Friday, July 27, 2012

Taking a Neanderthal to Dinner

Tonight, I ate about four meals-worth of meat at one sitting.  It's nearly midnight and I'm still digesting it.  I feel like a Neanderthal after a good mammoth hunt. 

I had dinner at Novhilos Brazilian Steakhouse in Factoria.  Oh man, I ate.  Of course, I had a salad from the salad bar to start, but then, they changed my plate and I was off - garlic steak, flank steak, Parmesan pork tenderloin, chicken, pork sausage, sirloin steak, ribs.  I couldn't actually sample everything.  I did hold out for another round of flank steak which Mike thought was the best, but we left just as they came out with another skewer of it.

See, after you visit the salad bar, you turn over a token by your plate that says 'Yes, please' in a couple of different languages.  Then, waiters visit your table with steaming skewers of meat which they slice off for you on the spot.  You use little tongs to grab the slice as it folds back to reveal its juices.  How can I be hungry again, thinking about that flank steak? 

These days, it isn't kosher to eat too much meat.  I've been told that it isn't healthy, that cows contribute to global warming through deforestation, that cows produce too much methane gas and that's a problem somehow, and that it's cruel.

I've read 'Fast Food Nation.' I've read the descriptions of the conditions in which many cows live. I've read statistics about how many acres of tropical rainforest were cleared today in honor of the golden arches.  I promise that I'm paying attention to these messages.  I try to keep my meat consumption down to a couple of pounds a week.  It's hard for me since meat and leaves are the mainstay of my diet.  If I eliminated meat, I'd be left with leaves, sticks and grass.  I don't think it would look good to see me out in my yard gnawing on sticks there.  So I eat some fruit too.  It's just that it's the protein that gets me through to the next meal.

In my defense, I use rice protein in a shake I make every morning.  I use unsweetened cocoa too, if you need to know one of my secrets. I like my shakes.  I look forward to my shakes.

I also look forward to having a hunk of tender meat for dinner.  I am without a doubt, a certified carnivore.  I would have trouble in a strictly vegetarian world.  I won't even say the other 'V' word. ..... vegan ....  There I said it.  Can't do it.  I just can't.  The best I can do is that morning smoothie.  It keeps me from downing a half a pound of bacon or sausage every morning. 

So, when Mike says he wants to take me out to Novhilos for a special occasion, I jump at the chance.  The carnivore in me is strong.  I hope and pray that we can solve the problems created by the way we use those poor cows, but   ...   but ... Long live the carnivore!

Thank you for listening, jb

No comments:

Post a Comment