many other sources, I know that sometimes people just simply LOVE meat, and fear vegetarian dishes to be something like "hippie food." However, one of the goals of the Student Kitchen Project is to help students acquire cooking knowledge on a budget, but we also want to stress the necessity of more eco-conscious eating, which is something that we, as those who will inherit the earth, need to ponder more. Meat eating is an expensive, unsustainable, and exploitative endeavour, and its production and consumption have, and will continue to have, tremendous impacts on the earth and its living.

We live in a world of conflicting ideals, but in order to keep to our ideals, compromises need to be made. Thus, The Student Kitchen Project will plan for all vegetarian-friendly dishes, but have a utilitarian option to incorporate a meat dish to interested persons. In the end, it really is about thoughtful choices.

xo!
-Bonnie