Dashka Slater:
"Pork, lamb and poultry all have their impacts, but beef is undoubtedly the Hummer of the dinner plate."Michael Pollan:
"Which brings us back to the 'why bother [going green]' question and how we might better answer it. The reasons not to bother are many and compelling, at least to the cheap-energy mind. But let me offer a few admittedly tentative reasons that we might put on the other side of the scale:
If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them. And those who did change the way they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in behavior from others -- from other people, other corporations, even other countries."
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Over Meet the Press this morning, La Doug and I were discussing the awful but not impossible scenario where McCain wins the White House over a fractured Democratic party.
LA DOUG: I talked to Mark, who was in D.C. when we went from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. It went from a sushi town to a steakhouse town overnight.
Hey Ganda!
Just saying hi.
You've heard the theory of why certain Tibetan Buddhists eat beef and not seafood? Because all souls are created equal and with one cow soul you can feed many more people than a dozen shrimp souls?
Or something like that.
Hi Dom!
Yes, totally. But if you believe in reincarnation and you haven't always been a pacifist, samsara can seem like an eternity anyway. It can make you crazy to think about the world of hurt in store for you if you've ever smashed an ant hill.
Also, I was taught that it's more sinful to buy the dead fish in the ice case than it is to choose a live fish from the tank and have it killed, Chinese market-style.
If you start extrapolating, is rare beef better than well-done beef because you kill fewer microorganisms?
Possibly. I don't think the sutras were accounting for microogranism souls.
Also, in the Vietnamese restaurant the other day, I saw them feeding strips of raw beef to one of those live fish in the fish tank. WTF? It wasn't a piranha or anything, just a regular fish.
Also, in another Vietnamese restaurant, had the seven-course beef dinner, which is just too good. Have you had it?
Is there one seven-course beef dinner? Is it a set dinner or something? I've never heard of such a thing. And no, haven't had anything like that. Is there that much beef to be had in Vietnam?
There is a seven-course beef meal, called bo bay mon (seven course beef) that serves beef in 7 different ways, including fondue, grilled, wrapped in grape leaves, etc., etc. In my opinion the best place to get this is in California where there are full restaurants devoted to this meat fest. There are also fish variations.
We Vietnamese like our beef (see also beef pho, bun bo hue (another kind of noodle soup made with beef broth), and various stir-fried beef and vegetables).
Yeah there are two places to get the full 7 courses near my current crib in San Gabriel. I'm pretty fond of the fondue course and also the meatball which is generously spiked with some kind of peppercorn. The best part is, despite being mainly beef, it's a meal with all the lightness and refined flavors and fresh vegetable matter that really distinguish Vietnamese cuisine IMO, and leaves you feeling refreshed, as opposed to that feeling you get after the T-Bone Steak Truck backs up over you.