Here I am
About this blog
Brian Frick is the Associate for Camp and Conferences Ministries with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He has been involved in camp and conference ministry since high school. For the past ten years, Brian has served as program director of Johnsonburg Center in New Jersey, Westminster Woods in California, and Heartland Center in Missouri.
Camp and conference ministry compliments and partners with other ministry aspects of our church to foster faith development and reflection. As our communities and our church changes, our ministries need to grow and adapt with creative and emergent programming and leadership to meet new realities.
These blogs entries, though varied, are intended to spur thought and conversation around the opportunities and challenges before us.
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Hooked
However, when it comes down to it, it's usually the extras that make me smile when I'm eating.
Artichokes, asparagus, avocado, tomatoes, even good black beans, rank far above a good steak on my list. So why am I hooked on meat?
This is some what of a follow up to an earlier post - I sent 4 days as a vegetarian at Stony Point a couple of months ago and did not miss meat at all. It took me a couple of days to get back into it, but meat was back on the menu.
Is it culture? Is it that my kids will only at chicken and things that are beige (french fries, mac and cheese, cabs in general.) Or is it deeper?
I've thought about this and one thing is I know how to cook and my knowledge includes meat meals, not veg. So I'd need a bit of training. Other than that, I think it's habit and laziness if I'm honest and not looking for excuses.
A good friend of mine once said "How can you be a Christian and eat meat?" It was a bit extreme for me and I don't go that far, but meat eating has a huge impact on the world. Did you know that cows are the number one emitter of global warming gasses (their burps of methane are many times worse for the atmosphere than carbon!)
Plus land use for beef is huge. (3x that needed for buffalo!) And as nations get richer, their menu moves more and more to beef. It's a sign of wealth to be able to provide beef for your family. This growing need for beef is taking over farms and changing our environment. (Clearing land for raising cattle is the number one factor in the destruction of the rain forest in South America. That beef ends up on our tables or our fast food restaurants. - Clearing of the rain forest in South America is being linked to drought in Africa as there are now less trees to let off vapor to form clouds to float over and rain on Africa - a global issue caused by being hooked on beef!)
And yet, I continue to be hooked.
Hmm. Maybe one of these days I can kick my habit.
What about you? What do you eat? Why? What is the impact of your food choices? Do you think of that?
Any suggestions on how I can, in the words of Jimmy Buffett, "Kick my carnivorous habit..."?
- Posted at 11:04 p.m.
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