Mary, I agree with your assessment that we Americans (and citizens of other wealthy nations) are absolutely piggish when it comes to eating meat. And the arguments you cite as to why our dietary excesses are taking a toll on our bodies, our souls, our national health-care system, and our environment, are spot-on. Still, I have to be honest.

I don't think I will ever stop eating meat. It's not that I can't live without another burger, or that I can't fight the occasional cravings I get for a juicy rib-eye or a grilled flank steak. I'm pretty sure I could live happily without any of those things. What I can't live without -- or perhaps I should say what I'd rather not live without -- is that sweet, buttery slice of prosciutto from a freshly cut Parma ham; the sautéed, diced pancetta in my Amatriciana sauce; and the finely minced meat filling in my mother's tortellini in homemade chicken broth.

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So much of what I grew up eating, so much of what I cook and feed my family is tied to my heritage. To me, a recipe for a true Bolognese meat sauce is a culinary roadmap to particular place and a particular time in history. My respect for and fascination with the culinary traditions of cultures around the globe runs as deep as my concern for what we are doing to our planet -- and ourselves -- with our mindless mentality when it comes to meat consumption.

Can the two be reconciled? I believe so. I actually do believe it is possible to eat responsibly and to continue to eat meat. But in order to do so we have to be willing to give up our willful ignorance. That's asking a lot of a society that is used to averting its eyes when it comes to acknowledging where that succulent 10-ounce chop on our plate came from, what it once was, what it was fed, and how it lived and died.

There are signs that we are moving in the right direction. The Slow Food movement, hatched in Italy in the 1980s, is one big example. Another is the small farm operations that are humanely raising their livestock, unconfined, on pasture rather than in cruelly cramped and filthy feedlots. Yet another is the proliferation, in recent years, of independent butcher shops that sell organic, humanely raised meat from local farms. In the last year or so, two have opened within five miles or so of my house. This past weekend, while I was in Fredericksburg, Va., teaching a cooking class, my students were all atwitter over the opening of a new butcher shop there as well. People want better food options and slowly, we are starting to get them.

As much as I am reluctant to tout any effort that smacks of fast food-ism, it's hard not to acknowledge what the restaurant chain Chipotle is trying to do with its "Food with Integrity" program. The company actively seeks to buy meat from farmers who raise their animals in humane and agriculturally sustainable conditions. Is it 100 percent perfect? No way. In fact, one of the company's beef suppliers is the same industrial operation whose CEO tried to prevent Michael Pollan from speaking to students at Cal Poly a couple of weeks ago. But the company readily acknowledges its mission is a work in progress, and it's on the right track. In addition to purchasing better ingredients it is also working to reduce its carbon footprint by installing solar panels in some of its restaurants and using environmentally friendly building materials.

The other day I came across this candid essay by a graduate student in food science and human nutrition who took a class on the slaughter and processing of animals for meat. In spite of its (intentionally) disturbing details, I was heartened that there seems to be a growing number of students who are genuinely interested in grappling with these issues. Eventually they will be bringing their ethical sensibilities to the working world, and the practices that Chipotle has espoused will be the norm, not the exception.

For many of us, the choice really is as simple as changing our outdated eating habits and heeding that growing chorus of voices that are advising us that, as Mary says, when it comes to meat, less is more. I say outdated, but you know what? This isn't really a new idea. In fact, it's old. More than 200 years ago our third president, Thomas Jefferson, an avid experimental gardener, wrote these words:

"I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that . . . as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet."

Far be it from me to contradict the man who penned the Declaration of Independence.


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