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Romeo & Vegetables Julienne

What’s in a ground beef patty? That which we call a hamburger by any other name would

taste as sweet. Except for the times when it’s not meat, then the name might matter a bit. Over

the last few years, there has been quite a lot of buzz and controversy regarding the meat industry.

All around the country and around the globe, new meat alternatives are popping up to fill the

cheeseburger-shaped void in vegan and vegetarian hearts. The choice to forego meat in favor of

other protein-substitutes can be troublesome for some, however maybe it’s not black and white

like everyone thinks. Maybe there is a healthy middle-ground that can be found where the

Montagues and the Capulets can reap the benefits of a more vegetable-based diet, yet still

indulge in meat on occasion. Maybe the solution is in the flexitarian diet.

A flexitarian is somebody who primarily eats vegetarian, but may sometimes eat meat or

fish depending on circumstances. Their main goal is to reduce meat consumption, not to stop the

consumption entirely. In the real world, you might not always get the choice to eliminate meat

from your meals. Say you’re invited over to dinner with some new friends, who may not know

that you don’t eat much meat. Say they’ve spent hours preparing some excellent meal for

everyone. Is it really so wrong to partake just because their dish contains pork or chicken? The

polite thing to do would certainly be to accept the dish instead of going hungry and risking

insulting your new friends. As a flexitarian, the important thing is to be mindful of your meat

intake and how it affects your health and the environment, and that’s just what people locally and

around the globe are doing. According to a 2014 survey by British Social Attitudes, (Lee &

Simpson 2016) approximately 30% of British locals had reduced their meat consumption within
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the last year, with another 9% considering doing the same. Clearly there is an appetite for

changing everyday eating habits, so what are the benefits of doing so?

A flexitarian diet can improve your health and lead to a longer, happier life. That is,

unless your idea of happiness is eating copious amounts of meat, in which case I have some bad

news for you. A study on behalf of the Federal Commission for Nutrition in Switzerland found a

correlation between increased red meat consumption and several concerning health conditions

(Richi, et al. 2015). Among the health risks were increased cancer risks, increased cardiovascular

risks and a higher risk for type 2 diabetes among many others. These risks aren’t negligible. For

example, they indicate that “Both women and men demonstrated a significant increase in

cardiovascular mortality with increasing consumption of unprocessed red meat (18 % increase

per serving) and of processed red meat (21 % increase per serving [84 g] per day)”. By being

more mindful of our eating habits and considering a flexitarian diet, we can mitigate the risks

posed by overindulgence and poor dietary choices. For an America plagued by health issues such

as these, we should be warmly welcoming lifestyle changes that will allow us a happy, healthy

and hopefully longer life.

Don’t you just love that great Salt Lake smog? Me neither. We all know how pollution is

affecting the world around us, and it’s no small issue. According to a 2008 article written by

researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, by choosing to reduce meat consumption and even

just eating one vegetarian meal a week (for a year) can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the

equivalent of over 1000 miles (Weber & Matthews 2008). Essentially what we can take from this

is that by eating less meat (red meat specifically), our carbon footprint can be dramatically

reduced. It may not seem like a large number, but just one meal a week for every person in the
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United States would add up to the equivalent of billions of fewer miles driven. Through a

flexitarian diet, environmental defense is we can accomplish through our dietary choices day by

day. It is our responsibility to the planet to be as mindful as possible, to maintain our natural

resources for as long as possible so our species may thrive for generations to come.

We’ve all heard the stories of how cruel industrial farming can be, so I’m not going to

regale you with tales of horror and disgust. Rather, I just want to put into perspective how many

animal lives may be improved or saved by cutting down on meat. With over 300 million metric

tons of meat consumed globally (Mowi, 2019), eating vegetarian just one day a week could

reduce by over 40 million metric tons (on average). The amount of creatures this could

potentially save from suffering is astronomical. For all of those concerned with the needless

suffering of animals, this is a real, tangible way you can help. Overcrowded pens, unsanitary

living quarters and other horrible practices may be something that you wish to save animals

from. Animal cruelty is a very real and awful thing that resonates with many. Maybe it’s not

practical for you to go fully vegetarian or vegan, but by switching to a flexitarian diet you can at

least impact a huge amount of creatures.

O hopeful vegetarians, vegans, wherefore art thou dietary changes? Montagues, Capulets,

and people everywhere, consider how you can benefit the world with smaller adjustments to

what you eat in a week. While flexitarianism is a relatively new movement, it’s a great way that

everybody can get involved in improving their health, the environment, and the lives of countless

animals. This movement is one that we should all be considering taking part in when we wonder

how we can make a difference on the globe. Over the course of the past few months, I’ve thought

quite a bit about switching to a vegetarian diet. To be quite honest, it’s a lot harder than it
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sounds. I enjoy eating meat and it’s hard to ask your loved ones to adjust to your needs

constantly. It’s something that I know is harmful, however it’s hard to give up. A flexitarian diet

is something that I hope everyone will consider switching to. By cutting out meat for 1, 2 or even

3 days a week, we can make the world a better place and hopefully we can progress towards a

better and brighter future for the world.

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Works Cited

Lee, Lucy, and Ian Simpson. “Are We Eating Less Meat?” ​NatCen Social Research​, British

Social Attitudes, Feb. 2016,

http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/1116002/vegetarian-society-bsa-2014.pdf.

Richi, Evelyne Battaglia, et al. ​Health Risks Associated with Meat Consumption: A Review of

Epidemiological Studies .​ Federal Commission for Nutrition, Apr. 2015,

https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/pdf/10.1024/0300-9831/a000224.

“Salmon Farming Industry Handbook 2019.” ​Statista​, Mowi, June 2019,

https://www-statista-com.libprox1.slcc.edu/statistics/1025784/human-consumption-of-prot

ein-by-type-worldwide/.

Weber, Christopher L, and H Scott Matthews. ​Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts

of Food Choices in the United States​. Environmental Science & Technology, 2008,

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es702969f.