Spicy Chickpea & Pecan Nut Patties

At the risk of making you feel uncomfortable, and potentially invoking the need to have an awkward conversation with yourself (quelle horreur), I have to ask if you’ve read ‘Eating Animals‘ by Jonathan Safran Foer? He’s an acclaimed author turned self-appointed ‘food source investigator’ who was so shocked to discover the gruesomeness of animal farming in the US that he veered off his usual path of beautiful and insightful literary fiction and published a documentary-style book on the bottomless pit of horrors he unearthed. It’s a shocking read. The New York Times sums up the whole debacle pretty smartly right HERE. Read it, it’s riveting.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a farm girl who loves her steak more than most, and couldn’t imagine life without roast chicken. In fact, growing up on a farm and seeing happy cows and chickens has probably, ironically, made me less aware of food issues than I should be. I’ve just always seen that as the status quo. BUT ‘Eating Animals’ has made me realise that at the very least we need to be serious about being ‘selective omnivores’ and as far as possible choosing food that has been fairly farmed. We need to think seriously about supporting global initiatives such as Sir Paul McCartney’s Meat-Free Mondays initiative, and making the effort to educate ourselves and form our own food philosophies. And, perhaps most importantly, to act on what we find. So, in the spirit of all that is good to the earth, here’s my latest meat-free offering.