Where's the Beef?

This week on the radio (I'm a daily CBC listener, and so references to their programming will be frequent)they followed two sisters learning about their water consumption and trying to cut down. And like many of us, they thought "Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth; Don't water your lawn", and while those actions are certainly on the list, one of the single greatest things we can do to save the planet, is eat less meat.

So here's the beef folks: How do you enjoy the foods you love and lead a green lifestyle?

Even within the limits of my recent survey of green literature, I can't ignore how strenuously the vegetarian, and yes, vegan, life choice is championed. Coming from a meat friendly, and specifically beef-loving, household, once out on my own I learned to cook outside Anglo-Saxon tradition. When your culinary skills are minimal and your training has consisted of instruction to "cook at 325F for 2 hours then serve", meat had never really appealed to me. But by fighting my genetic instincts and choosing to remove the flank steak from the grill before it's as ridgid as a hockey puck, I have fostered a new appreciation for the still-pink, nay red, centre of a tenderloin. Even still I may only have beef once or twice a month, pork twice a month, and fish and chicken certainly every week.

So I've learned to cook, I'm no longer on a student budget too thin for a T-bone, and I'm willing to pay and invest in, and as I like to call it, a "red meat kick in the pants"! But an anti-beef, and eventually, anti-meat movement is a'comin', and we'll all be swept into it soon enough.

This weekend I'm taking to a ski chalet for a company Christmas party. I have volunteered to cook and, based on popular demand, the menu has been set. We're having steak. All week guilt has been tickling the back of my mind and taste buds. I've eatten three meat-less dinners this week in atonement.

Is this where we're headed? For those like me, having finally realized the subtlety in a marinade and learned the delicate art of basting, is beef to be put on the back burner? Can an environmentally motivated foodie even consider the rare indulgence responsible? Unfortunately, I don't think so. But come this Saturday, I'll be taking orders for blue to medium and staving off anemia for at least one more month.

My First Blog

This is new territory for me, but I'm curious to explore the wide world of internet publishing!

My urge for a blog comes from a few places. First, everyone needs a well rounded and flashy online presence these days, and second, I believe I have something to say. Well, at least some of the time.

I've recently taken an interest in the culinary arts and fine cuisine, and some might say, I aspire to being a "Foodie". However, I've also taken an interest in all things Green, meaning environmentally sound, sustainable, reduced, reused and recycled. I'm coming to realize the two are intimately linked and the food movement can simultaneously help or hinder the environmental cause.

For example: Does buying local help the environment when that product is a beer fed, locally massaged baby calf?

Maybe you can see where I'm going with this now...