Reducetarians

[Phoebe]

This title is drawn from a new book on this subject, and unfortunately I haven't yet read this book, but I am excited to read it and I'm excited about . Rather than worrying about the purity games of seeing who can be the best vegetarian or vegan or how to eliminate every single animal product from life, the idea is for everyone - even or especially people who are omnivores - to commit to eating less meat than they were eating before for reasons of sustainability and ethics. As we already know meat is expensive, in terms of the energy and consumption and environmental effects of trying to produce it. So even if you have no ethical problem eating the animals, there are reasons to think that eating less meat makes our planet better for humans and other animals. I really appreciate the shift in emphasis to something that everyone can do rather than hanging it on one big decision that a lot of people simply aren't ever going to make.

[Mike]

Reducing meat consumption for sustainability reasons has to be the future of a continuing human presence on earth. I feel guilty for not doing enough in this direction myself.

[Stan]

I've thought about something like this, as long as it is done casually, not in a religious sort of way like so many diets, where you're a bad person if you don't follow it perfectly. I used to eat quite a bit less meat and I still don't eat meat every meal. However, Reducetarian seems to be an attempt to produce a movement to sell a book. Also, any diet trying to drastically reduce dairy and eggs is a nonstarter for me.

I would never be one of those people who scan every ingredient list to see if it has any Forbidden Ingredients or refuse a vegetarian item at a restaurant that had chicken broth. What I'd want to do is a casual attempt to find more good vegetarian recipes and work them into the schedule. We use a few from some good books by Mollie Katzen and a few other obvious things like beans and eggs. For vegetarian recipes, I favor ones that don't try to fake being a meat recipe, like a fake hamburger, as it just highlights the differences and tends to disappoint as it's not what you're used to.

What I've thought about is trying to keep it under 1 pound of meat in a week, nor more than half of which is red meat. Or 500 grams if you prefer, as it's an arbitrary number anyway. Eggs don't count as meat. If I go out to eat and get a 10 oz steak that blows the week, I'll shrug it off - it's big picture and trends over strict obedience to an arbitrary standard. Lecturing others is strictly forbidden.

Compared to strict vegetarianism, it allows things flavored with meat, like a couscous dish with half a pound of sausage that makes 5 servings. It's mainly about reducing the number of slabs of meat full of saturated fat. Also, reducing the environmental impact of beef production.

[Phoebe]

Haven't read the book so I don't know if this particular group or plan is any good, but the overarching idea here appeals. Like Mike is saying above, people feel guilty. Or like Stan is saying, maybe some people feel that avoiding meat means they have to follow some rigid diet rules. IMO just having less is good. Maybe I come into more contact with the "moral veganism" thing than most, so it sounds louder and preachier to me than it really is, but I also see a lot of cultural reaction (all this manly pro-bacon, pro-steak stuff) that wouldn't have much import if the main conversation was about doing a little better at conserving resources by eating less meat, which everyone can get behind no matter what diet they choose.

Personally I find it a struggle because I want to eat far less meat than we do, but I have one person who wants primarily to eat meat, one who wants to eat zero meat or animal product (or food, really... once she hears more about factory farming we are doomed), and two who really enjoy eating meat even though they don't require it. It's hard to cook for all these while reducing our family's overall consumption, and making lower cal, less meat meals for myself. I can't be cooking three dinners. So at least in my household, we need to get on this "less meat" bandwagon, since "no meat" won't work but "more meat" is not ok with me. Totally hear you on the eggs and milk thing though, wow. We drink SO much milk here. It is hard to keep it supplied.