I see the original full article is only available for pay, and at least some of the supporting info is by subscription. But from the abstracts that were available, my guess is that the problem is that lettuce, celery and other leafy greens are mostly water with almost no calories per pound. So if you are buying stuff grown in CA, as most veg at the market are, the "carbon footprint" includes the shipping and refrigeration it takes to get them to market a few thousand miles away.

Other things I've read indicate that other than spices, and grains, there isn't much that makes real sense to ship across continents or oceans.

fishlessman said:

"Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151214130727.htm

I'm in, but they would probably eat the munitions.

I'm with you SGH.  I'm an old country boy, and a meal without meat just isn't a meal in my book.  And a belated Happy Birthday to you with thanks for all you contribute to this site.

Many years ago, I was a vegetarian for maybe a year.  Not a vegan. Egg, milk, cheese, no prob. Lots of good food available, but usually much harder to make tasty. When people point to Indian vegetarian food (which certainly features butter and cheese), they often forget India produces huge amounts of herbs and spices. And they are not far from "the spice islands."  No pepper or nutmeg or cinammon or saffron... growing around me.

FWIW, Roman legionnaires marched on bread and water, and would protest having to eat too much meat.

Heard this on the radio during my commute. Pretty reveling. 

Correct @JohnInCarolina I remember them stating it was based off of caloric intake. So a 1/4 field of lettuce to a 15# slab of bacon. Seems like a reasonable & fair comparison.  

I saw this online and thought it was hillarious.

http://youtu.be/8JPZskYKUvY

HeavyG said:

gdenby said:

I see the original full article is only available for pay, and at least some of the supporting info is by subscription. But from the abstracts that were available, my guess is that the problem is that lettuce, celery and other leafy greens are mostly water with almost no calories per pound. So if you are buying stuff grown in CA, as most veg at the market are, the "carbon footprint" includes the shipping and refrigeration it takes to get them to market a few thousand miles away.

Other things I've read indicate that other than spices, and grains, there isn't much that makes real sense to ship across continents or oceans.

Many decades ago I read an article where someone described iceberg lettuce as a very expensive way to ship water from California.

And please keep on buying that over-priced California water, our economy needs it.

Davec433 said:

I saw this online and thought it was hillarious.

http://youtu.be/8JPZskYKUvY

What do you call ignoramuses like that?

I can't call her a b!tch, that would be insulting to all female dogs.