Fake meat is not for me

BY KYLE LOVERN

The political discussion around meat consumption has become increasingly divided in recent years.

I just don’t think our government officials should debate our food. I believe they have more pertinent issues they should be worried about.

But it is a debate that seems to divide the liberals and conservatives, but as a moderate, I have to lean heavily toward the right wing on this issue.

Vice President Kamala Harris was reported to be eating only plant-based meals. However former President Donald Trump famously served fast-food burgers to a national championship football team at the White House. He will tell you he frequents drive-thru fast-food restaurants.

But now there are those who want to force fake meat on us.

Fake meat is a plant-based alternative to real meat, made from plant protein sources like soy or pea proteins. But my internet research said that a mixture of additives is needed to make these products look and taste like traditional or real meat.

I’m sorry, but if it is made from plants and chemicals, it’s not meat.

If you’re like me, I want my hamburgers and steak to come from cows. I want my bacon and ham to come from hogs. My wife and I have tried turkey burgers and they are OK. But they are loaded with salt and sodium. So the nutritional values sort of balance out. Not to mention the taste.

I guess that’s just how some of us roll.

Red meat is delicious and has plenty of protein, which is good for the body. Like my wife Vicki said, all things in moderation. We don’t eat burgers or steaks every day. However, when we do eat them, we want natural beef. We also like chicken, turkey and fish and eat our share of vegetables. We love a good, fresh salad too.

Vicki says I make some pretty awesome chili. Using ground beef or even ground turkey is much better than using fake meat. And who knows how that will turn out after it is ground up?

Meat is a part of our heritage, a staple of our meals and before the current administration took office, a relatively inexpensive food source for most Americans.

They say too much red meat is bad for you. I think eating “meat” made in a factory with chemicals and additives is probably bad for you too!

Salt levels in plant-based products are very high. Plant-based foods can contain up to six times more sodium than meat-equivalent products. Let that sink in for a minute. They say consuming too much salt is bad for you … so it looks like the fake meat may not be so good for you, especially if you are trying to limit salt intake.

The cattle farming and agriculture industry is a huge part of the economy. It’s a billion-dollar industry. Will they tell the cowboys and other cattle ranchers they can no longer make a living raising steers?

“I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef,” said Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has invested in companies that produce plant-based foods.

Don’t get me started on meat “grown in a lab or factory.” The Associated Press recently had a story where two companies were given the go-ahead to sell lab-grown meat in the U.S. No thanks!

Many companies that make lab-grown meat — also called “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” meat — start out by taking cells from different parts of an animal, including muscle or skin tissue, the AP story stated. All I can say is yuck!

“You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time,” Gates said in one interview.

I’m sorry, Mr. Gates, but you should stick to computers and programming.

Liberals like Gates say that the methane gas emitted by the cows from their farts and burping is a greenhouse gas that is bad for the environment.

It seems like cows and other mammals have been around for hundreds of years. Why are their digestive issues now considered a problem? I’m sure that somewhere some scientists got a grant to study this, so they had to come up with an answer to their hypothesis.

I’m certainly no expert, but you can’t convince me the cows farting is really hurting the environment that much.

How about all of the jet emissions politicians and billionaires use to fly around the world? Maybe that is part of the global warming problem. But I bet they won’t stop using that means of transportation.

All we have heard the last few years is climate change. Don’t burn fossil fuels. Believe me, the power grid cannot be completely supported by wind and solar energy. We still need coal, natural gas and oil. And we have plenty of that in the U.S. and won’t have to depend on foreign sources. When these folks suddenly don’t have electricity for their labs, internet, fancy coffee makers, and central heat and air conditioning, I bet they will sing a different tune.

This will be an ongoing debate and I am sure some agree with me and others may not. There is always something for the liberals to support that they think will save our planet.

But until then, make my ribeye medium-well and my burger the same (well done for my wife Vicki). I’ll have a BLT with lettuce and tomato on wheat toast. See, I’m healthy. I eat wheat bread and have two veggies on my bacon sandwich.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)