Face off Pt. II

   A violin quartet is playing a quiet melody. The room is lit by the soft glow of candles and a few chandeliers. You’re sitting in a five-star restaurant. You pick up your knife. It slides through the food effortlessly. It is a green salad dressed in a light vinaigrette.
   No, wait a minute. It’s a juicy, bloody, fall off the bone steak because no one goes to a five-star restaurant to pay for a salad.
   As a proud meat eater, I am sick of the bad reputation that meat’s gotten and the idea that meat eaters should feel guilty for eating cows, chickens, and piggies.
   Let’s start with the heavyweight: red meat which includes both beef and pork. It’s received the worst reputation of all, with scientists claiming it can raise your cholesterol, risk of heart disease and cancer. Here is the simple solution to all of those problems: go lean.
   Red lean meat is just as tasty but with less fat. It’s also packed with protein, as well as enough iron to put Popeye’s spinach to shame. In addition,  it gives your body healthy doses of zinc and lowers bad cholesterol while raising the good.
   Chicken, turkey and fish are well known healthier meats. White, skinless meat is always leaner than dark but here’s a sinful suggestion: try deep fried turkey. It’s what you’ll be most grateful for on Thanksgiving. Friends from under the sea provide tons of protein, omega-3 fatty acids for heart health and anti-inflammatory properties.
   Another argument the opposition likes to use is if you cannot slaughter it yourself, you shouldn’t eat it. Americans are spoiled. We can drive to a market, buy a pack of meat and never have to worry where it comes from. This is why we industrialized meat production. The idea of slaughtering one’s own meat in the backyard is as antiquated as an 8-track tape.
   The world is never going to stop eating meat. Nor should it have to. Meat is delicious. Man cannot, and should not, live by vegetable alone, but some veggies do make a nice side to a thick juicy steak.