Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers have been the leading cause of death or diseases among Americans. Upon reading “How This ‘Meat Patch’ Is Helping Us Make The Change to Plant-based Diets” by Paul Osbourne, I find the idea of masking the smell of plant-based foods with meat spectacular. Many families use meat as their main ingredient in their recipe during family meals. The shift of eating less meat, especially for families that need the transition, is difficult because their taste buds have gotten used to the taste of meat.
When pondering on the biological perspectives on why a lot of families use meat in their diet can stem from their childhood. As children, humans tend to use a lot of energy; they would need to eat food that provides them with a lot of energy. Those energy can be effectively provided by meat compared to veggies that provide less calories. In addition, the taste of veggies is pretty bland and bitter unlike the sweet and soft texture of meat. As species who can eat both meat and veggies, it is not surprising that a lot of us would prefer meat over veggies.
However, if we use the meat patch technique to mask the blandness and bitterness of veggies, we may be able to impact the lives of thousands of humans from their childhood to adulthood. Part of our judgement on what food taste good comes from the aroma or smell of the food when the food is inside our mouth. The brain, specifically the temporal lobe, plays a role in determining whether the food tastes good in our mouth. We learn to trick our own brain or sense in order to make it easier for us to consume foods that we do not enjoy as much such as veggies. If we can make the tastiness of veggies to equal that of meat, then there would be more people willing to transition to eating veggies and lead a longer, healthier life.
I also agree that the meat industry is harmful for our environment, causing pollution such as fossil fuel and global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions. The substances produced by the meat industry such as methane, carbon dioxide, and ammonia are toxic to our health and can lead to respiratory problems. Hunting for meat also leads to overfishing and the potential extinction of a species. Humans are already destroying animal’s habitats by chopping down trees in the forest and destroying swamps for constructions. In addition, with the development of technology and ideas, people are living longer than their predecessors and have multiple opportunities to reproduce. The increase of consumption and consumerism correlates with the need for more food and the increase of pollution. The effects of pollution and over-consumption may not be apparent right now, but they will accumulate and make the environment a very dangerous place to live in the near future. Finding an alternative method to hunting animals such as making artificial food and flavorings would preserve our environment and stunt the rate of the growth of mass extinction happening within our era.
by Naive Health Lady Lu January 31, 2020
Naive Healthy Lady Lu 