Meaty quiz

A day late will perhaps be better than none, by the time you read this. Thanks to Meatless Monday for passing along this Meat Eaters Guide which includes a quiz that lets you test your knowledge about protein sources and find out where yours sits along the sustainability scale.

Actually although I applaud the idea, I think the quiz as written is terrible, and not a lot of fun – unless you happen to have memorized a lot of figures on American meat production, greenhouse gas emissions and cropland usage. I also think it’s far too long at 18 questions; very few people will make it to the end of the quiz and check the answers.

I have encountered a lot of this sort of thing in recent years, as well-intentioned organizations search for new ways of catching the notice of consumers who’ve heard it all before and really don’t want to change their lifestyles.

The fact is that if you design a quiz for a public website, you have to give your public – which has a wide, wide range of knowledge about your subject, and the slimmest of attention spans – a fighting chance to answer the questions. Asking a lot of multiple choice questions about trade figures and crop statistics is not fair play, and most sane participants will give up after the first or second such question.

And with that I will go back to reflecting on the delicious meatless meal we enjoyed tonight: after a starter of kale chips (tossed in tahini dressing and then dehydrated for a couple of hours) and freshly picked snow peas with garlic tahini dip, we had Spaghetti al Vino Rosso (much like this recipe, but also including parsley and some chopped toasted walnuts). Followed by a handful of freshly picked trailing blackberries in (sorry) cream and sugar, and a few organic cherries.

The rest of which are bound for the freezer and/or dehydrator and/or canner tomorrow. What fun we will have with my new cherry pitter!