Jul 04 2008
eating green to be green
Kermit was right - it’s not easy being green. And before you think I mean that in some flippant way, let me assure you that I’m dead serious about it. When I first met my husband in the States, he was vegan and as an omnivorous Chinese woman in her early 20s, I thought he was quirky, slightly mad and definitely a little bit too committed to the cause. Some 7 to 8 years later, he’s now living in Singapore with me and he’s a less than reluctant omnivore. Definitely, it’s my fault - from the ricotta cheese and gelato in Italy to the scallop in New Orleans - he says watching me eat was just too much! Plus my mother-in-law is an amazing cook, and my father-in-law likes to barbecue! mmmm… sausages!
But recently, I’ve been giving some serious thought to becoming at least part time vegetarian (yes, that term exists!) and maybe even extending this to my boys… This is really difficult, because it’s one thing become vegetarian yourself but it’s another thing figuring out how to give two energetic growing toddlers enough protein, calcium and nutrients.
Plus, I really do love meat! I’m not a bleeding heart vegetarian, I believe in the circle of life philosophy - but with responsibility and humanity. So that means that while I don’t think it’s unethical to kill a cow, fish, chicken, pig, etc to eat it (although I respect the beliefs of the ethical or religious vegetarians)- I do believe that it’s completely unethical to industrially farm these animals and subject them to cruel and unusual forms of housing and death. Industrially raised pigs, cattle and poultry live in abysmal conditions, often overcrowded, overfed and injected with antibiotics to prevent diseases that are a result from these conditions.
Sticking to this view, it makes it really hard to eat meat unless it’s free range and organic, something that’s almost non-existent in Singapore unless it’s for a very high price, which basically makes it untenable. Honestly, I can’t afford to pay $60 for a piece of grass fed steak and shouldn’t have to. Which makes the alternative? Well, going green in the most fundamental sense.
To add to that, there’s the environmental imperative. Recently I interviewed a Geography professor who had done extensive research into lifestock and he confirmed my suspicion that one of the easiest ways for you to reduce your carbon footprint is not just to ditch that fuel guzzler of a car, switch off the lights and airconditioning unit and use less plastic - it’s actually to eat less meat. Cattle produce the most greenhouse gases! More than cars apparently… and that’s not taking into account their waste which pollutes waterways. Plus, they actually use up arable land that could be used to grow grain and vegetables to feed parts of the world populations that isn’t getting enough food. It’s quite a serious situation.
But how to run on this campaign in a food loving, food crazy country? No one is going to be able to tell you not to eat that plate of ba chor mee, black angus steak, panfried foie gras, pork knuckle or ba kwa. Not to mention mutton soup, ayam penyet and beef rendang. There would be riots! And don’t think that bento box of sushi is immune too, research shows overfishing could lead to a total depletion of oceanic fish in twenty years or so. So it’s quite a conundrum and really sometimes thinking like this can make your head swim, because how are one person or one family’s choices going to make a difference in a situation that seems like it’s headed to the dogs anyway? A more appropriate response might be: eat all the foie gras that you can right now because it’s all going to pot anyway, and you might not be able to afford it 10 years from now!
Right.
So in my household we are making simple decisions - red meat once a month, chicken once a week, farm raised fish or seafood twice a week and vegetarian pasta dishes or stews and stirfries with rice the rest of the time with added protein from cheese (not completely innocent I know, but hey my kids are under 5 and their bones are growing), eggs, tofu, lentils, beans and chickpeas.
It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s working for me. Although when we eat out at the hawker centre we do eat the normal wanton mee and chicken rice.
Still I’ve discovered old dishes that I used to cook to impress my once vegan husband, drawing out of the veggie cookbooks I bought for romance. It’s an uphill struggle, I’ll admit, I’m a sausage-bacon-lobster-foie gras-steak-otoro sushi-hamburger kind of girl… but hey, it’s not just the health of the planet and the humane treatment of animals - it’s after all also our health as well. Still, I have to admit, once a month we’ll go on a date without the kids and just have a steak or hamburger or plate of wonderfully expensive sashimi. After all, you only live once! What do you think?
6 responses so far
Joanne Leow is a producer-presenter with Channel NewsAsia. She is married with 2 young sons and spends her free time reading, writing, swimming, doing yoga and cooking up a storm.
Hi Joanne, with growing kids and the idea of turning everyone vegetarian, i am glad to see that you are supplementing the protein sources well. A common deficiency in vegans or vegetarians is vitamin B12 which is mainly in eggs and dairy products.
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html#diet
And for the lady =p calcium and vit D are important to combat osteoporosis.
love reading your posts =)
I’m always into discussions on anything organic, so this read made me feel at home.
I’ll bookmark the site and subscribe to the feed!
yeah , moderate is the word =) and ya, the kids need to grow.
Hi Joanne, happen to goggle on eating green and saw your web page. Good to know that you are trying to eat green. Everyone’s effort is valuable and all add up would help to stop global warming which critical as going veg is the most immediate and effective way to reduce greenhouse gases.
Base on research by professors in Chicago University a person going veg would help to reduce 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emission. I did some calculation and found that to achieve the same reduction, the electricity of a 4 room flat would have to reduce by 65% as compare to 10% reduction in household electricity in Singapore Green campaign.
For source of protein, soya bean, tofu, yellow bean which are plant base protein would be much healthier than meat protein. Just look at elephant and cow, they are strong vegetarian. I have been a vegetarian for about 12 years. I also know of many vegetarian kids and they are very healthy and seldom get sick cause their immune system is better instead of corrupted by all the hormone injection to livestock. For B12, tempeh, fermented soya products, seaweeds, and algae such as spirulina are good source of plant based B12.
To make available good vegetarian food is important help people to transit to a full vegetarian. I believe the most important part of a dish is the seasoning and spice, if not the meat is just piece of flesh. You may try Loving Hut restaurant at Suntec Sky Garden Tower 2 #03-016 who try to make good vegetarian food accessible to public to do their part to help to save the planet from runaway Global warming. (ref: http://www.coastalpost.com/05/01/08.htm ) You may check out this website http://www.suprememastertv.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sos_main&video=1 for more information on Global Warming.
I know of a few other good vegetarian restaurant too. Let me know if you would like to try.
Wish you all the best
God Bless
One more thing, there are tasty vegetarian sausages that you could try too. For Calcium, the dark green vegetarian are good source of calcium.
Enjoy your venture to creative vegetarian food
Kelvin
lamsoonhere@gmail.com
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