I often dream of cheese but I never knew that cheese would make me dream.

We at Meat Neutral, recently came across a study commissioned by the British Cheese Board that investigated the phenomenon of cheese dreams, and more importantly cheese nightmares!.

While it should be taken with a grain of salt (and a glass of wine for that matter) the study followed 200 volunteers who, over the course of 1 week, ate 20g of cheese before going to sleep. The study found that cheese before bed increased the likelihood of remembering your dreams.

“ One of the amino acids in cheese – tryptophan – has been shown to reduce stress and induce sleep so cheese may actually help you have a good night’s sleep,” says Dr Judith Bryans, Nutrition Scientist at The Dairy Council.

The most curious finding is that different cheeses caused different types of dreams (none of which were nightmares thank goodness). Our personal favorite was the likeliness of women to have “nice” dreams, such as Jamie Oliver cooking dinner in their kitchens after eating British Brie.

Hmmmmm… I can’t wait to hear about the dreams all our female readers will have once they try Meat Neutral’s Baked Crab Meat and Brie — a vision of the beefy hunks of the Woodstock Collective bringing them breakfast in bed perhaps?

Which brings up another question, what about meat dreams? Are there any specific meat dreams our readers would like to share?

That’s all for tonight. Meat Dreams. 

[digg=http://digg.com/food_drink/Bacon_Chocolate_m_the_sweet_sweet_savoury_marriage]One night last December in Tofino, the Woodstock Collective was sitting around a fire, drinking wine and laying the groundwork for the Meat Neutral cookbook when an interesting question arouse: What about desert?

Staying true to our roots of expanding our culinary consciousness, we instantly thought of our some favorite deserts such as vegan cayenne chocolate cake, and carrot cake with cream cheese icing — deserts which clearly paid homage to the “vegetarian”in all of us. With a little more thought, we came were reminded of the meat based gelatin dishes from our childhood, just like grandma used to make. But how to combine the two, that was the question. Then, finally after searching high and low, we came across an innovative chocolatier who trailblazed the meat neutral desert world with the creation of the Applewood Smoked Bacon Chocolate Bar.

Award winning Vosges Haut-Chocolates, based out of Chicago, introduced the world to the bacon/chocolate creation with Mo’s Bacon Bar, designed by owner Katrina Markoff. Hand picking exceptional ingredients of the highest quality she has created the piece-de-resistance:

The bacon bar is pure brilliance, a joy to the senses — the smells, textures, and tastes all combine harmoniously to create a chocolate experience like no other. Merging savoury with sweet, the fusion wisps the palette away in a lusty promenade, remnant of a geisha tangoing with Astor Piazzolla.

And it was proven… dessert can be meat neutral. What a sweet sweet victory we savour. The doors have been blown wide open.

Meat Neutral Tip: Try with wasabi peas to take Mo’s Bacon Bar to the next level for a spicy-savoury-sweet trifecto.

PS. Vosges also gets extra points for sourcing 100% of their energy from renewable sources, and for being certified organic.

[digg=http://digg.com/comedy/We_are_all_meat_eaters]In past posts, we have mentioned how from a political perspective, Meat Neutral is about reclaiming the word “vegetarian.” Continuing in this thread,today, we are going look into the origin of the word meat.

The first meaning of the word Meat was solid food in general, in contrast to drink. This was the meaning in the first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary ~900. It was not until ~1300 that meat was used to denote the flesh of animals and not until even later the definition in the dictionary was changed.

So there you have it. We are all meat eaters, whether you like it or not.

Leave your preconceptions behind, or take them with you, and join the Meat Neutral movement.

No. [digg=http://digg.com/food_drink/Is_This_A_Joke_2]

Its not. Meat Neutral may sound to good to be true, but it is a living, breathing, reality. We are writing a cookbook and the people from the Woodstock Collective are going to help. This week, the Meat Neutral blog celebrates its 1000th visitor and the momentum continues to build.

Already we have received several recipes our reader’s favorite Meat Neutral creations. Some of our favorites so far include Lovely Laura White’s scrumptious creation, Yummy Yummy Squash Curry (with Chicken) and our European correspondent, Nicole Porteous’ Speck Lasagna. These foreign fusions keep raising the bar higher and higher.

Our goal is to collect at least one recipe per week over the next year, so that we can put them together into a cookbook — with each recipe profiling the creator chief.

So take this as a call out to all you closet vegetarians. Start exploring your pantry and think of the frying pan as your canvas. Send your recipes to meagan@gomeatneutral.com

Help us take back vegetarianism!

PS: “…Meat is fine if you like it.”

Recently, an astute Meat Neutral reader pointed out that Mollie Katzen (author of one of the best selling cookbooks of all time, the Moosewood Cookbook) has been endorsing the Meat Neutral concept.

Ms. Katzen who holds a charter seat at the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Roundtable recently commented: “Vegetarianism is a negative statement about meat. My cooking is a meat-neutral positive statement about the joys (for everyone, no matter where they get their protein) of eating plant-based foods. I don’t like to draw lines in the sand with meat eaters in one category and vegetarians across the border in another club. I just want everyone to eat a lot of vegetables, whole grains, fruit, nuts and legumes. Meat is fine it you like it. Eggs are fine if you like them.”

Woodstock. Moosewood. Its all Meat Neutral.

[digg=http://digg.com/food_drink/Fish_Are_Animals_Too]
Over the past few weeks we have begun to articulate the Meat Neutral “manifesto” in each successive post. Some of the key tenets which we have covered include:

• Vegetarian food is good… its just missing meat
• Meat Neutral = Balance (like yoga)
• We promote culinary creativity
• Meat Neutral is about promoting vegetarian cuisine
• Meat Neutral can reduce your carbon footprint

Another pillar of the Meat Neutral lifestyle/philosophy is that we do not condone or support fishism.

What is fishism? For those of you not familiar with the term, fishism (\ˈfi-ˌshi-zəm), is a phenomenon quite common in the “vegetarian” world. It is a situation where an individual has made a strong political statement about their beliefs and ethical code that is reflected through dietary habits. (i.e. “It is morally wrong (and cruel) to kill sentinent beings to sustain our lifestyle”). This is a respectful choice that people have a right to make. However, more often than not, the fishist, does not extend this moral framework to the aquatic species. They bend the rules for when it comes to fish. Haven’t you ever heard the phrase: “I’m vegetarian, but sometimes I eat sushi.”

In essence, this statement entrenches the prejudice that our scaled friends endure on a constant basis. The fishist, acting as if they were nature’s omnipotent anthropocentric judge, grants freedom and rights to certain animals whilst taking them away from others.

Meat Neutral would officially like to state that we do not judge animals by their scales (so as we may not be judged by theirs). Instead we strive to spread and reduce our inevitable impact on the living world due to our perpetual need of victuals.

And remember:

Fish are animals too.

[digg=http://digg.com/food_drink/This_Neutral_thing_is_really_catching_onh]This past week, the BC Liberals unveiled the budget for British Columbia. At the forefront of discussion surrounding the budget is the government’s new carbon-tax, which, luckily is “revenue-neutral”.

Phew, thanks for that.

But wait… before we hop on the BC Liberal bandwagon there is a little more to this. We decided to do a little analysis of our own and it seems that there is room for arbitrary manipulation within the tax rebate process (see below). Arbitrary manipulation is not very “neutral” is it?

Tax rebates are nice, but stopping climate change is of a mutual benefit to us all. So the jury is out for now while we wait to see how well the BC Liberal’s “revenue-neutral” carbon-tax is implemented to meet this end. We at Woodstock do very little that is not “neutral” (like Switzerland) and we applaud the Liberals for embracing the “neutral” concept — because really when it comes down to it neutrality is the way of the future.

All genuinely “neutral” concepts are rooted in achieving balance (just like Yoga). Meat Neutral does this in two ways.

At a smaller scale we offset our meat consumption with vegetables. A true Meat Neutral dish will leave you with an unmistakable sense of balance between meat, vegetable, and all things food.

At the macro scale Meat Neutral balances lifestyles. It entices an equal number of people from each of the other diets. It fits in an important place amongst other lifestyles to close the “Meat Neutral Loop” (see below). Meat Neutral is an alternative to vegan and vegetarian lifestyles in the same way it is an alternative to a meat and potatoes lifestyle. Do you feel the balance?

Of course, the “neutral” concept has been applied many different things. For more on neutrality, see Cheat Neutral and Switzerland.

Lobby for tax incentives for meat neutrality!

– the woodstock collective

Last evening, Woodstock was graced by the presence of a very special guest. Daniel’s niece, Tegan, made an appearance at Woodstock and had her first encounter with Meat Neutral. Her reaction? Babblebabble…puke…burp…heeheeoggglgogbolbe

No Erika, she didn’t puke out of disgust. Rather, it was baby’s way of saying “wow, this is what I’ve been missing all my life.”

I have a feeling most babies would have also puked at the spread (a vomit of joy that is). Stuffed Portabella Mushaburger stuffed with Italian Sausage, Salmon Artichoke dip, baked brie, yam chips, bruschetta, and the first revision of the fabled pie pie — the unfinished masterpiece.

As we can see from the pictures, Tegan had a death grip on the plates, and couldn’t get enough. A true vegetarian, through and through.

We also had another special guest at the table, Russ and Jacquie’s yet to be born child, no doubt kicking in the womb at the delicious bites of “meat neutral” cuisine of her mother. It looks like we are ushering in a new generation of meat eating vegetarians.

Okay, so we’ve thrown the term around somewhat, but what is this Meat Neutral thing really all about?

To put it simply, Meat Neutral is a lifestyle.

Fusion. Innovation. Dialogue.

These are a few adjectives that come to mind. Essentially it’s about being open minded, and pushing our comfort zones to try new things and expose ourselves to new ideas.

The Meat Neutral Formula is simple: Vegan food + Meat = Enlightened Vegetarianism (i.e. Goodness)

Now some of you might say, well that’s nothing new, that’s just regular food. Well yes, to those of us at the Woodstock Collective, it is just regular food. But we would like to expose others to the wonders of enlightened vegetarianism.

Some of the critics are appalled by such a notion: “In this day and age, with such pressing environmental issues as scare resources and expanded animal rights, how can they actually be encouraging and promoting the consumption of meat? … Who are these Meat Neutral guys anyways… are they a right-wing propaganda machine from Alberta!?”

To respond to this valid “vegetarian” critique, I must state once and for all that Meat Neutral is not about promoting an increase in beef (Albertan or not), rather its about neutrality – kind of like Switzerland.

It’s about bringing a balance to your eating habits and offsetting your meat consumption with vegetables. Its about exploring the wonders of the vegan world, something often overlooked in our burger and fries, steak and potato food culture.

Our goal is to throw the carnivores a tofu bone. To introduce people to new vegetarian cuisine while staying true to our meat roots.

Meat Neutral… the eve of a renaissance is upon us.

[digg=http://digg.com/food_drink/Bacon_The_Gateway_Meat/]
While fantastic, the Meat Neutral Concept, seems to step on some toes, especially in the presence of “traditional vegetarians.” This is because quite often the choice to not eat meat is grounded in the desire to reduce one’s ecological footprint. The idea being that deriving our diet from meat sources is an inefficient way to make up our diet.

This is a valid reason for being a vegetarian and we respect those choices, however, we would like to point out a reality … many vegetarian dishes (which are delectable cuisines on their own) quite often are better with meat. This is not to say that vegetarianism is inherently flawed or an inferior culinary persuasion – after all it was our love of a particular vegetarian dish that founded the Meat Neutral concept (Bacon Cheese Falafel Burgers). You will be happy to know that vegetarianism was the spawn of this work of gastronomic fusion.

After all we like veggies too!

Welcome to Go Meat Neutral — body, breath, burger, beer, bacon, balance… yoga.

This is the official blog of Go Meat Neutral, a concept that will take the world by storm. Vegetarianism for the rest of us.

Now, there are many things that Meat Neutral is but that will become evident with time. Instead of articulating what we are, lets take a moment to look at what we are not: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfbTO0GlONU]