Excerpts:

Like every day in America, the Fourth of July is a celebration of protein. But the Fourth is a special day for burgers and ribs, not beans and rice, a day with contests to see who can eat the most hot dogs, not the most veggie patties. If you’re anti-meat, the Fourth of July can feel anti-you.

We’ve always been told that our bodies need protein, and lots of it, and in the U.S.A., “protein” is synonymous with “animal products.”

Think about the resonant food slogans of the past few decades. “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.” “Pork: the other white meat.” (Now it’s “Pork: be inspired.”) “The incredible edible egg.” “Got milk?” We’ve never been inundated with “Beans for proteins” (sorry) or “Got kale?”

It could be that way, though; billions of humans have thrived and continue to without animal products dominating their diets and protein dominating their minds. (Many plants contain more protein per calorie than many animal products.) The recommended daily allowance of protein has been fairly liberally fixed at 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day for a while (some experts believe 0.6 to be completely adequate)…….

We may not be “addicted” in the classic sense, but turning this ship around isn’t easy. A recent article by Jonah Lehrer in Wired examined the science of satisfaction, suggesting that the pleasure we derive from eating is not limited to the way that food tastes on the tongue. The article discusses a recent study in which scientists examined a strain of mice that were incapable of enjoying the taste of glutamate (essentially umami). The mice were fed water heavily dosed with MSG (concentrated umami), and even though they couldn’t taste it, they learned to strongly prefer it to the non-MSG alternative. What the scientists found was that the mice were enjoying the protein via their digestive tracts. Our digestive system, a secondary receptor totally independent of our tongues, seems to crave calorie-dense foods like umami-rich animal proteins, no matter what they taste like.

Lehrer concludes, “It turns out that, when we give up animal products, we don’t just need to trick the tongue into thinking that those tofu hot dogs are full of glutamate. We also need to pull off an even more difficult deception: We have to convince our stomach and intestines that what we’re eating is full of meaty amino acids, or at least MSG.”

So with the hot dog contest right around the corner and our digestive tracts screaming for something along the lines of a dry-aged steak, it would appear that non-meat-eaters really don’t stand a chance…..The Fourth of July may not be the day to trade in your hot dog, but the following Monday is a good one for beans and rice.