Remind Me Why People Eat Cows?

I had an amazingly delicious dinner last night—I took stock of what was in the refrigerator and needed to be used, as well as what we’d just gotten in the share this week. I grilled slabs of marinated eggplant as well as a lot of assorted vegetables, including the last of the turnips from a couple of weeks ago, and one forgotten kohlrabi, plus beans, tomatoes, and peppers.

I guess that was the main course; to accompany it, we had fresh sweet corn and southern-style greens, chard steamed and then laced with a little cider vinegar and sprinkled with crispy, crumbled bacon. So, it wasn’t entirely a vegetarian meal, but it didn’t have a hunk of meat as its centerpiece, either.

There was a lot of food on the table, and it was filling, though I didn’t feel stuffed after eating. And I know it’s good for me—a 1 cup serving of chard has 7 calories. That’s kind of amazing. Of course, the bacon adds a few more . . . but the chard also is a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, riboflavin, vitamin B6, calcium, iron, and potassium. The only negative is that it is kind of high in sodium.

There are 34 calories in a cup of cooked turnips, 48 calories in a cup of cooked kohlrabi (though it is also high in sodium), 22 calories in a half-cup of green beans, 33 calories in a cup of cooked eggplant, and about 43 calories in a good-sized tomato. I did add a bit of olive oil before grilling everything (there are 119 calories in a tablespoon of olive oil, but it doesn’t have any “bad” features according to any nutritional charts).

Vegetables are great sources of vitamins and minerals, but they don’t generally have much protein (though once our hazelnut trees are producing, we can get protein from them). For now, I got 5 grams of protein from the bacon in last night’s meal (and only 50 calories, so that’s not a bad tradeoff).

Tonight I am thinking about a vegetable quiche, which provides a lot more protein in the eggs and cheese, though also a lot more calories as well (surprisingly, many more in the eggs than the cheese). One thing I know, it will be delicious, and another day will go by without eating any cows. Though I’m happy to have them around for the milk and cheese in that quiche, I don’t need a steak or burger when I have all these great vegetables.

You read reports all the time about the daily recommended requirements of different food groups—currently it’s 2 to 4 servings of fruit and 3 to 5 servings of vegetables a day. I’m sure I’m not the only who wonders if anyone actually manages to meet this standard, except of course during high season at the Enright CSA. Then, there are times—like last night—when I eat more than my 5 servings of vegetables all in one meal!