I was on a panel of speakers at a real estate development seminar today. I was introduced as Down to Earth's Chief Vegetarian Officer, and was able to share some interesting facts with the attendees, like that 10 billion animals a year, 27 million a day, are slaughtered in the USA alone. Whoa, what a surprise for the attendees to be confronted with all this. I also suggested that in the health care debate, rather than trying to figure out how to pay for all the medical treatment for the diet and lifestyle created diseases (heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, obesity, etc.) that we should be talking about how to make it so people don't get these diseases in the first place! And that a great way to start would be to get people eating less meat. I then announced that my speech to them was the start of my campaign for president!!! No, just joking (well, I did say that, but I am not running for president - not yet anyway).
Anyway, the moderator asked me the following question: "We all know that a “Hamburger” is not made out of ham… so how do we know that a “veggieburger” is made out of “veggies”???"
So, he really opened himself up to a vegetarian oriented response. The following is how I answered:
"Hamburgers are definitely not made of ham, they are made of scrunched up cow body parts and other ingredients and thus they are actually made of death, the cow's death, and they also contribute to the ill health and premature death of those who eat them. Veggie burgers on the other hand, the ones we sell anyway, are made of natural and organic ingredients, including veggies which are healthy, and do not have any dead animal bodies in them."
Thanks for reading
Mark Fergusson
Chief Vegetarian Officer