Today is International Meatless Day. Since 1985, the planet’s inhabitants have been encouraged to give it up for a day. At first it was just about red, but now it’s about everything. There are already calls not to eat birds. In some places, it is even mentioned that it is necessary to give up fish. All to save the planet. By the way, today is Earth Day. This looks like the day of liberation from pigs and cows. They say they produce more carbon dioxide than anyone else on the planet. And they supposedly do more damage than cars. He is the guilty one!
I fully support a meatless day. And I try to eat less red meat – its excess is harmful not only to the planet but also to the body. Do you know how many problems there are? Including diverticulosis and bowel cancer. I won’t even write about diverticula; See for yourself what it is. It’s a terrible thing! If there are many cows, they will take revenge on humans.
Meat-eating countries have traditionally suffered from “meat” diseases, especially intestinal diseases.
By the way, I have given up meat several times over the course of several years in my life. But I didn’t just eat red meat. The reason is simple; I feel sorry for the cows and pigs. It made my eyes water. One day, I quietly gave up red meat for almost two years. I never wanted to eat it. Then I lived in Europe, where the vegetarian food industry was already developed and there were many substitutes. Of course, I’m talking about taste, not quality. I am already an adult and I know that there is nothing that can replace meat for all amino acids. But that didn’t stop me from rejecting it. It was easy to live without meat in Europe. When I returned to Russia in 2010, it was difficult for a vegetarian in the provinces because there was no substitute for meat except crab sticks, eggs and crucian carp. And it’s not like vegetarianism, it’s called ovo-pescetarianism; eating eggs and fish while rejecting meat. So I had to slowly return to meat.
A few years later St. I gave up again because I moved to St. Petersburg; Here, the meals of those who did not eat red meat were more diverse. And then my diet lasted only until I started working out in the gym on a serious scale. As soon as I started squatting with forty kilos, my legs immediately carried me to the butcher shop. There are no illusions here, I tested it myself: science does not lie, there is no substitute for red meat.
By the way, after I quit education, I also gave up meat. I didn’t eat again for a long time. Before pregnancy. I would immediately imprison pregnant women for depriving them of meat. Personally, when I got my first positive test, I immediately went to a steakhouse. And from then on I ate meat. Quietly, without complex thoughts about the fate of unfortunate cows and the greenhouse effect allegedly caused by their gases. Moreover, the greenhouse effect theory has never been accepted by leading geophysicists. In short, I ate meat throughout my pregnancy. And after giving birth, I definitely stopped. Once. I eliminated the ribs from my first maternity hospital meal. And for the full four years she breastfed her child, she did not eat red meat. When my daughter grew up, I gave her meat. I cooked it myself. I even remember how I cut and twisted a village rabbit – they sold it to us with its paws. Apparently to distinguish it from a cat.
Silently, emotionlessly, he cut it into minced meat. At that time, neither the taste nor the smell of meat excited me at all. It didn’t bother me that they were eating and cooking meat in front of me. I didn’t perceive it as food. Just zero reaction.
And then… suddenly I wanted meat. One day I bought lamb and cooked it. And there was no regret. I’ve been eating meat in moderation ever since.
Why do I talk about myself so much? I ate it, I didn’t eat it, I haven’t eaten it for how many years… I say this to show that: I know from personal experience that giving up meat is not an unconditional health benefit. Maybe one day we will save the world from cows. And for the prevention of bowel cancer. But as someone who hasn’t eaten meat for years, I’m not ready to promote vegetarianism. And I am wary of such propagandists: they are either glorifiers or dishonest people.
Unfortunately, vegetarianism has become a gold mine. In St. Petersburg, in the mid-2010s, dozens and dozens of stores selling trendy vegetarian dishes opened, where whole oats were charged more than oatmeal. Soybeef became known as seitan and quinoa became known as quinoa. This is a huge market! Arguably, by the beginning of the decade it had already surpassed drug trafficking in volume and included not only the production and sale of all these seemingly healthy foods, but also a whole “education” industry. Vegetarian education centres, vegan magazines, recipes, cookbooks and shows. And when all the webinars started… There were thousands of people, a whole separate industry geared towards extracting money from the gullible population. People pay to have chubby, rosy-cheeked “educators” tell them how veganism benefits the body.
There were also raw food gurus. We know the fate of some of them. A girl named Zhanna Samsonova brought herself to the point of exhaustion with a raw food diet. She taught others about the raw food diet while she could! Raw foodist Lyuty taught people to starve for money and killed his own son. By the way, neither Lyuty herself nor the mother of her child looked like raw foodists. And very few of the raw food diet supporters on the internet looked like raw food experts. They obviously finished eating somewhere! I’m speaking in the past tense because, thank God, at least the raw food diet is out of fashion. Somehow the tide subsided. It seems that people are convinced that there are no longer any citizens left growing carrots and beets because of the brilliant practices that have been implemented in the country for years. But exhausted and frustrated raw foodists emerged.
Apparently veganism is in the same situation. In 2019, it was reported that the number of vegans in our country increased one and a half times every year. However, vegan product sales decreased by 3.8% in 2022. They say that the decline in imports and rising prices are responsible for this. But I think common sense prevails. What is veganism like in our latitudes? It is also unwelcome in hot climates. Meanwhile, even in India, less than a third of the population is vegetarian. It turns out I don’t want to be a vegetarian: sun, fruits and shortage of milk and meat. There are very few vegans there, except maybe the yogis in the ashrams. And they are busy educating tourists.
When we had this wave of downshifting and whole ashram visiting, our people were amazed to learn that Indians do not live on vegetables and fruits. And the famous cows that shit into the Ganges are kept for their milk and meat!
Remember Leo Tolstoy: he wrote “Anna Karenina” with meat and “Filippka” with mushroom broth. This is also not a myth. And while the author’s wife was cooking the soup, she added meat to the author, otherwise the author would have given up completely. At the end of his life, Tolstoy’s mind seemed weakened, his eyes were filled with dementia. He tormented his family with the idea of giving up money and property and suggested that everyone switch to minestrone soup. It made me uneasy that my wife, who is raising 13 children, did not want to follow a vegetarian diet. Tolstoyans later united around the idea of vegetarianism. And it was clear at the time that this was some kind of cult.
It’s strange that it didn’t take some people over a hundred years to figure this out. Let them sit without eating meat for a day and save the planet.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.