Maher and Morningstar, or Mike—the headless chicken,

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer is it only takes six weeks for them (chickens) to live, from the farm and onto your plate in whatever fashion—grilled, barbecued, or fried—according to Bill Maher in a recent interview featured in New Jersey Life Magazine. Meat consumption apparently tops factory and car emissions in heating up the earth; cows produce an incredible amount of methane. Also, it takes more land to raise animals for consumption than grow crops that can feed a greater number of people. In addition, the growth hormones that these animals are injected with for speedy growth pass on to us.

To eat or not to eat?—that is the question. Like most people, I’ve had a general idea of our dominance over animals in the food chain just swimming in my subconscious. But hearing it again—I was vegan for two years five years ago until my will yielded its power back to the irresistible baby shrimps in the scrumptious Chinese fried rice, then to the delectable baked salmon drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, to the sweet bits of reddened, roasted pork in Chinese fried rice, to the tasty gyros, to the yummy McDonald’s chicken nuggets, egg mcmuffin, and Big Mac, and Burger King’s Tendercrisp chicken sandwich and Whopper, and Chinese sweet and sour chicken, and finally to the Chinese fried pork dumplings, which taste similar to Filipino Longaniza (sausage) in its sweetness and spices. Notice the progression? Blame it on the baby shrimps, then the fish…and so on and so forth. Meanwhile, the egg remains incognito in the delicious Chinese fried rice. Maybe it’s the tempting Chinese food’s fault. You get the picture. I rest my case—and hearing the details of the process and the consequences of meat consumption that not only adversely affect our bodies, but the health of our planet as well, makes me want to think twice about, and perhaps never think again of, eating meat.

I will consider this further over an egg muffin breakfast or chicken nugget lunch at McDonalds, if I’m not already mulling it over at BK with a Tendercrisp. Seriously, I’ve got to face my demons before I can power my will and say “Goodbye, you and I are kaput.” I probably have to brush up on my tofu burger, sauteed tofu, and tofu with pasta. Wonder if my son can stomach them…I’ll just feed him loads of McCain fries; they’re cooked with canola oil—yeay! One thing for sure, those vegan burgers, except for a few exceptions like Morningstar’s, should be banished from the health shelves/freezers since they taste no different from seasoned styrofoam, how I imagine it—the styrofoam—to taste like, anyway.

Life’s full of quandaries. But tofu accompanying it, instead of animal excretions turning our earth into a virtual oven to bake us and potentially harmful, artificial growth hormones to plague us, seems more inviting. My fruits, vegetables, hearty breads, potatoes, rice, pastas, olives, and a host of other flavorful foods shall keep me company...when I...if I...decide to...go vegan...again. At least, then, I’d be able to ruminate on “The chicken or the egg” philosophical question.