Man cannot live by bread alone

Late last winter, Dorothee and I decided to adopt an informal, no beef/pork/chicken policy. We’ve studied the food industry and have concluded that corporate factory processed meats are not produced under the healthiest conditions. More importantly, the conditions under which these “food” animals are raised are abysmal at best.

The book “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Foer was the final deciding factor. I won’t go into the details, but we have concluded that our country’s huge consumption of meat imposes inhuman conditions on animals, and an unsustainable drain on our ecology and energy resources. Thus informed, we have decided to do our small part in helping to reverse this trend.

We don’t plan on being religious with our eating habits. There are so few public eateries where eating meatless is an option (unless you considered french-fried onion rings a meal!), so our agreement is that we will eschew consumption of beef, pork, and chicken in our meals at home, yet allow ourselves the option to make other choices when we eat out.

We began our new plan in December of 2010. Dorothee, of course, being the world’s best cook, eagerly accepted the challenge of continuing to provide us with healthy and delicious meals, without the need for meat.

Initially, I think we both expected that we would feel that we were being “deprived” by giving up meat. However, I am pleased to say that the incredible dishes that Dorothee has come up with (and I mean DAILY!) have totally obscured any thoughts or yearning for meat.

As our wonderful meals have transpired, I began to to take it upon myself to photograph some of the more memorable ones, and thought this would be a good forum to demonstrate that non-meat-eaters can have as high or higher levels of gourmet dining as do carnivores (okay, we do allow seafood to be in our diet… we have to start somewhere).

Eating healthier, reducing the demand for inhumane animal treatment, and helping to lower our nation’s energy consumption has become a normal way of life for us, and we love it.

I hope that others who see the great dishes which can be prepared without meat with decide on a similar path (P.S. Dorothee’s passion is cooking and she loves to share her recipes with others. If interested just email her at Dorothee at auldridge.org :

Valentines Day - Brunch