Photo of vegetarian polenta cakes, wild mushroom ragu, goat cheese, and balsamic reduction at Urban Tapas, Fort Pierce, FL by Carolyn Fortuna/ CleanTechnica
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My mother cooked for our family with a post-World War II mindset. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. Wonder Bread sandwiches with one slice of American cheese and another slice of ham. Supper typically would be Shake-n-Bake chicken, mashed potatoes, and a canned vegetable, or hamburger and reheated frozen french fries. She upped her meal repertoire game on Sundays with well-done roast beef and on Fridays during Lent with tuna casserole.
As I grew up, I became increasingly aware of what an essential gift nature provides to us. Texts like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and The Sea around Us spoke to me as an integral part of my identity formation. I came to understand that humans are one with the Earth — that we share ecosystems and life forces. I became a tree hugger, an eco-warrior, eco-nut, eagle freak. These derogatory terms for living in ways connected to the planet didn’t faze me — they empowered me.
In the 1970s, the meat-processing industry was in the midst of heartily denying how chemicals like nitrates and nitrites react with meat and form cancer-causing compounds. In 1980 I renounced red meat, adding inhumane animal treatment to my healthy-choices vegetarian rationale.
