Non-Wimpy, Non-Hamburger Tuesday. A new kind of S/O/L/E food.

What’s in a name? Remember J. Wellington Wimpy?

Popeye’s Burger-loving mooch of a friend? Famous for saying:

“I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for hamburger today.”

As I was trying to think of how to designate a regular day when readers can share a non-meat recipe, I kept thinking, “not wimpy.”

Wimpy loved burgers (as I do)! Wimpy was a mooch, who promised to show on Tuesday but probably never did. So maybe we call it: Non-Wimpy Tuesday.

Tuesdays, instead of burger day or payment for them day, can become the day we share meat-free recipes. (cue the horns of heraldry!)

And anyone who knows how to superimpose a red circle with the line through it over wimpy here, please raise your hand.

Or maybe we find another logo for it?

Why NWT or go meat-free?

More and more of us are m-o-o-o-ving away from meat, regularly, if not completely. I’m not talking about becoming a vegan (no meat, no dairy, no animal products, though curiously often cigarettes, leather and other substances are okay). Nor do I intend to become vegetarian (no meat) or “pescatarian” (no meat but fish).

No, don’t worry. I’m not talking about any of that. It’s all okay, it’s just not where I’m coming from.

I’m talking about expanding our options. Think about adding new recipes to your menu rotation, as opposed to subtracting meat. Think about good food that is satisfying and happens to be veg.

Why are people seeking meat-free recipes?

I’ve had friends and readers whom I’ve not met, ask for ideas to help them eat healthy gourmet food, here are some of the additional requests or concerns I’ve heard:

• sustainability – so important to many of us;
• cost – people want help stretching food dollars;
• local – increasingly, people desire more information about, connection to their food producers;
  
• organics – competing, often silly or misleading information grows daily about what this means and its value;
• food ethics – ethical eating is rising on the charts!

Some bundle these all together and call it S/O/L/E – a sort of catchall term for these issues. Perhaps we should have S/O/L/E food day. Kinda like that one…(she changes the title, already unwieldy…someone stop her…please. Now.)

As we look at the environmental impacts of our food choices (see the Low Carbon Diet, in Mooove over South Beach) we see that those burgers have a lot more impact on our greenhouse gas emissions than you might realize. Even meat free burgers can be onerous in emissions from packaging and trucking.

Others have asked me for help thinking outside the meat-centered box for health reasons or in light of increasing unease with animal welfare issues.

Here we go!

• Tuesdays I’ll highlight a meat-free recipe, either mine or submitted by a reader. I invite everyone to send one in on any day. I’ll pick one to share on an upcoming Tuesday. If you have a food blog or website, be sure to include it.

• Tell us about your thoughts on going meat-free just one day. Is it cost-driven? Food safety concerns? Sustainability issues? Health goals? Curiosity? Culinary interest? Is this hard for you? Easy?

• I’ll also share resources and create an on-going list which I’ll set up somewhere so there’s an evergreen list. I’ve got a growing list of fellow food bloggers, chefs, and a couple of dieticians who will inspire us, I’m sure. I can’t wait.

• Snap a photo of what you made, tell us how you liked it.

Food for thought to get you going:

– Millions of people eat meat-free every day. Look to cuisines of other cultures. Mediterranean, Asian, Indian, especially.

– Here’s a beautiful website, 101 Cookbooks that is delicious, informative and gorgeously photographed. That’s just one, lots more up my sleeve!

– Summer is such a good time for produce around here. Go to the farmers market and pick up what’s fresh – build the meal around that.

~ by jacqueline1230 on September 19, 2008.