The Vegetarian Myth

I have referred to myself as a vegetarian for about 18 years. I also mock people who say they are vegetarian but occasionally eat fish or chicken. That's like a 2-pack a day smoker saying they are a non-smoker when they're in between cigarettes.

But the reality is that there are really no vegetarians or vegans. Those of us who abstain from meat, fish and poultry can, at best, describe ourselves as having a "vegetarian preference." Because if this gross-out op-ed piece is true, and I'm sure it is to some extent, we eat far too many flies and maggots. And more.

Tomato juice, for example, may average “10 or more fly eggs per 100 grams [the equivalent of a small juice glass] or five or more fly eggs and one or more maggots.” Tomato paste and other pizza sauces are allowed a denser infestation — 30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams or 15 or more fly eggs and one or more maggots per 100 grams.

Canned mushrooms may have “over 20 or more maggots of any size per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid” or “five or more maggots two millimeters or longer per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid” or an “average of 75 mites” before provoking action by the F.D.A.

The sauerkraut on your hot dog may average up to 50 thrips. And when washing down those tiny, slender, winged bugs with a sip of beer, you might consider that just 10 grams of hops could have as many as 2,500 plant lice. Yum.

Time for my breakfast muffin which I shall enjoy while trying to forget I read this piece.

Crossposted at B3