Being A Vegan In The Wine Industry

Vegan wine and food pairing

I became a vegan in 2019. I stopped eating meat when I was eight and vacillated between a strictly plant-based and a pescatarian diet for most of my life. As a wine industry professional for over three decades, I often felt I had to be flexible. In 1997, I was invited on a two-week trip to Spain with importer Jorge Ordonez. There were about 20 of us, and I was the only one who didn’t eat meat. While Spain has become more vegetarian friendly, a quarter century ago, whenever I mentioned I was a vegetarian or pescatarian (the latter term wasn’t fully understood, but fish was often considered a vegetable, so I was ok), people looked at me like I had a third eye. My American colleagues were a little bit more understanding. After 10 days of traveling in regions where people ate chorizo for breakfast, lamb for lunch, and roast pork for dinner, we arrived in Galicia, which is known for seafood. Having been on a diet of canned white asparagus, iceberg lettuce, and mediocre Spanish bread, everyone insisted that I get the first servings of the various crustaceans on the table. Over the decades, knowing I had wine trips coming up, even if I was leaning vegan, I’d eat cheese and fish when I was abroad. Still, I stuck out like a sore thumb during the hundreds of wine dinners I’ve attended in the US. American chefs were not that accommodating, often begrudgingly making me a vegetable plate as usually, even the risotto or pasta dishes had chicken stock. I was at a Thanksgiving dinner in the 90s, and a famous chef, who was one of the guests, gave me shit for not eating the stuffing cooked in the turkey. She has since apologized and admitted I was 25 years ahead of the times.

I’ve been thinking about a vegan food and wine pairing writing project for a while. There’s a dearth of information. Given my professional experience — two wine bars, one which had a full kitchen, writing about wine for the SF Examiner, teaching about wine since 1998, consulting with many restaurants, and founding and running The Vinguard (a social justice organization in the wine industry), I pretty much have it under my belt though we are always learning, and that’s part of the fun. In follow-up posts, I’ll launch into specific pairings and take on wine and the wine industry. First, I want to discuss why one would become a vegan, which may not be as apparent to others as to those of us who entirely or largely eschew eating animal products.

There are a lot of reasons not to eat meat. The environment is one. Giving up eating land animals or reducing meat consumption is a way that we can make a positive impact on reducing greenhouse gases. We’ve all heard the jokes about cow farts, but for real, 20% of global carbon emissions come from raising animals for meat. I don’t know if dairy is included in that number, but either way, it’s significant. In 2021, the EPA found that 10% of greenhouse emissions come from agriculture. Reducing meat or dairy consumption to one day a week would have the same environmental impact as taking 7.6 million cars off the road. As our climate rapidly changes, we’re in for a host of problems, some of which we’re starting to see. The hurricane fire in Maui may be a preview of what’s to come to a town or city near you. Solving our climate crisis is going to take generations of strong will throughout the world, which might seem like a daunting task. Yet, each and every one of us can make a dent by giving up or eating less meat.

Meat consumption also contributes to heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. Processed meats are especially toxic. While meat is a good source of protein and B12, red meat is high in fat and triglycerides. Chicken is leaner, but it too is riddled with problems, including bacterial infections, high levels of anti-biotics (which is true of other land animals), and may increase LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) as much as red meat. Fish doesn’t have the same health impacts. Still, our waters are so contaminated with plastics and mercury that even eating fish can introduce toxins into our systems. It might actually be safer to eat farm-raised fish these days, contrary to popular notions about fish from the wild. However, when it comes to land animals, factory farming, which is the overwhelming source of meat in this country and worldwide, is a major contributor to climate change.

And then, there are the ethical reasons, which is why I stopped eating meat in the first place as a kid. I’ve always had trouble with the idea of killing an animal for food. Admittedly, up until a few years ago, I compartmentalized fish as something different, but the more I thought about a fish with a hook through its mouth, struggling for air, the more I realized that all animals, even delicious shrimp, have a desire to live. Animals are treated terribly in factory farms. Nick Kristof’s column on pig farming is just one account of the inhumane treatment of animals in American agriculture. I understand there is a conflict between providing inexpensive protein to feed people — organically fed beef, pork, and lamb are way above what many can afford — but I don’t see that as an excuse for continuing barbaric practices. Rather, it gives us even more impetus to find meat substitutes. Some say they are ok with eating meat if the animals were raised humanely, meaning animals are not locked in claustrophobic cages and pens but get to spend time outdoors. However, is separating a calf from its mother humane? Many male calves never see adulthood as they are killed for veal. Even if an animal is given a good life, how can we say it is given a humane death if it is perfectly healthy when it’s killed? Try sitting through the movie EO and then think about meat consumption.

While ethical reasons have always been my top reason for not eating meat, I understand that nature is cruel. I’ve watched my cat torture insects (he usually gets bored before they die, leaving me to put them out of their misery). I watch a lot of documentaries about animals, and while I usually turn away when a lion attacks a zebra or a giraffe, I get that this is what they need to do to survive. What separates humans at this point in our evolution is that we have the knowledge and ability to derive protein and certain vitamins from plant sources. There is technology to grow meat in labs from animal cells. I’m a little on the fence about that, but at least on the surface, it’s better than killing or having a cow burping and farting away into the atmosphere.

Getting back to the issue of food justice, this is complicated. Unfortunately, there’s so much money tied up in Big Ag, with lobbyists and politicians making their living from cruelty to animals, that I don’t see this changing any time too soon. In an ideal world, we would re-appropriate the subsidies to large farms, which, in addition to factory farming, use inordinate amounts of pesticides that harm the environment and workers, and instead pay people to start small, organic farms and adopt climate, people, and animal-friendly policies. But, right now, there is not the will for such a massive change, so it’s up to us as individuals to, if we can afford it and have the access, reduce our consumption of animal products AND also see what we can do to promote food justice elsewhere.

As mentioned, I’ve followed a completely vegan diet before, in the early 1990s when I worked in a very formal French restaurant, so it wasn’t easy. I stuck to it for a few months. This time feels different; more information and options exist for those who choose not to consume animal meat or byproducts. But also, my mindset has shifted; I’m three decades older, and climate change is an existential crisis. The last time I ate animal anything was on Sept. 15, 2019, at my partner and father’s birthday dinner in New York at the Union Square Cafe. I had been thinking about trying out veganism for a while and decided on the plane back to San Francisco the next day to give it a go. I initially committed to one month. Then it was three months, and after that, there was no turning back. I’ve been in what would have previously been tempting situations, but in truth, once you’ve had enough, you’ve had enough. I realized I could easily live and enjoy food without oysters, sushi, and cheese. While I’ve always enjoyed cooking, becoming a vegan forced my creative hand in new ways. It also challenged my notions about wine and food pairing.

Getting back to where I began, being a wine professional and vegetarian/vegan in the wine industry, has been difficult. I’ve only met a few others in the field who don’t eat meat. But it’s not impossible. We must dispel the notion that animal protein is needed for wine and food pairing. Chefs and sommeliers need to get out of their comfort zone, or to be more blatant, stop being lazy and unimaginative. Granted, plant-based restaurants are now strewn throughout the US, but put little intention into their wine lists. There are some exceptions, such as Dirt Candy in NYC, yet I’m flabbergasted by the disconnection between serving vegan fare alongside wines that are riddled with pesticides. I can think of one vegan restaurant in San Francisco that has good food, but its wine list — though maybe eco-friendly — is lackluster. As mentioned, I’ve already had two wine bars and enjoy my freedom too much to do something like that again, so instead of opening up a vegan restaurant, I’d rather impart my years of trial and error, cooking, drinking, and learning in some sort of written form. Stay tuned!

Following up on my previous post, Sometimes a Kiss is Not Just a Kiss, I’m both glad and saddened so many people responded, not just on Medium but also on Instagram (@pamelouie and @winefaresf) and in texts. Happy because it’s good that people are coming forward and discussing instances of sexual assault and harassment. It’s healing to know you’re not alone, but it upsets me how prevalent it is. I know so many women who had an identical experience to mine and Jenni Hermoso, or worse. My last post and this one tie into one another in that they have to do with how people treat others, whether they are humans, other animals, or the planet, and the need to assert power. I’m not saying that eating meat is just a power ploy. I understand it is necessary for many people to survive in our current world economy. Interestingly, though, women are more likely to become vegetarians than men. This subject is worth diving into, but I don’t think there is a biological reason for it. Like many other “gender differences,” the attributes are socialized. At any rate, I just wanted to give a nod to those who read and commented on the previous post. In solidarity — Pamela