Bringing home the Facon
Carting through woolies on my way to our weekly packet of Tassal salmon I pass the ‘Facons’ – several shelves of vegetarian ‘meats’.
Casserole ‘Mince’, BBQ Soya ‘Sausages’, Tender Chickpea ‘Schnitzels’, Indian Kumera & Spinach ‘Kebabs’, the list goes on.
I’ve always found these a giggle – though some of the US brands are funnier, like ‘Tofurky’ and ‘Soysages’! (Has no-one thought of ‘Sham’ yet? Might trademark that!).
Now I’m sure vegos hear the argument all the time, “if you hate meat, why are you eating something imitating it (interrogative)”.
To which many, I’m sure, answer, “I have nothing against the taste of meat, my reasons for not eating it are political/ethical!”.
But are we certain ‘Facon’ et al are more politically/ethically sound choices?
Go with me on this.
You buy 500 grams of grass fed beef from your farmers market. Fuel inputs would be those required to get it to the markets, to and from the abattoir and maybe any herding required by machine (if not on horseback).
Then of course water requirements as the animal grew. Apart from that it’s eaten grass all its life, and, if rotated properly, pooing on the eaten patches which fertilizes the grass and restores it to all its former bio-sequestration-ing glory.
Now of course, if you’re ethically opposed to the killing of animals that’s one thing – but if, for instance, you’re a vegetarian because its more ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘nutritionally sound’ then consider this.
A tin of Sanitarium’s Casserole mince contains water, wheat gluten (16%), hydrolysed vegetable protein [vegetable protein extract (soy), molasses, colour (caramel), spices, food acid (lactic acid)], wheat flour, flavours (contain wheat), sugar, colour (caramel)(contains wheat), spice, minerals (zinc gluconate, ferrous gluconate), thickener (modified maize starch), Vitamin B12.
Now where do all these things come from? I’d imagine lotsa different companies? Maybe even lotsa different countries? So what sort of inputs are we clocking up? How much petroleum? How much coal? How much water? Are all these ingredients safe – food acid, thickener, colour, flavours? Is the soy GM? Where is it grown? Are synthetic fertilizers used? Is topsoil destroyed? What about the packaging?
Is this less wear on the planet than our grass fed beef? Is it a more healthy choice for our bodies?
Hmmm, if I were a vegetarian, I’d want to know all these things before I bring home the Facon…
