A wake up call in black and white and color. It’s time to face the music. (What’s the best playlist for better health?)

Nothing I do is single-dimensional. I‘m fat, and I want to be fit. I aim to distance family menus from meat, and shop local produce. I’ve never followed a diet, that’s not to say I didn’t try one. It was usually an office affair, with a full and varied crew trying The Cabbage Soup Diet, Scarsdale, Weight Watchers and Atkins. But I’m a culinary Casanova; when it comes to prescribed menus I’m a notorious cheat.

I believe I suffer the reverse of anorexia. I know I’m no Kate Moss, but feel no connection to Mama Cass. So why am I shocked when I see me in pictures? Jabba the Hut is my doppelgänger, the imaginary albatross around my flabby neck. I weigh the same as I did when I entered the hospital to give birth to my firstborn. Thing is, he’s now 28.

So damn it, it’s time. I am beginning a six month program of uber-mindful living. And I will write about it, wins and losses, no holds barred. Slap me with comments and advice. Cast me some criticism. I could use the distraction from falafel sandwiches, bulging with salty pickles and dripping with tasty tahini.

Green Prophet often reports on health trends, food and fitness. I write about this, now it’s time to live it, here in Amman, near the bounty of Jordan Valley farms. The vegetable souk is bursting with produce. Plus it’s Springtime, when weather demands you get up from your computer and go outside for a walk or a hike. Looks like I am out of excuses.

This is not a vanity piece, it’s more a travelogue through food and fitness ideologies. I’ll try on a different approach every few weeks, and wear it like my old Catholic school uniforms – donned daily without deviation. It’s a kind of Cinderella health story. I can hear the clock ticking, and my time to take action is now. Trot alongside me, poke fun or cheer me on, be inspired to try some new behaviors yourself.

The first few weeks will be about mindfulness with a starter list of actions that I can count on one hand:

1. Keep a log of what goes in my mouth, and record daily weigh-ins. Have to find a place to stow this; haven’t been this secretive about a diary since I was 12 years old. I will show progress and stats.
2. Get moving.  Pulled out an ancient and underused step-tracker.  Will aim for 20 minutes on the treadmill, plus walk more outdoors. Thinking to start with a BB King playlist, as I expect my hamstrings to be feeling the blues.
3. Start each day with a big gulp of water with a splash of apple cider vinegar.  This tip is a perennial pop-up on social media.  It can’t hurt. A shake-up to the gallons of water I already down daily.
4. Put a silver stake through the heart of ex-pat living, and cut out alcohol.  No drinking at home, and limit the rest. Burn bonus calories by pushing back drinks bought by unbelieving friends.
5. Eat more soup. This will help slide us into a less-chicken-based diet, and up veggie consumption. Thanks to the fabulous cookbook Soup for Syria, I already have a freezer full of the stuff to carry me a month. Got some recipes to share?  Don’t be stingy!

And so it begins.

Image from Health and Love Page

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Soup for Syria is a beautiful new cookbook of delicious and easy-to-make recipes guaranteed to fill your belly and feed your mind with heightened humanitarian awareness. But at its heart it is a cookbook, a perfect primer for any cook seeking healthy and flavorful food made with no-fuss ingredients (mostly vegetarian) found in supermarkets everywhere.

Lebanese food writer Barbara Abdeni Massaad (pictured below) volunteered at a Syrian refugee camp near the Bekaa Valley, one of many that sprouted in Lebanon, doing what came naturally to her: she cooked soup. She hauled in ingredients and tools on her frequent trips to the camp, serving up warm food to families in desperate need of sustenance and support. The experience stirred up her thinking on how to take it larger.

Massaad reached out to the star chefs and foodies in her Rolodex, asking each to create a soup recipe for a cookbook to raise funds for refugee food aid. The project went global, with dozens of cooks around the world clamoring to be included. Others volunteered resources to make the book a reality; publisher Pavilion Books and several bookshops covered production and distribution costs so that most of the profits could be given directly to food relief efforts managed by UNHCR.

Said contributor Anthony Bourdain, “Soup is elemental, and it always makes sense, even when the world around us fails to.” Other participants include Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, Mark Bittman, Alice Waters, Paula Wolfert, Claudia Roden, Sally Butcher, Ana Sortun, Greg Malouf, Aglaia Kremenzi, Joe Barza, Carolyn Kumpe, Wendy Rahamut, and many others. This is one instance where too many cooks didn’t spoil the soup!

Writer disclaimer: Gift-giving is problematic for a Western ex-pat living in the Levant who seeks crowd-pleasing presents that support local causes. Purchases are further constrained by a dearth of handmade products that meet airline luggage limits. So pottery, mosaics and carpets get knocked off the shopping list.

When I first spotted this cookbook, I pre-ordered several copies for US delivery to the foodies on my list. I also bought one for myself, and since returning home to Amman, Jordan I’ve been tearing through the recipes. The ingredients are fairly universal and easy to find and the recipes varied enough to keep my family with spoons at the ready.  My personal favorite (so far) is a brilliantly pink beet-based soup that nearly qualifies as dessert.

Greg Malouf, a Michelin-starred Australian chef with Lebanese roots, contributed this fennel soup recipe, which is next on my list to boil up:

Greg Malouf fennel soup

(Serves 6-8)

60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and roughly chopped
3 large fennel bulbs, sliced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1.5 l chicken stock
1 cinnamon stick
Peel of ½ lemon
½ tsp ground allspice
2 bay leaves
Salt and black pepper, to taste
2 egg yolks
120 ml double cream
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp ground cinnamon and 3 tbsp fresh parsley, to garnish

Heat the oil and saute the onions, garlic, leeks and fennel for a few minutes. Add the potatoes, stock, cinnamon stick, lemon peel, allspice and bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the cinnamon, lemon and bay, and season. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and cream, then stir in a large spoonful of soup. Whisk well, then tip into the soup. Slowly return the soup to just below boiling, stirring. Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Drizzle each bowl with oil and sprinkle with cinnamon and parsley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Soup is the ultimate comfort food: nurturing, sustaining and all good things. One recipe is a drop in the ocean, but if awareness of the plight of the Syrian refugees is raised with each batch made and shared then that is a force for good. As well as being a delicious meal in and of itself,” wrote Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi and Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi, frequent collaborators on London-based food projects and contributors to this cookbook.

Here in Amman, local friends have hosted “Souper Bowl Sundays”, inviting hungry people over to sample these recipes and make voluntary donations, which are then passed to local NGOs for refugee food relief. You could do the same for any cause of your choosing, or as a simple excuse to eat well with friends and family.

Buy Soup for Syria at Amazon, or through your favorite bookseller (about $30)

All images from Soup for Syria and Barbara Abdeni Massaad

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Celebrity chef and foraging superstar René Redzepi told the New York Times on Monday that he is closing his Copenhagen restaurant Noma at the end of 2016 and resurrecting it in 2017 with a new menu and a new site in an urban farm setting. This man on a radical new mission had led a popular restaurant four times voted the best eatery in the world. So why fix what isn’t broken?

“It makes sense to have your own farm at a restaurant of this caliber,” Redzepi told the Times. He said the time is right for a “dramatic evolution” of his 12-year-old venue, which will move to an industrial site near Copenhagen’s hippie-cum-grunge Christiania neighborhood. There, amidst empty warehouses, he will rip up asphalt parking lots and truck in healthy soil to create arable land from unused lots.

The new restaurant will sit within that farm. Designed by Danish starchitect Bjarke Ingels, it will also include a greenhouse roof tended to by a full-time farming staff. Marketing ploy or another example of the global trend towards locally grown food? We think this is the real deal, and a harbinger of where the food industry is leading.

Noma is known for culinary excellence built upon innovative use of local, seasonal foodstuffs. The World’s 50 Best, which compiles an annual rating of the planet’s best eateries, wrote of Noma in their 2015 review, “Dishes are in step with the seasons, such as milk curd and the first garlic of 2015; and the first green shoots of spring with a scallop marinade…what [Redzepi] does best: playing with techniques such as fermenting and pickling for creations beyond most people’s eating perceptions.”  The restaurant ranks third in this year’s list.

The chef said he wants to continue to shake things up and pursue a “reverent adherence to seasonality.”  His fall menu will focus only on dishes made from wild game and “foraged autumnal ingredients.” The new Noma will change into a seafood-only restaurant in winter. And when “the world turns green”  in spring and summer, the menu will go fully vegetarian, with most of the produce coming from its surrounding farm.

Karin Kloosterman has reported on initiatives underway in the US and Israel to introduce small farms into the cityscape, usually through increasingly efficient hydroponics, and using new technology such as Primaflor’s dry air cooling systems and operating systems like flux. Even NASA is experimenting with farming in the zero-atmosphere of outer space.

The food industry is challenged to feed a growing population, while reducing transport and waste, and mitigating regional shortages in water and phosphorus.  Noma is among the most influential restaurants of this century, perhaps its well-heeled clientele will eat up Redzepi’s message along with his meals, adding to the momentum of the local foods movement.

Image from Local Denmark

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“By the time meat gets to the consumer, it’s been processed far beyond its original form,” animal rights activist Koby Barak told The Times of Israel. “If we’re already processing it to that extent, why not go all the way and develop a cultured meat industry that will produce meat that will be healthier for people, and for the environment?”

To encourage development, Barak created the non-profit Modern Agricultural Foundation.  He’s teamed up with Tel Aviv University and Amit Gefen, an expert in tissue engineering, to study the feasibility of producing of lab-grown chicken breast.  Unlike privately held companies working in the field of muscle tissue growth, Gefen’s team will make their research findings available to the public. The results will assist manufacturers and investors in determining how best to commercially produce cultured meat and identify challenges to scalable production.

The science underpinning the culture of synthetic protein developed out of stem cell research, which sought to develop new methods of regenerative medicine to treat human injury and disease.  In 2002, as part of a program to find new sources of protein to feed astronauts, NASA-funded scientists successfully grew goldfish muscle cells in a laboratory setting. Soon after, at an art exhibition in Nantes, France, tissue engineers at Harvard University exhibited a specimen of new muscle grown from frog cells.

In 2011, Mark Post, a vascular physiologist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, was working on an EU-funded project to create synthetic meat, when he received a (then-anonymous) donation exceeding $330,000 from Google cofounder Sergey Brin to accelerate the project. In 2013, Post unveiled the world’s most expensive hamburger, engineered from a small sample of cow muscle stem cells.

Post fed the cells a a growth mix of sugar, amino acid, and cow fetus blood, enabling them to multiply and create muscle tissue. He added beet juice and saffron to improve the coloring of the new fibers, and breadcrumbs and egg powder to create a mincemeat texture.

Meat without murder? 

“Twenty years from now if you enter a supermarket you will have a choice between two identical-looking products. One will have a label that says it has been produced with a lower environmental footprint, the other will have a smoking-type label that says animals have suffered or been killed to produce this meat,” Post told reporters at the time.

In February 2012, Hungarian-born US scientist Gabor Forgacs did his own public tasting of a small strip of lab-grown meat at a TED conference. He dismissed Post’s burger as a “ridiculously expensive experiment.”

Forgacs started his own synthetic meat company, Modern Meadow, financed by his own billionaire investor, PayPal founder Peter Thiel, and the US Department of Agriculture. He concedes that his own meat product is unlikely to be cost-effective at the start, but suggests it may prove in the long-term to be the only meat we can afford to eat. “The rules of the game of meat production are not the same as they were 100 years ago – it’s not sustainable,” he says. “We are destroying this planet with intensive meat production.”

As scientists work to perfect production techniques, environmentalists and animal rights groups debate whether lab-grown meat is a Utopian ideal or a distraction from ongoing campaigns to cut our meat consumption by moving towards a grain and vegetable-based diet.

Synthetic meat offers the tantalizing prospect of – one day in the future – reducing the environmental impacts of meat production and eliminating the animal suffering embedded in industrial agriculture.  The same can be said about vegetarianism, today.

Image of lab-cultivated meat from Shutterstock

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Hummus, the centuries-old Middle Eastern bean paste, is ready for its close-up. According to a report released by food industry trend-trackers Baum and Whiteman, hummus will emerge as America’s “it” food in 2015.  “Once a niche product here, eaten primarily by Arab and Israeli immigrants,” says the report, hummus is matching the meteoric trajectory of Greek yogurt as the nation’s next food fetish.

Hummus’ popularity in the states is rising for a few simple reasons. The light snack aligns with healthy eating. The report confirms this, “Hummus is high in protein and fiber and low in fat, so it touches lots of dietary bases.”

Next, it tastes great.  Every hummus lover knows that the food’s versatility trumps its bland appearance. Serve it old school with a splash of olive oil and a side of tabbouleh.  Shift its flavor with lemon or extra garlic, some chili, roasted peppers, or nuts. Traditionalists may scoff, but its characteristic mildness is a magnet for culinary creativity – consider the hummus ice cream dreamed up in Tel Aviv!

Then there’s the muscular marketing campaign begun over a year ago by the Brangelina of Big Food – beverage giant Pepsi and the world’s top-selling hummus brand Sabra.

Pepsi owns Israel-based Sabra, and they’ve teamed up on long-term production plans (working with America’s nearly extinct tobacco farmers to make a switch to chick peas). Pepsi packs promotional power and launched an advertising campaign to lure snackers away from salsa. Their plan is working – Sabra hummus is the now National Football League’s “official dip”.

In 2006, 12% of American households bought hummus (most Middle Eastern consumers make hummus at home – it’s a simple process. See a version from Green Prophet’s resident foodie – link here – and another from a Haifa hummus shop – link here). In the US, the paste is pitched as fast food – sold in grocery stores in throwaway plastic containers – famously skewered in a hilarious music video by Arab-American Remy Munasifi (link here).

According to the report, hummus sales reached $800 million in 2012, a massive increase from $16 million in 2006. Today, 20% of US households now buy hummus, and the number is rising in part due to distinct deviations from the chickpea base – Baum and Whiteman cite versions blended with “beet, pumpkin, Thai chili, spinach, artichoke, guacamole, edamame, cilantro chimichurri, and lemongrass.”  (There’s even kale hummus, although the trend report declared kale to be on its way out of foodie favor.)

So as Remy’s video presaged, 2015 will be “all about that paste”.

Image of hummus from Shutterstock

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A stunning series of portraits by American photographer Kevin Horan casts barnyard regulars into supermodels, resulting in anthropomorphic images that capture the personalities of these oft-overlooked animals. I showed them to a Jordanian photographer friend – he says he’ll never eat goat tagine again. Look into the faces of these animals and tell me if you share the same reaction.

Professional portraiture of pet dogs, cats and horses is nothing new. Horan wanted to apply the same consideration to working animals. In 2007, the commercial photographer moved from Chicago to a rural island off the coast of Washington state.  He noticed some sheep across the street from his Whidbey Island home.“I thought visually they’re very cool and it would be interesting to [shoot] them as portraits,” Horan told Slate, “So I talked to my neighbor and he said, ‘Go ahead, knock yourself out.’ ”

That sheep got her shot at Andy Warhol-presaged fame, and his portrait series Chattel was born.

Said the goat to the horse, why the long face?

In the beginning, Horan also tried shooting horses, but it didn’t work out. “I let the horses go,” Horan told Slate, “It’s the long face. It doesn’t read like a face to me. There is an analogy to human portraiture [in the series], and I just can’t make it work with the horses. People love horses, and I don’t mean to offend them, but I’ve never really gotten them to work.”

Horan brings his equipment to the animals. Sensible, as it’s simpler to transport cameras and lights than livestock, but also because he depends on the ranchers to help with controlling the animals.  “It takes more time than they ever dreamed of,” Horan said about the process. It takes time to make the unusual subjects relax. Each was photographed with the same care and attention given to human subjects.

He chose to shoot in black and white, recreating studio portraiture from an earlier time. Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon would approve.

Horan once drove two hours to take some shots of the majestic Sydney (pictured below, left), who he calls “a star,” but most of the roughly three dozen animals featured in the series were photographed around Whidbey Island.

The series was selected as part of Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 50 for 2014. Horan continues with his animal photography at the New Moon Farm Goat Rescue in Arlington, Washington, using a portable studio and with specially trained assistants.

The emotive portraits seem to show the unique personality of each animal.  After viewing the series, can you look at your dinner options the same omnivorous way?

Horan told Petapixal,  “It’s so interesting that these goats and sheep appear to have such strong personalities, emphasis on ‘appear.’ I still wonder how much is in there, and how much is applied through the way they’re photographed, and the way we’re used to looking at photographs. I’ve made countless portraits of humans, and I wonder the same thing about them.”

No goats or sheep were harmed in the project – nor afterwards, as they are used only for milk and wool production. To see more of Horan’s work, and to buy prints, head over to his website – link here.

Images from 

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“The soldiers receive extra salary and…the dining rooms…fully meet their needs,” an IDF spokesperson told Haaretz. This special allowance is to pay to for food appropriate to their chosen diet; soldiers residing full-time on base receive a supplemental $157 per month, and soldiers who live off-base, earn about half that.  The soldiers claim that the allowance is insufficient to underwrite a daily vegan menu.

An unnamed soldier said, “We would prefer that vegan meals be provided, rather than giving us money, because soldiers who do not go home for two weeks have nothing to buy or prepare. In the end this would be more nutritious for the soldiers and would lower costs for the army.”

Veganism is serious business in Israel, with an estimated 2.5% of the population gone off animal products. In addition, a 2013 survey by the Israeli food industry estimates the number of vegetarians to be 5%, and growing. Businesses are responding to the dietary shift, making veganism increasingly accessible and socially acceptable. The diet is consistent with Jewish teachings about protecting human health and the environment, and treating animals with compassion.

Green Prophet brought you recent news of a prison inmate who won the right to eat vegan meals in an Israeli jail. And last week, thousands of people descended on Ramat Gan National near Tel Aviv to attend the second annual Vegan Fest which featured over 100 vendors selling vegan food, clothing, books, vegan condoms (who knew milk proteins went into condoms?) and synthetic-fur shtreimels (classic Hasidic hats).

People arrive at a vegan diets by a variety of pathways.  There are the health benefits of an all-vegetable diet. There is the animal rights angle. And there is the proven link to environmental conservation. Given mandatory military service, it is natural that trends in the wider Israeli populace are mirrored in the behavior of army personnel.  To that end, the IDF provides vegan soldiers with a non-wool beret and non-leather shoes. Some soldiers have pointed out that official recognition as a vegan can be a long procedure, and without proper classification they are face with steep spending on non-animal food products critical to their health and well-being.

Vegan combat soldiers told Haaretz that during remote training they faced real difficulties procuring proper food, the situation made more complicated as they lacked access to refrigeration. Soldiers also complain of problems related to kashrut, and prohibitions on the operation of electrical equipment on Sabbaths and holidays. The result is compromised nutrition.

We’ll be looking to see how the military responds to the troops’ legitimate request that their dietary choices be respected and enabled.  We don’t know how this story will end, what we do know is the soldiers won’t be ordering cheese to go with their “whine”.

Image of IDF soldier having a drink from Shutterstock

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What’s in a name? The moniker of the movement called Meatless Mondays pretty much sums up its mission: bail on meat products one day each week – it’s good for your health and good for the planet.

Believed to have started in 2003 at  the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, the campaign’s over a decade old, and growing exponentially. (Quickly learn more with Miriam’s post on its viral spread through Israel – link here).

Sir Paul McCartney launched a website offering recipes and educational materials (link here). A galaxy of stars threw their weight behind the cause: media mogul Oprah Winfrey, Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, and rap impresario Russell Simmons go for veggies on Mondays when Coldplay’s Chris Martin also “de-couples” from meat. Billionaire domestic goddess Martha Stewart even penned a cookbook simply titled Meatless!

Resistant to the growing mob of the meat-free? See if these eight reasons to jump aboard the veggie train help motivate you to sign up:

1. Shop more simply.  Prioritizing produce and legumes will shorten your market visits and likely slash that grocery bill. Skip pricey multivitamins and get your supplements straight from natural sources – our bodies absorb nutrients better when they come directly from food.

2. Eat healthier. Some of the fattest folks I know are vegetarians – just because they swore off meat doesn’t mean they’ve eliminated processed, sugary, and fatty foods. To get maximum health bennies you’ll have to go two-pronged here: eliminate meat and junk food. Eliminating meat makes you re-evaluate plant-based options to satisfy your hunger. Avoid processed foods to to decrease obesity and stave off chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

3. Increase heart health. Vegetarians are 36% less likely than meat eaters to suffer from metabolic syndrome – excess belly fat and high blood triglycerides that increase your risk for heart problems. According to an ongoing study at California’s Loma Linda University, skipping meat even one day a week protects your ticker.

4. Sidestep cancer.  Consuming more antioxidant-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables result in lower cancer rates, and what’s not to love about increased fiber intake? If you also target organically grown produce you’ll cut your exposure to carcinogenic pesticides.

5. Chillax! A 2012 study in published in Nutrition Journal stated that people who switch from omnivore to vegetarian scored 39% lower for stress than meat eaters after just two weeks on their new diet. The mood boost is attributed to plant compounds that fight oxidative stress in your body.  So eat more greens to fight the blues.

6. Improve your sex life. No secret that feeling less stressed (see 5 above), healthier (that would be 2 above), and having more cash to spend on fabulous dates (see 1) will all help your love life, but Green Prophet Sex-pert Tinamarie explains, “How we eat and where our food comes is intimately connected to taking better care of the planet and one another.

“After all, sexual well being thrives when our bodies are nourished the right way, and when our minds and hearts are receptive and invigorated by meaningful connections to one another.

7. Live longer. Studies link vegetarian diets and decreased caloric intake to longer life. It may be the result of vegetarians’ lower body mass index, which can protect against heart disease and high blood pressure. Going meat-free once (or twice!) a week also compliments rational diets such as the 5/2 fasting plan.

8. Save the world with your fork.  Skipping meat once a week reduces your carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, and saves millions of gallons of precious water.

Mentally, I’m ready to swear off meat full-time, but a recent trip from Jordan to Cyprus – where crispy pork bacon was available at every breakfast – threw a spotlight on my Achilles heel. Meatless Monday appeals to me – I’m thinking this gentle intro to vegetarianism will help me swear off meat for good.

If you also give it a try – would you leave us a comment describing your experience?  You may devise some tips and tactics that will help others join the movement.

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Islamic law is crystal clear that in order for meat to be halal, animals can’t be mutilated, deformed or diseased nor experience discomfort or stress prior to slaughter. Any meat that doesn’t abide by these precepts becomes haram.

Can animals used in the live-export trade, who endure long transport in immeasurably cruel conditions (like by ship from Australia) be considered halal?

The Middle East live-imports most of its sheep from Australia, with tens of thousands of animals crammed onto huge ships each month, constrained in abominable conditions.  Half of all sheep deaths during sea transport are caused by starvation as grass-fed animals don’t recognize the manufactured feed provided on ship, and stop eating. Crammed shipboard conditions raise dehydration levels and promote disease.

Spend some time with the halal ranchers oxymoronically named Mercy Slaughter to get a view of how halal sacrifice ought to be done:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc5BWafzEu4[/youtube]

Qurbani is essential for people with financial means, yet none of my Amman Jordanian friends has ever personally killed an animal.  They’ve witnessed the ceremony as children, but never did the deed. Instead, most urbanites drop some dinar with butchers in exchange for a neatly packed parcel of meat and an assurance that the rest is handed to the needy.

Organizations such as Tkiyet Um Ali are also emerging, offering value (thanks to bulk buying) and organized distribution to the poor. An important side benefit of community-centric sacrifice-sharing is mitigation of problems related to improperly executed halal practices and poor waste management, since animals are slaughtered in Australia and meat shipped frozen to the Middle East.

This modernity is further distancing Muslims from animal slaughter. (Islamic vegetarians must participate in the practice: obligated to pay for an animal sacrifice, and distribute the meat to the needy, but they do not need to consume the food themselves.)

In his book Animals in Islam, Al-Hafiz B. A. Masri quotes Sheik Fardi Wagdi, “There may come a day when Muslims shall have to substitute the rite of animal sacrifice with other methods of giving alms.”

There is a growing movement of Muslims who have declared a fatwa on animal killings, who consider that sacrifice is not obligatory. They call to reform animal transport processes and advocate (in lieu of meat offerings) other means of support for the poor, including the sharing of vegetarian food, and pursuit of public services like educational support of the care of orphans.

“It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your piety that reaches Him.” (Qu’ran 22:37)

Image of sacrificial animal from Shutterstock

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The work is similar to that of Irish artist David Thomas Smith, who weaves thousands of Google Maps screen grabs into intricate designs mimicking Persian rugs. Both artists compile publicly available satellite photographs, then artfully manipulate them (Henner saturates select colors to emphasize the gore of the abominable feedlots).

Neither photographer actually touches a camera.

The viewer sees landscapes usually hidden from public view due to their enormous scale or remote zip codes or agri-business public relations controls. This is the reality that restaurant chain Chipotle skewers in their haunting new commercial.

Looking at the finished work is reminiscent of the child’s I Spy book series. Those tiny pointillist dots are actually 1,440 pound steer. The patchwork grid-lines are confining pens.The acid green and blood red swirls are waste lagoons.

Ninety-seven percent of the beef consumed in the United States comes from feedlots like these, and as the world appetite for cheap meat increases, this industrial scale ranching will become the global norm.

These vast tracts of pens and troughs are where herds of up to 100,000 steer spend the last months of their short (12 to 18-month) lives gaining up to 4 pounds a day on a diet of corn, protein supplements, and antibiotics, according to statistics from website Edible Geography.

Cattle are ruminants, designed to feed on grass, not chemically treated corn.  They are meant to graze and roam in herds, not be constrained and confined like tourists queued up for a roller coaster at Ferrari World.

Think there’s anything to the old saw “You are what you eat”?  Maybe it’s time to opt out of the Big Food machine.  Eat only grass-fed beef, or no beef at all.

Images of feedlots are from Mishka Henner’s website

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