Foer writes eloquently of his early attempts at vegetarianism, his re-commitment when his son was born, and the moral underpinnings of his choice ("Try to imagine any end other than taste for which it would be justifiable to do what we do to farmed animals"). But what stood out for me about his piece was the descriptions of food he'd given up. He writes,

Some of my happiest childhood memories are of sushi "lunch dates" with my mom, and eating my dad's turkey burgers with mustard and grilled onions at backyard celebrations, and of course my grandmother's chicken with carrots. Those occasions simply wouldn't have been the same without those foods - and that is important. To give up the taste of sushi, turkey or chicken is a loss that extends beyond giving up a pleasurable eating experience. Changing what we eat and letting tastes fade from memory create a kind of cultural loss, a forgetting. But perhaps this kind of forgetfulness is worth accepting - even worth cultivating (forgetting, too, can be cultivated). To remember my values, I need to lose certain tastes and find other handles for the memories that they once helped me carry.

It's true that not every tradition is worth preserving, and plenty of things that we now consider abhorrent were once happy memories for some. At the same time, Foer is more honest than many vegetarians about the personal cost of not eating meat. For me, becoming a vegetarian didn't involve jettisoning a lot of beloved foods. I was such a picky kid that my favorite foods were toast, apples, and ice cream, and although I enjoyed a brief food renaissance when I went to college, I didn't really become emotionally attached to meat. Giving it up at the age of 20 was easy.

But I got sick. Vegetarianism led to near-veganism led to an obsession with "healthy" food (combined with a summer on a very strict beans-and-broccoli budget) that left me underweight, cold, and anxious all the time. I was never diagnosed with an eating disorder, but my friends were concerned, and my doctor sternly told me to gain weight. Which I did, in part by eating seafood again.

I still do it, and I'm still not completely proud of it — while I don't share Foer's ethical fervor for the vegetarian cause, I do know that fishing can be as bad for the environment as factory farming. I think of my eating style as a way to eat less flesh and use fewer resources than I would as an omnivore — which it is — but it's also a way of honoring good memories and keeping bad ones at bay. Being a pure vegetarian or a vegan still reminds me of a time when I was sickly and scared and not taking good care of myself. Eating the occasional clam linguine or California roll reminds me of getting better, of feeling physically and mentally healthy again. I know that many, many people thrive on animal-free diets, and I believe that, with the right preparation and the right frame of mind, I could too. And I don't believe, as some do, that vegetarianism is just another eating disorder. But I am afraid of how easily my ethics can turn into self-denial, my self-denial into self-punishment. And I don't want my diet to remind me of my summer of beans.

Foer says that when his grandmother made her chicken and carrots, she "wasn't preparing food, but humans." And it's true that food is rarely just food — it's also the stories and the values that surround it. For me, for now, a can of anchovies tells a story about healing myself, and it's not a story I'm willing to give up just yet.

Against Meat [NYT Magazine]

In answer to the first question, the Slate's Nina Rastogi says: go ahead, chow down on some bacon. Well, kind of. The greenest meat is actually poultry, because it's so efficient: a calorie of chicken protein requires only 5.6 calories of fossil fuels, as opposed to 20 to 40 for beef. But pork is also somewhat more environmentally-friendly than beef, because pigs fart less and breed more than cows. Methane gas expelled by livestock contributes to global warming, and the more offspring an animal has per year, the fewer resources expended on breeding. Sadly for hamburger lovers, beef is the worst offender. It's bad for humans, as underscored by a new study (although, to be fair, this study also fingers hot dogs, which everyone knows are made of lips and assholes), and it's also bad for the planet. Cows use the most land, cause the most global warming, and contribute most to a kind of water pollution called eutrophication, which can kill fish.

Speaking of fish, how should we feel about eating them? According to a new report, fish feel pain, possibly in a way similar to humans. Fish who received morphine before being burned seemed chilled out (sorry) throughout the procedure and afterwards, while non-drugged fish showed "defensive behaviors, indicating wariness, or fear and anxiety" after their watery torture.

But Ariane Sherine, in an excruciatingly punny piece for the Guardian, says this news won't matter to most people. Sherine uses herself as an example: "fish don't elicit the same emotional response as mammals and birds," she writes, "and because of this, I've always eaten them but rarely meat." Ok, confession: though I used to be a vegetarian, I too eat fish. I don't do it because I think they don't feel pain — I'm sure they do. I do it for the selfish (or, as Sherine would say, "shellfish") reasons that I was having trouble staying healthy and eating with friends and family as a pure vegetarian. I pay attention to sustainable seafood guidelines, because my initial vegetarianism was an environmental, not a moral choice. I don't feel as virtuous as I did when I was a beans-and-tofu girl, but I can exercise again, my cholesterol is lower, and I don't get in fights with my dad when I go home.

Sherine says, "no matter how much pain creatures we view as 'food' are scientifically proven to experience, 94% of us will go on fuelling demand for them, sticking our fingers in our ears and yelling, 'la la la, they taste nice, so shut up and let me eat them!'" I don't think that's entirely true. I think articles like Rastogi's show that people are looking for ways to balance their desire to eat some animal products with their desire to not live in an all-Katrina-all-the-time global-warming hellscape. And if, as Michael Pollan says, Americans going meatless just one night a week would be like taking 30 to 40 million cars off the road, I'd rather champion Meatless Monday than wage a war for universal vegetarianism that, frankly, I'm never going to win.

The Kindest Cut [Slate]
Study: Fish May Feel Pain Much Like Humans [UPI]
Are Fishes' Feelings A Red Herring? [Guardian]
Paying A Price For Loving Red Meat [New York Times]

• A new study has linked the height of mothers to the risk of death among young children in India. Researchers report that children born to short women were 70 percent more likely to die before the age of 5. • According to the Journal of Consumer Research people are more likely to chose high fat options from a menu that also contains diet foods than one that is strictly high-calorie treats. • Researchers have found that walnuts may be the best thing to eat if you want to reduce your chances of getting breast cancer. • Numbers of wild grazing animals in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve have fallen substantially in the past 15 years, according to a new report. Researchers cite competition with human settlements as the reason for this sad news. • Casey Anthony's parents told the Early Show this morning that they believe their daughter is innocent, and they don't think Casey should accept a plea deal. •  Police say that a mother from White Plains, NY, stopped her car in the business district, and ordered her two daughters, ages 10 and 12, to get out, and drove away. • After requesting suggestions from the public, the Columbus Ohio Zoo has received 9,000 name submissions for their new baby elephant. Popular choices include Barack, Obama, Dumbo, Peanut, and Jack. • From the New York Times comes this new bit of celebrity vocab: The Brando Problem: "the case of a major public figure who dies and leaves behind a potent if contradictory image and no clear commercial legacy." • St. David's, a prestigious 300-year-old girls school in Britain, has announced that its closing, due to the faltering economy. • Two mothers/gang members from Southern California have been placed under arrest for attempting to induce labor in order to have their children born on April 20th, Hitler's birthday. • A new study has found that sexual harassment from males can prevent female bonding - at least among fish. • Saved by the bra: a 57-year-old woman escaped serious injury when a bullet fired at her from next door hit the underwire in her bra. • Baghdad is experiencing a bit of a wedding boom, as couples who had previously put their lives on hold try to make up for lost time. •  A non-profit organization called "Buzzfree Prom" has pulled one of its ads after receiving complaints over its homophobic content. • A new study suggests that divorce is not entirely acceptable in American culture - it may be tolerated, but many still feel that divorce is somehow morally ambiguous. •  There's been another Craigslist-related attack, this time in Tacoma, WA. A mother and her son were attacked by a hammer-wielding man, who lured them to his apartment by posting a listing for a used car. •  Karen Burns, author of a book of advice for the "working girl," suggests that the reason women are paid less then men is because we are not focused enough. She advises women to "juggle less, focus more." • KMSP Fox 9 in the Twin Cities has canceled its plans for a segment on child abduction, which would have featured a reporter driving around in a van and asking children for directions. • Nadja Benaissa, the German pop star accused of recklessly spreading HIV, has been released from police custody. • 

In the clip at left, Piven says that fish has been his only source of protein for 20 years, which is why his case is so very unique in that there is simply "no reference" for what he's going through. He claims his mercury levels were six times what they should be, which caused him to have problems with balance and memory, and ultimately made him pass out in his apartment. Sawyer then reads a doctor's statement that people who get ill from mercury, "have levels that are often hundreds or thousands of times the upper limit of normal." Piven replies that you must understand, "I'm not a doctor, I don't even play one on TV."

Kay. Like, maybe it's not a big deal to compare the smell and taste of a woman to Fish, but for Christ sake the joke is old. And to top it off, his little faux letter isn't even logically and creatively consistent! First he says that she can't get this "awful" (cough*fuckoff*cough) taste of fish out of her mouth, then she says she just loves the taste. Fuck off. If you're going to make fun of my Vagina, don't fuck up the joke.

As much as aquatic vertabrates are important to the ecosystem, of primary concern to pill-poppers is not getting knocked up. Our second story: Kroeger supermarket pharmacies are selling generic versions of Ortho Cyclen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen for a mere $9 per 28-pill pack. This is especially excellent news for college students, as the cost of birth control at universities had skyrocketed as a result of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

Still, $9 is a sight less than you'd be paying for name-brand and newer drugs, like Seasonale, the pill that only gives you a period four times a year. Marie Claire, the magazine we loved to hate on earlier today reports that the brand is now being advertised on male-directed media properties like the pages of Maxim and Spike TV. "Maybe this is just a clever way to get guys who are skeeved out by the bloat and the mood swings to sell the Pill for them," MC's Sarah Z. Wexler concludes, since Seasonale will shorten your PMS time by 2/3. Don't submit! Think of the fishes!

A Poison Pill: Human Contraceptives Are Bad For Fish [The Economist]
Birth Control Pills For A Mere $9 A Month [US News & World Report]
A Birth Control Pill for Men [Marie Claire]