A note on vegetarianism

People can eat or not eat whatever they want, but...

...the conundrum of the Western diet isn't as simple as  the role of meat consumption. The transition indigenous peoples make from traditional life styles to health impacts of  'Western'  dietary foods is not a simple matter of meat. Much research suggests that a major contributory factor is the density and amount of their new carbohydrate intake. 

The high rates of obesity, heat disease and diabetes (and diabetes is a disease of carbohydrate metabolism) among indigenous populations seem to indicate this (and when they return to traditional foods, health indicators improve sharply).In the case of Aborigines  traditional diets have a larger meat component.(But it is more than a question of meat).

As for plant based being more sustainable I'm not so sure that that is true as agriculture per se is not necessarily more sustainable than grazing or husbandry. Indeed a good portion of the planet -- including the  Australian part of it -- is not conducive to the production of grains or vegetables. (Side example: the American planes were much more sustainable ecosystems feeding buffalo in their millions than growing corn. )

This issue becomes particularly sharp when you have to  work out where fertilisers should come from for us to be 'sustainable' in food. Modern fertilisers are a product of munitions technology and rely on oil inputs. 

Topsoil loss in Australia is consequent not just of over grazing which tends to preserve soil structure  but also of the dissecation impact of agriculture on soils . Aside from the conscious loss of vegetation cover for whatever usage -- Australian soils have suffered under the impact of cloven hoofs. (Native fauna land soft on the ground and don't break up structure). Combine this with over grazing  and the fickle climate with its droughts and flooding rains  and it becomes a challenge to foster sustainable soils and prevent them from blowing away to New Zealand or washing out to sea. 

Nonetheless, the primary problem with the Murray Darling Basin in way of water usage is the irrigation demand engineered by agricultural methods  (and capitalism) and not grazing per se.

It would be more correct to say that rather than not eating meat, planting trees and preserving soils  is a much better route to sustainability. 

Furthermore  it is more appropriate to consider carbon farming strategies  (which apply both to agriculture AND grazing )  rather than plant versus animal  foods.

It seems to me that 'sustainability' and health works best by combining agriculture with husbandry/meat production with plant foods. The nutritional arguments are still being had about how much of this or that is best or necessary... but the whole question is warped by the way that food is produced under capitalism and the way it is 'value added' for consumption and profit.

But no matter which way you look at it, we control neither our environment nor out gut. 

Underlying this, in my perspective, is the long term consequences of grains which have fostered 'civilisation' into being. I think this is the primary dynamic of the 'Western' diet  which has generated a lot of its consequences. The impact of the switch from hunter gatherer  to sedentary agriculture -- from Palaeolithic to  Neolithic cultures -- are pretty clear. It wasn't a good health consequence although it made a lot of other stuff possible -- writing, the oppression of women, class divisions, the nation state...  -- being but a few of its impacts. That's the tragedy which is still writ large on the lives of indigenous peoples who are dispossessed of their cultures and  traditional foods today. 

Furthermore, the contemporary  epidemic of food intolerances and allergies are responses to plant rather than to meat consumptions.  While Lactose intolerance tend to be partly genetic, our guts seem to be suffering from what we consume other than  Nature's foods. This is a confusing question which is not resolved by not eating meat.

I guess my general point is that the key issue isn't so much what or how much protein you put in your mouth but how it got there. 

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Vegetarianism and I

In a spate of past writing zeal I pontificated on the question on human diet and the consumption of meat. I had written a series on' the politics of eating' and came up with a POV (circa 1993) thus:

• Does meat make the meal?

But how time, like poultry, flies. In the intervening  years the debate about what you should put in your mouth has shifted and the locus is now very much about environment, meat eating and climate change. 

Nonetheless, back then that attribute was not absent from the polemic and in works such as Jeremy Rivkin's Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture  the ecological consequences of beef production was dissected.

I reviewed that book at the time:

• Chasing a bum steer

However, in an accompanying exchange, I think I missed out on some cogent detail that in the light of the time since has become the pre-eminent challenge advanced by the vegetarian -- esp vegan -- message. 

• 'Industrial cuisine' and the 'traditional diet'

Can we afford to eat meat if it is  environmentally hazardous to do so?

Well is it? That brings me to my present interest which I'll address here soon enough. 

For those who think I had sidestepped the ethical challenge posed by not killing animals, in that past life I did address that topic -- albeit sharply. For example:

• Can we be ethical without being revolutionary?
• Revolution in the hen house?

But as I say, a review is warranted -- one while focused on the question of sustainable agriculture and global warming -- also, in the light of the recent live beef export scandal has to scrutinize not simply what we put in our mouths but how 'ethically'  that food is produced.

Soup Noodle Quest: Wau Wai Instant Rice Vermicilli, Crab Flavour

In our previous entry in regard to this august topic, we referenced the delights of instant pho noodles.

Since we cannot always get our hands on good pho instant noodles, the ubiquitous Coles Supermarkets are now offering Wai Wai brand's Instant Rice Vermicelli in Crab Flavour.

And it aint half bad -- at 58 cents a packet -- it's as cheap as chips!

The vermicelli is as chewy as you want it to be and very filling. Fat content is your own preference but the salt and sugar component makes for a tangy and very sweet tasting soup base.

This is a 3 cachet noodle soup and for my taste the chilli cachet offers just the right kick. You can of course choose not to add chili cachet or the palm oil and garlic one. I always add my own garlic clove anyway (as well as green veg) and pass on the Palm Oil option.

Of course there is very little crab to be had in the mix. Among the flavorings is E621 -- the very reliable Monosodium glutamate.

Instant Soup Noodles, the joys of Pho and the blessings of Ho Chi Minh

If you are familiar with Tempopo -- the Japanese movie that tells of the quest for the best of all possible noodle soups -- then you can imagine perhaps what ails me.

I am a soup noodle junkie.If I eat out in an Asian restaurant I more often than not order from their soup noodle menu.

My engagement with the ubiquitous instant noodle soups of Asia, and especially my favorite Indonesian brands, has been long standing. Of late I nonetheless have been eating Maggi's 2 minute noodle brand which registers a low GI I also eat Maggi in order to reduce the fat quotient in the meal as instant wheat noodles are first fried before being packed.

My daughter is recently diagnosed with Coeliac disease so we went looking yesterday for rice based instant fare.

If you have ever gone instant soup noodle hunting in Asian shops you'll be overwhelmed by the numbers and variety of products. Asian students studying in Australian capitals live off them and the consequent demand has driven the market.

The problem is that most of these soup packets are printed in Asian languages with only a small , usually pasted on slip -- with mininscule writing -- in English listing the packet's ingredients. So there's only one option: buy and try.

However, since the eating of instant noodle soups can be as gastronomic as you want to make it here's a couple of tips.

My first tip is to make sure you check your brand options with the many reviews and ratings on noodle son. Noodle Son is a Seattle based site dedicated to the appreciation of Asian instant noodles and snacks.

Since I eat instant noodles as a soup every day I've become quite adept of getting the best out of any one packet.

So I make my own by orchestrating a medley of ingredients. You'd be surprized how inexpensive this combination is.

I always add garlic and ginger to the soup base and sliced onion or spring onion. Then I throw in some fresh green vegetable and maybe some chilli and quickly par boil the soup before adding some bean sprouts.

While I always prepare the noodles separate from the soup and soup base (as you would pasta), yesterday we discovered a range of Phở (soup) instant noodles which are excellent -- MAMA brand.

Phở is the quintessential noodle soup and in many suburbs across Australia -- occupied by Vietnamese migrants -- many restaurants will be dedicated to this one menu item. But if you don't live in Darra (Qld), or Springvale (Vic) or Cabramatta (NSW) -- you have to make do.

Enjoying Phở also requires a ritual in the way you choose to add fresh bean sprouts, basil, chili pieces, Vietnamese mint, lemon juice or Coriander leaves to your bowl.

You may find yourself eating under posters that call for the overthrow of the Vietnamese government -- but that's becoming less common in the new era of Đổi mới --"renovation".

I first got into Phở as a product of the post bellum period in Vietnam -- as the wave of boat people settled Australia one restaurant at a time. And if I had my druthers I would be living among them just so that I could walk out my door each day and eat Phở for breakfast or lunch as I'd prefer.

I prefer the ambiance of a Phở restaurant to a coffee shop any day. I like the laminated tables, the containers of cutlery , condiments and chopsticks on each table top, the absolute lack of pretension and the focus you have to invest into the protocols of consuming the soup and its passengers.

For me that's what a food evolution would be like: Phở restaurants for all at government subsidised prices! (Maybe with a poster of Ho Chi Minh over the counter).

Here's some trivia: did you know that Ho Chi Minh -- then known known as Nguyen Tat Thanh in 1914 -- worked for the famous French Chef Auguste Escoffie in Paris. Escoffie was the guy who invented Melba toast. Some reports I've read had Thanh working as Escoffie's saucier but I think that's unlikely.