Kudos for your witty, informative post, Britt. How about vegivores, alternatively? Intellectually, I much like the idea of vegetarianism but even though I am middle - aged, I still have difficulty keeping weight on . I don't want to convert to anorexiaism. Which reminds me: I need to check on the progress of the thawing of my steak for tonight.

I have a sneaking suspicion that all the E&E bloggers have been patiently waiting to make this Talking Heads reference.

The fact that most vegetarian cultures come about for economic rather than moral reasons means that it's very unlikely that meat-eating will go the way of the cigarette.  People just like meat too much.  If Western civilization collapses and cheap meat is no longer available, then maybe we'll see a switch.  Until then: mmmmm .... beef.

It's worth pointing out that most such studies (including your link) showing meat being so evil tend to rely on industrial grain-reliant meat production as their source, as opposed to more traditional and natural pasture-raised meat. Grain is not a natural food source for ruminants, and so a diet heavy in corn produces a great deal of stomach upset and gas, just like a human fed nothing but beans might. An analogy I remember using once on TNR compared feedlots to a stadium of Bulls fans fed nothing but beer and beans for a year, with little ventilation or waste management. Incidentally, this is partially why "modern" meat has so many medications in it; the conditions under which it is raised are so unnatural that the animals must be heavily medicated to compensate.

Also, much of the so-called carbon foodprint of American meat comes from its food source, energy-intensive corn. Again, pastured-raised meat eats primarily natural plant matter, needing little to no extra inputs. Finally, manure is only a pollutant at large scales (like those achieved in industrial production). On a pasture system, manure is generated at sustainable quantities that fertilize and improve the soil with no extra inputs or work. Manure lagoons are a product of industrial meat, and have little to do with responsible animal management.

So enough of this anti-meat straw man. It has little to do with meat, and everything to do with how that meat is raised.

Literate...

Again you're on the mark. I'd add one other thing about the grain-fed versus pasture-fed is that the beef council has done a remarkable job convincing folks that grain-fed meats taste better than pasture raised meats. This is partially true because of the higher fat content (from all that grain). I can say that some people prefer that "artificially" inflated beef, chicken and pork. Include farm-raised salmon, shrimp and trouts and you begin to realize the enormity of additives in every level of your food chain. Most people don't think much about how or what goes into their meats to begin with.

But having switched to a lower-meat based diet myself, I tend towards organic meats and wild fish primarily for the health aspects, and I prefer the taste. Getting more elk and venison from family and friends is a good way to offset the factory meat too. Ironically I get wild salmon cheaper than I can get farm raised, color added salmon at my local Harris Teeter. But I reserve that for special weekend treats.

singlespeed,

Absolutely. I remember reading the menu at an upscale restaurant in San Francisco that emphasized its "corn-fed Midwestern beef", and wished I could have taken that chef to a feedlot. Grain diets do lead to higher marbling, and given that the human palate is predisposed to the taste of fat, it makes sense that grain-fed beef would have an appeal. Grass-fed is leaner and often needs to be cooked differently or it may come out tough; it's more like venison (which, ironically, is partially grain-fed). It needs to be noted, still, that grain is not "evil". Some grain in a beef cow's diet can be a good thing. Just not the industrial level and practice. Our society and food system has not learned the difference between "a little bit of a good thing" and overkill.

The last aspect to all this is our obsession with low food prices. The single dominant factor driving all of this is price; that's the justification given for feedlots, confinement chicken and egg operations, and so on. Your eggs will be cheaper raised in a 10,000 bird Tyson barn than by a small farmer on pasture. But we forget, or refuse, to analyze the larger system and the hidden costs to these choices.

Fundamentally, meat is a healthy and natural food source for humans, and we're evolved to eat it as part of a balanced diet. I respect the ethical beliefs that lead to vegetarianism and veganism, but I see it as a denial of reality, akin to the bizzare proliferation of processed organic foods such as organic TV dinners. Now THAT'S rejection of reality.

Yeah I've notice plenty of coworkers that opt for the Trader Joe's microwaveable organic bean burritos. I guess if you're going for a case of gas at the workplace...you might as well make it natural? I'd rather eat a chipotle burrito than those microwaves pieces of processed food bits.