Submitted By: Cheryl Bowlan (cbowlan@comcast.net)
Challenge
Somehow, without noticing, we all became full-time meat-eaters. Two sons, one husband and I. It was way too easy. Always health conscious, I pushed chicken and turkey until the kids squawked like guinea hens. Occasionally, even I’d tire of primping the birds, working the flesh for every ounce of flavor with herbs, bastes and garlic. I’d take a break, throw a roast in the oven and keep the kids coming to the table. But every night there sat a piece of meat occupying its usual one-third of the plate.
As time went on and the boys grew, their meat portions got bigger, crowding vegetables off the plate. My husband, the progeny of high-cholesterol familial genetics, went on statins—as had at least half the people our age we knew. Then a recent National Institutes of Health-AARP study came up with a shocker—life spans were shortened by over 30 percent among those who ate a daily 4-ounce serving of red or processed meat, with only a small survival advantage in a diet of fish and poultry. Add to that the noxious cloud of methane, about a quarter of the U.S. total, that rises into the atmosphere from 170 million animals fed on corn and other grains their stomachs struggle to digest.
Numerous studies tout the benefits of a vegetarian diet – about one-half the cancer risk of a meat-infused diet, reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes. Eat fresh fruit every day, concluded one British study, and your chances of dropping dead from a diseased heart shrink by 24 percent. Good old beans help control blood sugar, lower cholesterol and triglycerides, and just plain taste good. Play the numbers. Subtract two days of meat from your diet and your odds look rosier.
I’ve always loved vegetables but was alone in my household. If I even mentioned vegetarianism, I heard a chorus of bad jokes and an odd air of evolutionary superiority so perplexingly common in the meat-eating world. Only a tofu-obsessed grandstander with no taste would avoid meat, went the gist of the conversation.
Solution Details
Oh, boy. Clearly, a slow, easy start to meat-free meals was the way to go. I quietly made a twice-weekly commitment and got creative, relying on color and soil-grown flavor to excite the palate instead of animal flesh. Weekly trips to the Moraga farmer’s market and the community garden, where I volunteer, were key. I targeted deep, eye-catching hues for the family plate, which seemed to stimulate taste buds. Lavender eggplant, black and crimson tomatoes, orange and purple carrots, and other color-saturated produce not only looked great but came packed with flavonoids that helped fight cancer.
I stocked up on olive oils, especially those with robust, fruity flavor instead of the purposely pallid varieties aimed at American tastes. Using the oil like a condiment, Middle Eastern style, I drizzled it on cooked vegetables, soups, hummous and thick, tangy yogurt. I pressed more fresh herbs into service.
Fruit also shared the table. Give the vegetable laggards an option, I decided. And I started serving veggies on the buddy plan. Green beans appeared with sautéed tomatoes and onion. Carrots simmered next to chard.
It worked. Sort of. Now my husband is interested in new uses for old vegetables and the challenge of creating complex flavors without the old meat fallback. He adapted with short steps instead of balking at a giant leap. The new approach is taking root in the other five days of the week as we enjoy our veggies more and are satisfied with smaller servings of meat.
But one son, who will soon head back to college, has made bacon cheeseburgers his symbol of independence. Interestingly, he likes watching competitive cooking shows. I’ll just have to bide my time.
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