Ahead of the holiday season, Yale Climate Connections sat down to talk about food, climate change, underspiced turkeys, the Uncanny Valley of meat substitutes, pro-mushroom sentiment & more.
Sam: Going into the holidays, we are thinking about food. Food is good. We like food. But … we live in a culture and society where moralizing food choices can be quite dangerous...
Let’s start with: When did you start thinking about food and its relationship to climate change and how did that make you feel? What did that mean for your life?
Sara: I switched over to being a vegetarian in college around the time when I was getting really concerned about environmental issues. I was mostly vegetarian for decades but recently had to stop for medical reasons, and that has been a real shock… One thing that I really like is tacos with black beans and roasted sweet potatoes.
Sam: Black beans and sweet potatoes are an elite combination.
Sara: So tasty, you just gotta spice it.
Pearl: Everything needs to be seasoned...
When we were in Puerto Rico recently, we went to this vegan food truck, and they make the most amazing food. They have this fried mushroom sandwich that was amazing. And they had this chili with tofu and taro chips. And it was just unbelievable... Sometimes I find with the tofu chunks they still kind of have that artificial, kind of rubbery taste...
I was a vegetarian. I became vegetarian when I was 10, not for climate reasons. It was more watching a chicken get its head chopped off. It was already dead, but... getting a little bit grossed out about that...
Sam: I do buy the pre-marinated tofu from the grocery store for stir-fries and I think it’s pretty good.
Pearl: I don’t think I could be 100% vegan. I have too much of an affinity for cheese. And I know cheese is a really bad one.
I mean, I’m embarrassing to take to an Italian restaurant. You know when they come over to ask if you want Parmesan cheese? They have to stand there for a really, really long time as they grate the cheese over my plate.
Sara: I hear that the vegan cheeses are getting better.
Pearl: They have come a long way, for sure...
Sara: Can we talk about trophic levels, really nerd out?
Sam: Let’s do it.
Sara: OK, so every organism needs energy to live. And so if you’re eating just plants, you’re eating organisms that got their energy directly from the sun. That’s pretty efficient.
But if you’re eating a cow… By the time those calories get to your mouth, a lot of the energy that the cow got from the plants has already been used just to keep the cow alive and growing. So eating meat is a less efficient way to transfer the sun’s energy to your mouth, and it requires more land and other resources.
Pearl: We've done some radio stories about meatless Mondays or meals where you’re not eating meat. I think that's a nice, moderate way of thinking about it as a person of extremes. I don't think you have to be full-on militaristic about the way you eat.
