In this 1982 love letter to vegetarianism, William Shatner walks us through the history, benefits, and misconceptions of adhering to a vegetarian diet. Hokey? Oh yes. But it’s also rather informative, including some early indications that shooting cows full of hormones might be icky for the humans that eventually consume their flesh.Vegetarian World states the lifestyle is eco-friendly, as the amount of grain and land acreage needed to feed livestock was a little daunting even 30 years ago. Shatner waxes poetic about all the great men in history who have forsworn meat, suggesting that if you quit too, you’ll be the next Pythagoras. He also demonstrates how fit vegetarians can be by jogging toward the camera grinning in an Adidas tracksuit. It's all very convincing.
But that was the 80s. Unfortunately for Shatner, there has been some vegetarian backlash since then. Let's call it veggilash. Many fine dining chefs consider vegetarian food to be inferior and regard the choice as… ridiculous? Wise-ass chef Anthony Bourdain gleefully and skillfully insults non-meat eaters every chance he gets. In Kitchen Confidential he writes "Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans … are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit." (Bourdain vs. Shatner? I'd watch that.)
Bourdain isn't the only one worked up about vegetarians; Italian cardinal Giacomo Biffi, once a papal candidate, thought the Antichrist was probably already among us, disguised as a vegetarian. In 2000, the BBC reported "Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 71, said that the modern Antichrist, identified in the Book of Revelation as a seven-headed beast, was most likely now disguised as a philanthropist supporting creeds like vegetarianism, animal rights or pacifism, or advocating dialogue with Orthodox or Anglican believers."
According to NPR vegetarians are even being scorned in regions where meat eating was once taboo. Sandip Roy claims that in India forgoing meat is now considered low class and vegetarians are made to feel like a nuisance in upscale restaurants and at dinner parties. This in a country with one of the longest and most robust traditions of vegetarianism.
Culinary arguments aside, eating fewer animals might be inevitable if the population continues to grow and the planet continues to stay the same size. Vegetarians take up less space in terms of the amount of land and resources needed to support them. As NYU bioethics professor S. Matthew Liao recently explored, the possibility of bioengineering humans to use less may be the only way to feed our growing population. Think: a pill that makes cheeseburgers and bacon less appealing than licking a tire. Anthony would be so heart broken.