Oprah and a Climate-Friendly Diet
- Topics:
- Meat Industry
Monday, June 9th, 2008, 5:37 PM
Think back, way back, to the year 1996. Then, with Oprah’s empire in what was then still its early years, America’s most-loved talk-show host, after hearing about the concerns of mad-cow disease from American hamburgers, dared to utter these words: “It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!”
Those fateful words got her into serious hot water.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, trade industry for the beef boys, claimed that her comments were sensational and alarmist: There have been no known outbreaks of the disease in the United States, in either cattle or humans, NCBA argued at the time.
Ultimately, Oprah won the Beef Association’s food disparagement suit, but only after having to spend gobs of cash and loads of time in a Texas court defending her freedom of speech.
So, it was interesting to see Oprah dipping her toes back into the meat debate, albeit a little more quietly. And this time around she’s got a positive spin: Oprah is in the midst of a 21-day vegan diet. (In case you’re unclear on the concept: that means, no meat). In Oprah’s case, it also means swearing off caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and gluten. Inspired by best-selling author Kelly Freston, Oprah says she embarked on this diet, in part, to examine why she’s attached to certain eating habits: She’s trying to eat with more “consciousness” and “spiritual integrity.”
“How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve,” she wrote on her blog, “without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?”
Maybe over in Oprah-land, we’ll start hearing about the other ethical and spiritual aspect of this 21-day meat-free spree: that it’s a climate-friendly diet, too.
Regardless of whether she champions the climate-connection, she certainly has become a cheerleader for the chow.
“Wow, wow, wow!” Oprah gushed on her blog. “I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. ‘What’s left?’ I thought. Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes.”
Let’s see if the second time around she gets lobbed any lawsuits for loving that rhubarb.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
[...] finished a 21-day stint as a vegan. Apparently she’s taken some flack in the past for questioning whether beef is safe to eat (and the beef industry let her know that a little mad cow never hurt anyone), but now she has [...]