Friday, January 30, 2009

Dear Mr Lethlean,

Hi John,

Thanks for including a vegan dish in the latest Melbourne Magazine as one of your “favourite dining moments of the month”. The seasonable vegetable salad at Council House looks great, and even though you didn’t actually say it was vegan, we can tell. Cheers. (Also, hope the move to New Ltd is working out. I’m sure you’re glad you’re in the glossy mag and not the tabloid bit).

Anyway, I did notice that right next to the veggie salad is the hand-cured meat plate at La Luna. I mean, I don’t know if you meant that to be ironic, although I did notice that back at The Age the veggie articles were usually surrounded by ads for fish or something, but hey ho, it’s your page and you’re allowed to do what you want with it.

But, John, did you really have to write this: “The vegetarian’s anti-Christ, North Carlton chef and restauranteur Adrian Richardson, has hung his hat very much on animal protein. …” and did you really have to finish off with this: “… how could you live without meat?”.

How could you? Was that meant to sound rhetorical? Because the answer is: because I’m healthier for avoiding the heart-clogging, asthma-inducing, cancer-encouraging, cholesterol-skyrocketing animal products that you eat; because my carbon footprint is so incredibly teenier weenier than yours no matter what you do ever; and most of all, because no animal had to live a painful, miserable life, be tortured, suffer and die so that I can have a sandwich. More to the point, I live without meat so that animals can live, which is like, the point of being born alive - to get to live, I presume, and not to become someone's casual lunch.

So please stop writing silly things John. I don’t expect you turn veg overnight, or ever actually, but I do expect a bit better in the way of sensibleness. There are myriad reasons why people can, do and should live without meat so that was a very silly question indeed, wasn’t it John?

Cheers,
Rach

PS I actually really like your reviews, and I share your obsessive collecting of silicon kitchen gadgets. Just no more silliness thanks. Ta.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

what you said is so spot on - do you mind if i include it in my response to green & balck's email? i think it's true their 'sollution' is more problematic than their actual concern