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Dan Barber On The Self-Righteous Vegetarians

Written by Vegetarian Star on Friday, June 29th, 2012 in Chefs, Environment-Eco-Green, Food & Drink.

Dan Barber

Dan Barber, executive chef and co-owner of NY’s touted as sustainable Blue Hill restaurant, has written a piece for the Wall Street Journal, criticizing vegetarians and vegans who automatically presume their diets are more environmentally conscious.

“I’d like some to explain the phenomenon of the self-righteous vegetarian to me,” Barber wrote.

“I’m not here to say I don’t eat vegetables—I do, a lot of them—but, from a soil perspective, they’re actually more costly than a cow grazing on grass. Vegetables deplete soil. They’re extractive. If soil has a bank account, vegetables make the largest withdrawals. So without animal manure, where are you going to get your soil fertility for all those vegetables in an organic system? You are, by some measures, forcing crops into a kind of imbalance.”

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Michelle Obama will host diplomat spouses to a luncheon at an organic, sustainable, non-profit, educational farm. The First Lady will give the spouses a tour at Stone Barns Center, then take them to the Blue Hill restaurant for lunch.

Once featured on Top Chef, Stone Barns Center in Tarrytown, New York, provides education experiences and tours in organic farming. Programs are geared for both adults and children. The After School Programs, for example, are designed to get children to the farm on a weekly basis. On the agenda for some of the upcoming after school programs include learning about herbs, harvesting vegetables and seasonal cooking.

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