By Juliana Di Leonardo
Climate change often feels like the elephant in the room. Some choose to ignore it or outright deny it. Others semi-address it with reusable bags, cups, and compostable straws which help but are more feel-good than do-good. With the uprising of greenwashed products, corporations have instilled consumers with the belief that simply buying “green” products will help save our planet but in actuality, the right action isn’t always so obvious.
Recently, scientists have been experimenting with insects as an alternative to eating chickens, cows, and pigs because the animal agriculture industry is the greatest contributor to our current climate crisis. Science News reports: “Adding sugars to powdered, cooked mealworms creates a seasoning with an appetizing ‘meatlike’ odor … Some insects have been found to be an environmentally friendly alternative to other animal protein because they require less land and water to raise.”
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mealworms-sugar-new-seasoning-smell-meat. I surmise that this is a terrific example of why one cannot do the wrong thing right. In today’s world, it is crucial for us all to take actions that will target the root of the problem rather than sweeping dirt under the carpet. Scientists are right that choosing “pasture-raised, grass-fed” meat, which actually causes the greatest amount of environmental harm due to the mass deforestation required for such operations, is far from the ethical choice. However, killing less mammals and birds at the expense of an even greater number of mealworms, who want to live as much as you or I, is wrong as well. The same is true about a great many animal issues. Choosing “cage-free” eggs does nothing for the countless one-day-old baby roosters who are still ground up alive because they can’t lay eggs. Choosing “organic” milk or cheese, which results in not only babies being violently torn from their mothers within days of birth but also prevents their tortured mothers’ painful mastitis to be treated with antibiotics, is unacceptable.
Luckily, we do not need to kill cows nor worms to prepare a dish that tastes like meat. With a little ingenuity, one can achieve a meaty smell or taste without ever exploiting animals. When we think of food it is easy to understand that each fruit and vegetable has its own taste and texture, but when we cook with certain ingredients or at a specific heat level we can change the flavors drastically. For example, the Maillard Reaction, which is the chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugar – often referred to as non-enzymatic browning reactions – can achieve a meaty taste and odor. This can mean that even a peach dish, depending on the ingredients used, can achieve a cruelty-free, meaty aroma.
Despite an animal-free diet being void of meat, dairy, eggs and honey, it is the kindest, healthiest, and most environmentally beneficial diet one can follow. Removing oneself from an industry that is responsible for the deaths of trillions of 5-sense beings each year not only does wonders for our karma but also helps relieve the high levels of methane gas and polluted water that is created by agribusiness.
For this week’s Anuvrat, I urge you to unburden yourself from parigraha, or attachment, and reflect on the right action or solution to a problem before accepting an easier, less informed one. Channel your inner Jain sadhu and sweep the innocent out of harm’s way instead of casually accepting the suffering that surrounds us. Choose an animal-free Beyond Burger over grass-fed beef or leave the honey to the bees with Agave syrup instead. By following Ahimsa, the right path will become easier than ever to follow.
