Spent the day in San Francisco.
Of course, this meant I ate a bowl of ramen. Today's order was the green onion ramen in soy sauce broth from Katana-Ya. And it was lovely. A big bowl of comfort.
(Side note: Did you know that Samuel Wanjiru, the Kenyan elite who won gold in the marathon at the Beijing Olympics, was first in the Chicago Marathon in both 2009 and 2010 -- the most recent while recovering from stomach flu -- and was highlighted in one of my favorite running movies ever ate there too? His autograph is on the wall. But I digress.)
However, as you can see from this photo, there is a piece of pork in this ramen. And while I didn't eat the pork, this whole dish represents a dilemma. If I am not eating meat mainly because I don't want to contribute to the demand that results in inhumane treatment of animals, then I really shouldn't have ordered the ramen in the first place because the act of ordering it was demand itself. (In fact, for the most part, ramen broth is made with meat-based stock -- typically chicken or pork, sometimes beef or fish. There is no escaping the meat/demand issue here.)
So by not eating the meat today, did I actually commit a worse act because I am wasting food and/or not respecting the animal that was killed for this meal?
I really shouldn't have ordered it, but I just love it so much.
2 comments
For things that I love with meat in them (hello, chicken gyro wraps from my favourite greek place!) I just order them without meat. I don't know, I guess that makes the meat less in demand?
I've picked off meat and ate around it before but it's definitely not my favourite thing to do!
Ramen noodles ARE yummy!
I think I am going to have to experiment with some veggie ramen recipes. I was looking around online last night, trying to find something decent, but they all seemed sort of bland. I wonder if adding nutritional yeast to the broth would give it a "meatiness" without the meat?
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