I was recently reading this article in the NYTimes Magazine about Food, Inc a new documentary about agribusiness. It sounded worth while, even though the interview wasn't exactly riveting.
The filmmaker they were interviewing, Robert Kenner mentioned a word I hadn't ever heard of: Flexitarian. Apparently flexitarianism is
I eat fish, but not other types of meat, which I sometimes call pescetarian, although that sounds kinda pretentious... so I usually go with veg.
Pescetarianism is
Why do I eat fish? Iron, basically. Why don't I eat meat? That's a question I struggle with. I don't really like a lot of meat, and I think I eat healthier as a vegetarian. That answer doesn't satisfy many, but I guess I don't mind.
The Vegetarian Society claims that the National Diet & Nutritional Survey in 2001, which surveyed 2251 adults aged 19 to 64, found that 5% of those surveyed claimed to be vegetarian, (7% women, 2% men), and 11% or women aged 19 to 34 claimed to be vegetarian. Interesting....
So I'm going to Ghana over christmas and I made an executive decision to eat what ever is put in front of me while I'm there. I'm staying with a friend's family, and I didn't want them to go out of their way to cook extra meatless food for me. So I guess that makes me a Flexitarian.
The filmmaker they were interviewing, Robert Kenner mentioned a word I hadn't ever heard of: Flexitarian. Apparently flexitarianism is
is a semi-vegetarian diet involving the practice of eating mainly vegetarian food, but making occasional exceptions for social, pragmatic, cultural, or nutritional reasons. There is a wide range in the circumstances and outer boundaries of their dietary practices, which resist easy classification.
I eat fish, but not other types of meat, which I sometimes call pescetarian, although that sounds kinda pretentious... so I usually go with veg.
Pescetarianism is
a dietary choice in which a person, known as a pescetarian, eats any combination of vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans and fish or invertebrate seafood, but will not eat mammals or birds.
Why do I eat fish? Iron, basically. Why don't I eat meat? That's a question I struggle with. I don't really like a lot of meat, and I think I eat healthier as a vegetarian. That answer doesn't satisfy many, but I guess I don't mind.
The Vegetarian Society claims that the National Diet & Nutritional Survey in 2001, which surveyed 2251 adults aged 19 to 64, found that 5% of those surveyed claimed to be vegetarian, (7% women, 2% men), and 11% or women aged 19 to 34 claimed to be vegetarian. Interesting....
So I'm going to Ghana over christmas and I made an executive decision to eat what ever is put in front of me while I'm there. I'm staying with a friend's family, and I didn't want them to go out of their way to cook extra meatless food for me. So I guess that makes me a Flexitarian.
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3 comments:
You should check out a great new book The Flexitarian Diet by Registered Dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner.
I think flexitarianism is more than just a new dietary label. Most people don't eat meat at every single meal so they are all more or less flexitarians. The great thing about flexitarianism is that it recognizes that people are consciously making a decision to cut back on their meat consumption (for health, environment, or ethical reasons). Dawn Blatner's book touches on that issue as do many campaigns looking to curb meat consumption. I work for the Meatless Monday campaign and we advocate going meatless one day a week as a way to reduce your saturated fat consumption by 15%. (www.meatlessmonday.com) Lowered saturated fat intake will lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes, four of the leading causes of death in the U.S.
I think that the label itself is appealing to many people who just don't like meat but I'm glad there is another aspect to it.
To keep my ecological foot print low I like to eat local as much as possible. This is why I intern with the Eat Well Guide. We've teamed up with Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports) to issue the Local, Organic Thanksgiving Challenge this year. Will you join us? And share a recipe? Read more on the Green Fork www.blog.eatwellguide.org/2008/11/take-the-local-organic-thanksgiving-challenge
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