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Erica Meier: A guide to guilt-free grilling
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Veg Kabobs, recipe below
Summer is approaching quickly and that means it’s the time of year for one of our country’s most cherished warm-weather rituals: the backyard barbecue. As we get together with friends and family to fire up the grill, it’s also an appropriate time to pause and think about exactly what—and who—we’re eating, where our food comes from, how it was produced, and whether such production methods are consistent with our assumptions and our core values.
When we think about farms that bring us our food—if we consider it at all—many Americans envision Old MacDonald’s Farm: hens strutting through barnyards, calves suckling from their mothers, and pigs cooling themselves in mud baths. Unfortunately, little could be further from the truth. The reality is that many of the animals who end up on our barbecue grills suffer terrible abuse that would result in criminal prosecution if we treated our dogs and cats the same way.
Pork is one of the barbecue’s staple meats, and while most pigs endure bleak conditions on massive factory farms, these operations abuse millions of breeding sows in ways that are so abusive, they rank among the most egregious factory farming cruelties today. Most of these social, intelligent animals are nearly immobilized in gestation crates that are barely wider that their bodies, preventing them from even turning around or walking for months on end.
Another popular barbeque meat is chicken, and these animals also suffer immensely. In addition to being crammed by the thousands inside massive sheds, chickens raised for their meat are bred and drugged to grow abnormally large in such a short period of time that they often suffer crippling leg deformities as well as heart and lung disorders, which are often fatal. Each year in the U.S., more than nine billions birds are shipped to slaughter at less than two months of age—they’re shackled upside down, electrocuted into immobility, and their throats cut. Those who miss the blade drown in tanks of scalding water designed to loosen their feathers.
Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to take a stand against such abuse. Expressing our compassion for animals is as simple as leaving them off our plates and choosing the cruelty-free versions of our favorite foods, including veggie burgers, veggie hot dogs, and “chicken” strips. Here’s a quick guilt-free grilling guide to kick off your summer barbecue season with compassion:
Veg Kabobs (makes 4 to 6 servings)
• 1 cup zucchini, cubed
• 1 cup button mushrooms
• 12-16 cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup red, yellow, or green peppers, cubed
• 1 onion, cut into chunks
• Any oil-based salad dressing or your favorite marinade
• Tofurky’s gourmet sausages, sliced into several pieces
Marinate the vegetables in the salad dressing or marinade for at least an hour. Thread onto skewers, alternating the vegetables with veggie sausage. Grill over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, rotating halfway through. Enjoy!
More Meat-Free Options for the Grill
• Veggie Chicken from Gardein
• Gourmet Sausages and Beer Brats from Tofurky
• Vegan Original from Boca Burger
• The Good Dog from Yves
• HIckory BBQ Riblets from Morningstar Farms
For more recipes: check out Compassion Over Killing's website, VegRecipes.org
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