"flexitarian" news and stories

• Eric Vellend outlines the paper-thin and delicious art of phyllo pastries.
• Bitchin' Kitchen's cookbook gets a bad review and a garlic-adapted recipe for Mediterranean Chickpea Stew.
• If you wonder about small, farm-raised pigs, check out this rundown of Blue Haven Farms' tasty oinkers.
• Wanna lose weight as a Flexitarian?
• Sometimes strong beer isn't worth the Triple Threat.
• A guide to winter farmers' markets in Toronto, like the delicious Saturdays at Wychwood Barns.
• A short blurb on Lent.
• Recipes: Zaalouk, Jamaican Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Roasted Squash with Garlic Soup with Red Pepper Drizzle, and Buttermilk Pop (one of the Depression recipes)

It was a term that was coined several years ago, but I haven't heard it being used recently. "Flexitarian" refers to a person who wants to eat vegetarian, but will occasionally eat meat. In 2003, the term was voted most useful by the American Dialect Society.

A flexitarian is a person who eats about an 80% vegetarian diet, but for whatever reason, whether health or taste or other reason, will "allow" meat. However, most flexitarians are less motivated by animal rights or other socio-econo-political reasons, and moreso by the health aspect.

With the heightened interest in veganism and vegetarianism, I found an article about flexitarianism to be sort of funny. People in the article refer to themselves as "bad vegetarians," so they have become "flexitarians." It's great to see a trend in people's diets changing to more plant-based, but I didn't know that it had to be validated with it's own special term.

Eat as you see fit. Vegan. Vegetarian. Sometimes vegan. Vegetarian when it's possible. Carnivore. You don't have to have a name for it.