The Everyday Minimalist | Living with less, but only the best

And by consumer, I don’t mean just by goods, but specifically what we choose to eat.

I am going to say right now, that I will never be a full vegetarian, and never a vegan or a freegan.

I am just too used to eating meat.

That is not to say that I will never eat vegetarian meals on occasion, but I just couldn’t change my lifestyle to become vegetarian unless I had to (in times of war for example).

As for being vegan, I love cheese, honey, milk and eggs way too much to consider giving it up.

(Yes I’ve tried. I tried going on a vegan diet, a vegetarian one and a raw one, and so has BF).

The thought of it makes me very sad, but I always say to myself:

But it is there to be eaten!

And since I know what it tastes like, and now I crave it.

If I had never tasted Morbier cheese (pictured below).. I’d never know just how good it is by itself on a homemade pizza.

For me, it continually brings up this question:

If I eat meat, can I still be considered a very eco-friendly person?

See, many vegetarians and vegans call themselves eco-consumers, or ethical consumers.

I think what they’re doing is incredible, mostly because I am marveling at giving up bacon!

They’re really trying to change every part of their life to be green, and to be honest, it makes me a feel a bit intimidated at how I seem to be so unwilling to budge on giving up meat.

It’s like telling the world: “Yes I COULD do it for the Earth, but I am such a selfish self-serving foodie, I won’t!”

It makes me feel like I’m driving a gas guzzling Hummer (not that the brand exists any longer) and everyone else is being uber green and proud with their Priuses.

See, I think of myself as being a pretty green person in general, but clearly, I am not as green as I could be.

As an example, I’ve given up every sort of paper for the home except for toilet paper (it’s the last frontier!), and I try to make the best choices when I buy items (checking where it’s grown, not buying certain chemicals, etc).

I also don’t eat endangered fish such as Chilean Sea Bass.

Still.

It’s not like I can’t live without meat, it’s just that I really love eating it.

But I am torn between what I would consider the very right thing to do (cut out meat altogether), and the thing I love to do (eat meat and seafood).

I just wonder if I’m doing enough.

I should note that what I do is buy and eat organic & ethically raised meats — but even that, I must admit, is for selfish reasons because they taste the best.

It’s true: a Cost-Co chicken tastes nothing like a farm-raised, organic one.

When I tried going vegetarian/vegan/raw, we did it because the good stuff (the good organic meats) just wasn’t on the market any longer and it wasn’t really because we wanted to be eco-friendly.

And I didn’t last very long.

So this is what I’m struggling with as a decision at the moment.

Perhaps a balance is in order, where I’ll try to eat as many vegetarian meals as possible, maybe once a week… and just stop feeling guilty about loving bacon.

What I DO, do

Eat meatless 2-3 times a week
Enjoy meals that are vegan/vegetarian/raw (miso paste to make a quick soup? godsend!)
Watch my meat consumption (it’s been cut WAY back)
Loving new recipes from meatless bloggers, such as how to make a perfect hummus

About everydayminimalist

I'm a 20-something year old girl who lived out of a single suitcase in 2007, and now I'm living with less, but only with the best. You don't have to get rid of everything to become a minimalist! Minimalism can help simplify and organize your life, career, & physical surroundings. You can read more about me as a minimalist. Or come and visit my other blog Fabulously Broke in the City where I got out of $60,000 of debt in 18 months, earning $65,000 gross/year.

anexactinglife

I am a partial vegetarian for environmental reasons. My main reason is to avoid participating in the factory farming of animals. I actually think the better solution is to raise or hunt animals yourself – if you are willing to butcher and cook an animal, you have earned your carnivore status! I have family members who do this, and while I am unlikely to, I believe it is ethical and sustainable. I eat meat when I am visiting other people’s homes. I am not helping the environment by refusing to eat meat that has been served to me!
http://msirismg.tumblr.com/ Iris M. Gross

I’m on the Eat to Live program right now, which is 90% plant material. I’m happy and it’s good fresh food. Can’t beat summer fruit.
Layla

Don’t feel guilty: good food seems to be a priority in your life, and you shouldn’t feel like you should give up a large portion of the good food in the world… especially since you have already given up other things (you don’t seem like the type of person to gather clutter and always be redoing parts of your house and throwing old stuff away).

As an example, purely on the basis of carbon emissions, this website says that cutting down on home energy use is more effective than going vegan. http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/carboncalculator.html
Robert.P.

I do not belive in vegetarian/vegan living at all. The world will not be more sustanable, we will not be healthier and the carbon footprint will not be larger with meat production. A very good book about this is “The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability”.
In the minimalist community it seems that many thinks the vegan lifestyle is considered the most ‘minimal’ way of eating, but I disagree. I think the paleo way of eating is much more minimalistic, and a whole lot healthier since I do not need any supplements to get what I need. A typical dinner is a big juicy peace of meat, some tubers, some random vegtables and fruits. It takes me about 5-10 minutes to fry a tubers+meat, and thats about it when it comes to cooking. (Need a lot of kitchen equipment someone?)
- Yolanda
  
  I agree 110% ! Since learning about Paleo, I get really tired about hearing all the claims about how healthy vegetarianism is for your body and the earth. I was actually strict vegetarian for over a year before I went Paleo, and I have to say, Paleo makes my body feel so much better and the philosophy just makes SO much more sense to me. I eat more REAL food on Paleo than I ever did as a vegetarian (a ton of vegetables instead of processed protein snacks). I wonder why I never heard about grass-fed meat until going Paleo… For people really worried about ethical meat, local and/or grass-fed is the way to go. So much healthier for not only the planet and the animal, but for yourself. Local everything is ideal. To me, I felt that vegetarianism was really putting the animal before yourself. Paleo’s more like healthy animal + healthy planet = healthy person. It’s a win-win. As a vegetarian, I always thought I was being healthier because that’s what I had read. Paleo taught me to listen to my body, and now instead of depending on faulty science to TELL me I’m healthy, I FEEL healthy every day when I wake up.
MattJ

Yep, local ecologies (depending on where you are) are not that simple, from the sustainability point of view, and with regard to reducing your impact, you should probably be an opportunistic eater (omnivore in most cases) making use of the resources that are available to you. i.e there are plenty of instances where certain animals (that we like to eat) can make use of and be a beneficial, integral (and managed) part of a balanced ecosystem, serving multiplicity of function and to not make use of that resource when its plentiful would be unethical. To go into an area, rip it all down just to plant out a monoculture of soy, corn, lentils, whatever, because of market demands is a disaster really, and has been in plenty of places around the world. I guess if you live in a city and you are contributing to the demand, you just use your money to buy the produce that you want to see more of, and be aware of its origins, and don’t be fooled by vegetarians waving pictures of simplistic food pyramids:) – the food chain is not linear. Its web like and complex and there is a point of balance in every ecosystem. Ideally, the way you eat is a reflection of that.
LynnInDenver

I would suspect the “ecological” decision of being vegan counts only in terms of number of acres of grains required to raise the meat versus what you’d get just eating those same plants yourself, and discounts (in many areas of the hemisphere) the carbon footprint of those times when you have to store such out of season so it doesn’t go bad (the costs of canning it, or the electricity required to keep it chilled or frozen), or shipping it from halfway across the world to hit your plate in a reasonably fresh condition. In some areas, eating meat during the non-growing season might be necessary to actually reduce one’s carbon footprint, versus eating nothing but vegetables.

Overall, though, I would recommend just finding a balance point somewhere between the eating with imposed guilt, and eating a diet that to you is bland.
Meg

You should look up what Joel Salatin has to say about how raising cows properly actually helps the environment. Even if you don’t agree, it’s an interesting perspective. Also, I think the fact that you care enough to pay attention makes a big difference!
Kimberly

Don’t feel too bad. Even small changes make an impact if they’re done on a large scale. I think that the population is slowly becoming aware of the impact the meat industry has on their health and the planet. Take 4 minutes and watch this TED talk by Graham Hill on being a “Weekday Vegetarian.” I think it’s right up your ally! http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/graham_hill_weekday_vegetarian.html

Being an ethical consumer

It’s not like I can’t live without meat, it’s just that I really love eating it.

What I DO, do

About everydayminimalist

Advertising

In a Nutshell

Most Recent Posts

Categories

Archives by Month

Advertising

Contact Me