I didn’t know a lot of the details yet on why meat-consumption was bad but there were a couple of things I did learn. I knew that one of the major causes of deforestation of the Amazon was to clear land for soy crops – most of which was used as animal feed for the beef industry in China. I learned that it took roughly 1,500 gallons of water, indirectly, to produce one pound of beef – the numbers for other types of meat were much lower but still pretty shocking. I studied fertilizer usage for animal feed, how inefficient it was, and how much nitrogen pollution it caused in both our atmosphere and our water. Finally, I had also heard about the significant contributions of “cow farts and burps” to methane pollution. This one took a while for me to believe but I eventually heard about it from enough credible sources.

All of what I had discovered compelled me to learn more and research ways to alleviate these problems but an immediate solution I could act on was to eschew eating meat altogether. I thought would be a better idea to “do” now and “learn” later.

There were a couple reasons I gave to friends when they asked why I suddenly decided to stop eating meat. Mainly, meat was environmentally damaging. It also happened to be my first year cooking for myself and I had become very conscious about food in general. I explained that meat was messier to cook (premediated defrosting, concern about rawness, etc.), and more expensive to buy than vegetarian meals.

Through my experiences and readings, it took me less than a month to realize that many of my preconceptions were flawed or flat out wrong.

First off, being vegetarian was definitely not cheaper. After having learned about how much more energy and water it took to produce one calorie of meat compared to one calorie of plant-matter, I was astonished how much cheaper meat actually was. Secondly, while making vegetarian dishes was much more sanitary and less time-consuming (if you account for defrost time), it was definitely much harder to create flavorful and interesting dishes.

Thes problems, however, were minor. I didn’t mind spending a little more money to live a lifestyle that I believed was better for the world. Additionally, making interesting vegetarian dishes became a welcomed personal challenge to cook more creatively. The main problem was one I did not anticipate as much – food is as much social as it is nutritional or environmental and not being able to eat meat stunted that aspect.

I didn’t mind removing meat from my diet when I cooked for myself. For the most part, it was only part of my meal because I felt it should have be there. Growing up with a traditional chinese home-cooked diet, it would be absurd to see a a meal without any meat in it. However, when I started cooking for myself, I realized meat didn’t necessarily make the meal taste any better. It was when meat became something more than just nutritional input that it started to matter. Being a strict vegetarian meant that I could no longer share in on those conversations when my culinary friends tried a new delicious lamb chop recipe. It meant that I could no longer participate in the fun and humor that accompanied gorging down unhealthy amounts of foods at BBQ’s. It meant no more hot dogs at the ballpark. Worst of all, being someone who lives on trying new things, this severely limited my options to explore different types of food. These were all important components to who I was and I did know if I was willing to completely give up so many of my other values to accommodate this one value.

I admire those who can maintain a strict vegetarian diet for a cause but, in my search for answers, I was also beginning to realize that it was not necessary for my cause and perhaps even problematic. The more I learned about the environmental impact of meat industry, the more I realized it was from the “industry” part and not from the “meat” part.

For example, harmful aspect to meat production I mentioned was nitrogen pollution and deforestation associated with feeding animals. Again, sustainable farms that raise animals off the land and not from an artificial and industrialized food source don’t have this problem. If animal grazing is properly controlled, the food source naturally available from the land beneath the cows can be self-regenerating. I also speculate that the 1500 gallons of water required to make one pound of beef is less from what the cow drinks and more from watering the animal feed.

There are a lot of other reasons why meat consumption itself is not necessarily bad but there are people with more authority than myself to talk about it. The Carnivore’s Dilemma is a great article in the New York Times that just came out and sums up a lot about the overgeneralizations of meat production. Michael Pollan‘s writings are also a great resource.

I don’t restrict myself from meat exclusively anymore. I have no problem with it if the meat is sustainably produced. I allow myself to try the dishes I want to try at new restaurants and not restrict myself to “the” vegetarian dish – but I do try to eat more at restaurants with a more sustainable outlook. I won’t make my friends cook something special for me at dinner parties – or make them constantly uncomfortable that I don’t have enough to eat. I will enjoy BBQ’s the way they should be enjoyed. But ninety percent of the time, I still restrict myself to a vegetarian diet.

One might think, “Well, what about all you just said about how it’s the industry part and not the meat part? How will eating less meat affect how sustainably we produce meat in the world?” The solution surely seems to be more go local and sustainable than go vegetarian (or flexitarian). It’s true that it may make more sense if I concentrate my efforts on policy or activism to encourage more naturally grown meats such as cage-free poultry or free-range grass fed cows. However, there has been one argument against the sustainable movement that I could not ignore: the current human population and diet have been so dependent on industrialized farms that it would be impossible for us to live off of a more natural system.

Even if everyone wanted to eat more sustainable meat and we could convert all industrial farmland into sustainable farmland, there simply would not be enough supply for the demand. Sustainable farms will likely never be as efficient as monoculture farms or feedlots at producing food in terms of food per unit of land. Industrial farms may have sacrificed environmental friendliness but they do so to achieve a more streamlined and efficient production process.  Regardless of the fact that many of the cited environmental impacts are based on the industrialized meat market, meat is still a inherently inefficient source of calories due to how high up it sits on the food chain. Vegetables and grains will always be a more efficient source and, in order to make sustainable eating habits a reality for everyone and not just a luxury good, the world as a whole must learn to consume less meat.

After preemptively proclaiming that I would be a vegetarian, many  thought that the “regression” from vegetarianism to flexitarianism was a sign of weakness – and, in part, it was – but after understanding more about where our food comes from and what choices we have, I don’t see the decision as a compromise to my principles.

My personal diet was a first step, but there is still have a lot I want to learn and do. In January 2010, I will be traveling to Argentina to work on some sustainable farm initiatives in Patagonia and learn more about sustainable agriculture. I am also designing a series of infographics to qualify many of statements we might have heard about food and the environment. After all, as I have learned from this journey, knowledge is power.