A Truly Happy Meal!

Free Range Cows raised for meat

By Monica Angelin Savarese

My journey into veganism started a long time ago, although I didn’t know it then: when I was a young girl, while walking to the general store near our country house, I saw a cow being pulled into the slaughterhouse, and I remember being very upset.

I had forgotten this episode until recently, when it popped back to my mind while I was mulling over something I heard: the idea that the meat from a “happy” cow supposedly tastes better and/or is better for us, as opposed to that of animals who have lived their lives in factory-farms.

I have no way to refute this claim, since I haven’t eaten any animal products, happy or not, for the past several years, however from my experience with the “dead cow walking”, I can argue this fact: even presuming that this particular cow had led a “happy” life, trotting around the country meadows while ruminating grass until her final day, I clearly remember looking into her eyes and realizing in an instant, with that sort of immediate, inexplicable connection that ties children to animals, that she knew she was going to be killed, and I saw in her eyes the desperate almost human plea to save her. I can use several adjectives to describe what I saw in her eyes, and “happy” is definitely not one of them.

Would those final minutes of terror affect her “happy” meat? No one can ever tell, and from an ethical and health point of view, it really doesn’t matter.

Having being raised, like most people, with the belief that human beings cannot survive by plants alone, that in order to be healthy we must kill and eat other beings or exploit them for their “products”, I pushed the image of that cow out of my mind, telling myself it was a necessary evil, so that I didn’t have to face the ethical dilemma. I know now I was not alone, as this disconnect between animals we exploit and those we pet and love has been researched and explored in many books like “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, and “Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism” by Melanie Joy and “The face on your plate” by Jeffrey Masson.

Fast forward about 30 years, and here I am: I have been able to nourish my body for the last few years without any animal product, and I even have been through a healthy pregnancy in my 40′s eating exclusively a plant-based diet. In my journey, I have also discovered the tremendous health benefits associated with not eating animal products, whether they’re from “happy” or “unhappy” animals.

The reason why more and more doctors are advocating a vegan diet for people with heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. has nothing to do with the overall “mood” of the animals, but rather with the fact that, for instance, the high saturated fat content in meat and other animal products increases hormone production in the human body, and that increases the risk of developing hormone-related cancers, like prostate and breast cancer. Eating meat or animal products from a “happy” animal will put in our bodies the same amount of cholesterol as those of not so happy animals, and since the human body produces its own cholesterol, all the extra will end up clogging the arteries, causing atherosclerosis, which in turn will lead to heart attacks and strokes.
(More information on the health dangers of eating animal products can be found at http://pcrm.org/health/health-topics/)

If you really want to eat food that comes from “happy” sources, my suggestion is to stick to a plant-based diet: a friend of mine once told me that a plant-based diet is the diet that will love you back. Indeed.

For a truly “happy” meal, try this Happy Loaf: it is delicious, and no animals were harmed before, during or after the preparation!

1 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon chives
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon vegan chicken bouillon powder (or one bouillon cube)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup cooked drained lentils
1 cup ketchup, divided
1/2 cup extra firm tofu
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup cooked drained pinto beans

Radiant Mix Sprouts for garnish

Directions:

1. Put bread crumbs, dry seasonings, vinegar, lentils, 1/2 cup ketchup, and tofu into a medium bowl. Saute’ onion and pepper in 1 tablespoon canola oil until the peppers start to get soft. Fry garlic until it slightly browns.

2. Put pinto beans into a food processor with 1/4 cup ketchup. Process fully and add the mixture to the medium bowl. Put the cooked onions, peppers, and garlic into the bowl as well and mix completely. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease with 1 teaspoon canola oil. Make a loaf out of your mixture in the shape of a square, and place it on the baking sheet.

4. Bake loaf uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with the rest of the ketchup, cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Take the loaf out of the oven. Let it cool for 10 minutes before cutting. Garnish with Radiant Mix Sprouts.

Makes about 4 servings. ‘

Monica Angelin Savarese is a writer, contributor and a plant based diet advocate.