Jason Schwartzman would like you to consider not eating meat for a day, a month or even the rest of your life. In a new short for Plate to Planet the Bored To Death actor narrates the day in the life of a suburban office drone who, thanks to helpful talking heads on his TV, radio and computer comes to realization that vegetarian tacos can taste good, too. And they can, but is cutting back on meat really the way to stop factory farms?
Regarding the short, which is actually kinda cute, Schwartzman says “The devastation inflicted on our environment by factory farms is something we all have the power to stop by doing something as simple as ordering a veggie burger instead of a meat one. Please join me in taking the pledge to go meat free for a day, a month or longer. It’s a lot easier than you think, and let’s be real, all burgers taste the same with ketchup.”
But do they? Momofuku emperor David Chang certainly doesn't think so. In an interview with Details the chef goes on a rant about vegetarians that smacks right against the message Plate to Planet is trying to push:
I'm not against all vegetarians. But if you're a vegetarian for ethical reasons, you may be causing more harm. I use this example: I was at a wedding, and at the reception everyone was eating local lobster and clams, but a couple of my friends were like, "No, we want the vegetarian option." And it's fucking vegetables from every corner of the fucking planet. Really? They don't want to pollute the earth, they don't want to support factory farming, but factory commodity farming is fucking awful. And not only that, it's almost slave labor. That poor fucking person who harvested your asparagus from Peru might have died because you wanted a fucking goddamn asparagus in August. Which doesn't happen. If you're going to be a vegetarian, limit yourself to food from a place you can go to in two hours and just eat that. Do it, or shut the fuck up.
Yes, Chang goes over the top (as he is wont to do) but he makes a legitimate point about the hypocrisy of vegetarianism based on a global economy. Maybe we should all just give up and become freegans?
