‘This doesn’t taste like a curry. And I can’t believe it’s vegetarian,’ the date said as he helped himself to a second portion. I had cooked an aubergine and white bean curry using a Skye Gyngell recipe for a guy who admits he eats meat twice daily.
It wasn’t until today that I realised the supper coincided with Meat Free Week (23–29 March). With backing from beefy chefs Mark Hix and Jamie Oliver, the campaign (which boasts the facile tagline, ‘Eat less, care more, feel good’) aims to get us to consider the damage to the environment, poor animal welfare and human health problems associated with eating meat. It’s not advocating vegetarianism as such. Rather that you reduce your meat intake and opt for (expensive) high-welfare meat.
Its points are valid, but I can’t help thinking that the initiative is missing the point; that committed carnivores are not particularly bothered by the ethical issues associated with eating meat and that they eat meat simply because it’s tasty.
Perhaps Jamie Oliver could work on Another Return to School Dinners or hijack the kitchens of unsuspecting macho, meat-and-potatoes guys and whip up some inspiring Gujarati, south Indian, Mediterranean and North African dishes; Mark Hix could stop offering his veggie dishes on a separate menu thereby giving them an equal billing; and the BBC could remake Poldark with a lissom lead, long-limbed from Pilates and a veg-packed diet; the kind of guy who embodies the qualities we really think are sexy…
