Weblog Entry - 08/01/2002: "7/29/02 Food"

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08/01/2002 Entry: "7/29/02 Food"

I was away most of last week at an SVN (Social Venture Network www.svn.org) Board Retreat). It was at a very lovely conference center, which is said to be sustainable and conscientious. But, as it turned out, that did not extend to the food. The breakfast was based on the basic American food groups, which seem to be caffeine, white sugar, white flour, and fat (especially hydrogenated fat).

There was no organic food, and initially no vegetarian food. I was invited, the first night, to remove the shrimp from the rice and vegetables, to have my vegetarian dinner. The difference between my diet and what most otherwise conscious people eat is huge. Quite frankly, what most people eat seems barbaric, unconscious, and self-destructive.

It is hard for me to understand how someone could read "Diet for a New America," by John Robbins, and still eat meat or chicken. There was a time, before entering spiritual practice that I ate meat three times a day, but I did not know any better. While I was in the process of giving it up, and struggling with doing so, I came to the conclusion that the only possible reason to eat meat was to amuse my palate, to tickle my taste buds as it were. I then found that I could not justify killing animals simply to amuse my palate.

Quite some years ago, a ten year old boy in my spiritual community had been nagging his father that he wanted to be able to eat hamburgers like his friends (in school). This went on for quite some time. One day as they were leaving their house, and the nagging had reached a peak of intensity, the father said, "OK, you want to eat a hamburger? I will get you a hamburger. Wait right here." With that, the father went back into the house. He came back a little while later, carrying a shotgun, an axe, and a long hunting knife, and said, "let’s go." The son asked, "where are we going." The father said: "We are going to a ranch in Marin. I’m going to buy you a cow. You can shoot it, cut off a hunk of meat, chop it up, and cook it." There was a long pause, then the son said, "I changed my mind, I don’t want a hamburger."

I eat mostly vegetables (generally from our garden), some whole grains (like organic Basmati rice and millet), plus tofu and Tempeh. I generally have one fresh fruit meal a day, soft fruit when in season, but otherwise Fuji apples, walnuts, and bananas. I do eat organic non-fat yogurt with many of my meals. In general, we only eat organic foods. As organic restaurants become more commonplace, we will stop patronizing non-organic restaurants.

Some day, should we make it into the future, people will look back on commercial farming practices in the USA with complete incredulity. They will not be able to believe the destructive practices: the poisons and pesticides; the destruction of the soil; the lack of sacredness and respect for the earth and its bounty. For me, that day is here.