Wednesday evening, Helene heated up a pot of spicy pea soup that she had frozen in December. The soup base was from a stall at the Farmers Market. Hungry, we dug in immediately.
“Say, didn’t we use bison bones as the stock for this?” I asked.
We both stared at each other, in shock. Yep, this soup was made in December using the bones from organic, grass-fed bison, purchased at my favorite meat vendor at the Market.
This posed a very practical and immediate moral conundrum: should we eat it anyway, or throw it away?
If I were eating vegetarian for health reasons, I should throw it away, for sure. But my main motivation for experimenting with vegetarianism is an ethical one. Were I to have thrown away this soup right then, would it have made a difference? The bison had already been bred, raised, killed then butchered; the bones already boiled into stock. Still, should I have simply thrown it away to avoid being “guilty” by association? Ignore the act and simply clear my conscience?
Such is the moral minefield that can arise from being a vegetarian for ethical reasons.
In the end, we took the more pragmatic route: this soup was already made, and wasting it would have been a greater shame than consuming its protein content. And if being vegetarian is about respecting animal life, then certainly it was a better form of respect to eat it in full knowledge of the life that went into making it, rather than simply throwing it away.
We ate our soup. It was delicious.
Posted under Food by Daniel on 19.01.2009
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I’ve been a vegetarian for a week now, and it’s going pretty well thus far.
Many vegetarians report an increase in energy from the get-go. Did I get an energy boost myself? Well, I think so. Could be psychosomatic, of course, or it could be that the contrast between my Christmas Holidays diet and this one is so drastic that I’d feel this way even with a steak for dinner.
Still, this feels nice. It feels empowering. It feels like I’m in control of my diet, and I’m exploring new territory. Part of the reason I want to go 3 months without meat is that I want to see how this feels once the newness of it is gone; so we’ll see how things feel when I’ve been going 2 months without meat. For now, though, it’s pretty cool.
My biggest difficulty thus far has been to clearly define, and then respect, my own definition of vegetarianism. Initially, I wanted to avoid having eggs, milk and cheese if I didn’t know that they were locally-grown and organic. This is proving to be a tough proposition: I might get a dish I ordered that contains cream, for instance, or agonize over whether they used gelatin in a dessert I might have.
So after reconvening with Helene on the subject, we both decided that although we should try and avoid milk, eggs and cheese from non-small-scale sources, it was better not to agonize over it for the time being. After a month of vegetarianism, we can “crank it up” and see how we handle it. So for now, I try and restrict myself to black coffee, for instance, but I won’t make a case if cream ends up in my dish.
I haven’t felt the need to apologize for being a vegetarian; that is, until I went back to the Farmers Market yesterday. I told Grace, a kind and cheerful Polish woman who sells amazing beef jerky and pepperoni. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t like her products anymore, so I spilled the beans about my experiment. I told her I’d miss her pepperoni.
She patted my hand, a sad expression on her face. “They’ll miss you too!”
Posted under Food by Daniel on 11.01.2009
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As you know, I place a lot of importance on small-scale meat production, as opposed to industrial slaughterhouses. I believe that although it is ethically acceptable to eat meat, this does not imply the right to treat animals inhumanely.
Here is a blog post that exemplifies the kind of understanding and appreciation that can grow from small-scale meat production. The fascinating story comes from Joe Cloud, who operates a small-scale slaughterhouse in the US. Joe is the partner of Joel Salatin, mentioned in Michael Pollan’s Omnivore Dilemma.
Queen of Spades lifted her tail and had a pee. I watched as Gingerbread Boogie tasted her urine, sticking his tongue in the stream, then curling his lips back and inhaling deeply to catch the fine aromas, like a wine aficionado with a premier cru Burgundy. Bulls do this to see if the cow is coming into heat. Here he was in the abattoir, and he was enthusiastically thinking of one last fling. I admired his spirit.
Postcard from a Slaughterhouse: The Ones that Got Away
(Via The Ethicurean)
Posted under Food by Daniel on 09.01.2009
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As I said in a previous post, I’ve decided to give the vegetarian lifestyle a 3-month trial this year. Last Sunday, I took my parents and brother out to Au pied de cochon, and sensing the orgy of meat this would represent, I decided that it would be a fitting point to start my vegetarian experiment.
And so, as of yesterday morning, I’m a vegetarian.
Going vegetarian has one very specific thing in common with quitting smoking, it would seem. When you’re a smoker, you go hours without thinking about the fact you are not smoking at this precise point in time. But quit smoking, and suddenly you’re thinking about your non-smoking every damn minute. As you’ve seen from my recent posts, quitting meat has the same effect on me: I just can’t stop thinking about the absence of it. That is particularly annoying, given that in the days leading up to the Christmas Holidays, my meat consumption was already down to a handful of meals a week.
Ahead of the beginning of my vegetarian experiment, I phoned Helene, who is currently staying at her grandmother’s for the Holidays. I discussed with her my idea to stop eating meat immediately following my trip to Au pied de cochon. Turns out I hadn’t thought this one through.
“Now, what precisely is your reason to become vegetarian? This will influence your choices and restrictions,” she explained to me.
That one is a bit tricky, because as I previously explained on this blog, I’m actually fine with eating meat. So part of my trying out vegetarianism involves imagining myself not being fine with it, and seeing where I draw the line.
“I’m actually less fine with eating an egg that comes from an agro-industrial chicken, than a steak from a small-scale organic farm. So for me to quit eating that steak and having eggs at McDonald’s feels wrong.”
“So vegan, then. But to what degree do you want to do it? Are you fine with wearing leather shoes?”
Ah, yes, the good old downward spiral of vegan ethics. You start by wanting to cut meat because it feels wrong to butcher a veal, and the next thing you know, you’re avoiding silk because you feel guilty for exploiting silkworms.
In the end, Helene and I decided to be dietary vegans in most restaurants, and ovo-lacto-vegetarians at home and in restaurants that offer local and/or organic products. I feel like a smoker who quits smoking cigarettes unless they’re menthos and/or unfiltered Gauloises. But as Helene sagely points out, if you try to do too much with vegetarianism, you’ll just go crazy and give up.
So after reading on vegetarian food, today I went out to Planet Organic, Edmonton’s organic supermarket. I considered myself something of a finicky buyer before, but this reaches entirely new levels. For instance, I’m now looking for “vegetarian cheese”. What’s non-vegetarian about normal cheese you ask? Many cheeses are made using rennet, an enzyme. And it turns out that newborn calves’ stomachs are a wonderful source of rennet.
Well, that’s just peachy. What’s next? Eggs are actually made out of aborted chicken fetuses? This isn’t as easy as it was meant to be.
Anyway, I’ve made it back home with a modest amount of vegetables and one cheese clearly labelled as “rennet-free”. Score! I’ve also braved the refrigerated aisle in order to explore the dark underworld of meat substitutes.
I’ll be trying these out over the next few days, and blogging about it afterwards. But in the meantime, I’ve got one terrifying word for you:
Veganrella.
Posted under Food by Daniel on 06.01.2009
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Having heaped praise on the Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market throughout the better part of last year, I was curious to revisit the fabled Marché Jean-Talon during my Montreal visit. Partly, I wanted to see how the Market held up to my year-old memories of the place; but also, having learned a lot about food and local agriculture this year, I wanted to look at the Market with these new eyes.
Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market and Marché Jean-Talon have very different missions. Old Strathcona is a traditional farmer’s market, promising that every vendor is directly responsible for growing, raising, baking or crafting the products you can buy. The Jean-Talon Market, on the other hand, offers no other promise than to allow a variety of relatively small food vendors to congregate in a common space. It has more in common with “ethnic” markets (its roots as an Italian market still show today), offering specialized food products to a segment of the population.
Jean-Talon Market is split in 3 distinct parts: the periphery of the market is made of various shops that have more in common with modern stores than stalls at an ethnic market. You get a mixed bag of shops in the periphery: from the spectacular (Fromagerie Hamel or the absolutely awesome Marché des saveurs) to the forgettable (the bland fruit supermarket Sami Fruits and baker chain Première moisson.) The second part of the market is a recent interior construction hosting year-round producers selling their wares, while the third part, only open in summer, is the exterior market, where seasonal producers come in droves. To be fair, Jean-Talon truly comes alive in the summer, but being that this is January, I had to content with vendors in the interior part.
I remember my delight at purchasing meat at Jean-Talon, and what I saw today pretty much confirmed this. Judging strictly from the look of it, and from the claims and explanations seen around the shops, the quality of the meat at Jean-Talon Market seems exceptional. Whereas I can only choose from four small-scale meat producers at Old Strathcona (albeit of very high quality), the meat on offering here is as varied as it is mouth-watering: elk and bison from Petite-Nation, Charlevoix lamb, organic pork… It’s all there, and I was pleased to recognize the signs of care and pride I associate with small producers (”happy lamb!” proclaims a vendor’s sign.)
The produce, however, were a huge disappointment.
Oh, they were pretty, and varied, and perfect… like at the supermarket. If you go to Jean-Talon Market in the winter, you’ll find fruits and vegetables regardless of the season. Today, I saw asparagus, cherries, avocados, and even bananas. Naturally, none of these are from Quebec: cherries were from Chile, avocados from Mexico, asparaguses from as far as Peru. The bananas hailed from Columbia.
Now, that’s fine in itself, except that these imported produce are sold at stands claiming to belong to small farms from the regions of Quebec. The cherries, for instance, were sold at a farm’s stand, alongside with Quebec-grown hothouse tomatoes. The sign proclaming the tomatoes’ origin is huge; to find the cherries’ origin, you have to crouch and inspect the crates.
I don’t know how much this fools the Market’s patrons. Most likely they do not care, as they go to the Market because the produce are fresher than at the supermarket, and a few of the items in their bags end up being regional. But I can’t help but feel there’s some amount of deception involved. When a stall claims to sell heirloom tomatoes from a South Shore farm, and you end up buying cherries from Chile, you’re no longer dealing with a farmer, but with an importer. And aside from mandarin oranges from Morocco, all these non-Quebec origins were kept quiet: not hidden, but not advertised either.
Walking these aisles, I suddenly understood the Old Strathcona’s Farmer’s Market’s insistence on vendors being growers. This single principle has ensured that I can stop at a stall, and engage in a meaningful dialog with the person who raised my beef, roasted my coffee or grew my carrots. Over the last year, this relationship with the people growing my food has played a key role in shaping my worldview and my eating habits.
I don’t begrudge the farmers who pay the winter rent at the Jean-Talon Market by adding imported produce to their stalls. But as I leaned forward to study the elastic band on the asparagus stalks, I remembered how precious the asparaguses I ate last summer had been. They had shown up in June, giving a summer flair to most of my dinners. Come mid-July, they were gone, announcing the autumn days ahead.
It’s summer in Peru, so the Jean-Talon Market gets asparaguses in January. But I can’t shake the hand that grew these. And in that singular absence, I feel a quiet but disconcerting loss.
Posted under Food by Daniel on 04.01.2009
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Remember my idea of a 3 month vegetarian experiment? I’m about to get started on it.
I initially wanted to get started a bit later in January, when Helene got back to Edmonton with me, and we could plan this out properly. But I’ve been thinking about meat and nutrition over the Holidays, and I might have found the perfect way to kick my meat habit in style :
On Sunday, I’m taking my family out to Au pied de cochon.
If you’re unfamiliar with this Montreal establishment, it’s a crazy, innovative restaurant that specializes in absolutely decadent and absolutely amazing meals. Their portions are immense, the atmosphere is festive, and the flavors of the menu are unmatched.
If that sounds unconvincing, consider this: they serve poutine au foie gras.
I do realize there is something counterproductive, almost, about partaking in an orgy of meat before turning vegetarian. I feel justified doing so, however, by the fact that this isn’t something I’m starting with half a regret in my heart. I don’t know if I will become a full-time vegetarian past my 3 months “trial period”, but I’m open to it, or to going back to meat, whichever makes the most sense at the time. And so, in a way, enjoying the meat at one of Montreal’s finest establishments sounds like it should be part of the experiment.
Already, this Holiday period has been heavy on the meat. Whether it’s the bacon and eggs breakfasts my dad proudly throws together, or the divine bison rib at my favorite Montreal restaurant Chez Yoyo, I’ve eaten more meat in a week than I have over the last 2 months in Edmonton. And truth be told, I’ve been yearning to go back to my carrots and greens in Edmonton.
But it’s the Holidays, right? Time to partake of excess for a while, all in good cheer with the family, and then go back to our lives with a hangover and a few extra pounds.
And as far as meat goes, Au pied de cochon sounds like the ultimate send-off, whether it turns out to be a temporary goodbye, or a permanent adieu.
Posted under Food by Daniel on 02.01.2009
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