Michael Lippman

Been driving around town hunting for the best barbecue in Los Angeles, while at the same time trying to start reversing the momentum of my weight, trying to get healthy, trying to eat more greens again.  I'm sure I'm not the only person contemplating how to balance a love for meat with being more green.  It ain't easy.

One obvious bbq tip: always order the greens.  It helps you eat less and it's kind of a mental reminder: I am not only a meat eater, I am plant eater too, and it is always critical to eat plants whenever one possibly can.

But here's my slightly deeper question about bbq: Is there something in the reverence for bbq -- in the way it is honored and beloved and argued about so ferociously -- that in any way mitigates the non-green aspects of meat eating?  (I'm sure you've heard the insane stat by now, that the raising of cattle and the production and consumption of beef accounts for nearly 40 percent of greenhouse gases!!!  And the other day I heard that pork is even worse!?!?!?  Hello?)

But still, barbecue ... why barbecue??  Does barbecue have a special place in this discussion?  I ask you.  And I'll be weighing in with thoughts of my own over the next couple of day.