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INTERVIEW - Jerome DeForest
I grew up across the street from Jerome and his sister Mindy; they moved to Florida when I was in High School. Jerome fought in the Iraq War, and for the past year was stationed in Kosovo for a security job.
How did they feed you in the Army?
They feed you AMAZINGLY. But you can thank KBR for that.
Who’s KBR?
Government Contractor. Kellogg, Brown & Root.
Good to know, I know you guys work hard out there. Ok Jerome, you’ve lived in a lot of places, including Iraq and Kosovo. What kinds of things do they eat there?
Neither country eats pork. And I love pork… They eat mostly lots of fresh bread and vegetables. In Iraq they eat more lamb, and in Kosovo they eat more beef.
What was your favorite dish there?
My favorite thing in Kosovo was a big steak with mushroom sauce and calamari.
Besides eating more fresh fruits and veggies, is there anything that Americans can learn from the way Middle Eastern or European countries eat?
Well they eat in much smaller moderation. But that is usually because they are poor. Wealthier people over there eat like americans haha.
Americans eat with all their food on their own plate, and for the most part in Iraq or Kosovo they have lots of plates of food in the middle of the table and all share from it.
Yes, I noticed that in Turkey. I really like that style of eating. I think it brings on more of a family/community feeling.
Yeah!
What is the extent of your cooking skills?
Cereal haha. Just kidding. i dont have any skills… breakfast stuff, a good steak, any kind of pasta and boiling shimp or a lobster! Man sutff…
Are those your favorite things to make? Is there something you want to learn to make?
Those are my favorite foods, so thats all I want to know…pasta, steak, and sea food. Maybe if I could make my own crab cakes… that would be neat.
Do you know any vegetarians/vegans? If so, how have they impacted your life?
Besides Mindy (his sister)? No. Our cousin Colleen tried to be a vegetarian for 2 years but couldn’t cut it. Enjoys meat too much.
But I noticed that vegetarians/vegans choose to not eat meat for different reasons. Some for health reasons… some for religous reasons, and some for animal rights reasons.
Which are all very strange to me.
Why do you find it strange? What scares you off about veganism?
Well, health reasons, man has been eating meat since the beginning of our existence and we seem to be doing just fine haha. Religous reasons, Jesus ate fish, lamb, bird and cow. And animal rights reasons, most of the animals we do eat, dont eat meat. so i guess if given the chance to eat a human, they wouldn’t. But there are some animals that would eat a person and we eat them!
Plus, animals eat animals. So why shouldn’t we?
A very honest answer! I can respect that. What do you know about the way animals are treated nowadays? Some people are OK with eating meat because they don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes.
True.
But, I’d say compared to the way we raised, stored, and slaughtered cows 30 or 50 years ago is WAY more ‘humane’ nowadays. Back they there was no laws or regulations on how that had to be done.
Do you think agribusinesses have any incentive to follow the laws? Theres evidence out there that the meat industry is worse off now than it was at the time of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.
True, I’m sure many companies don’t follow those laws on how to properly kill a cow.
They don’t have enough time to do it properly… they’re on a tight quota. And even beforehand, the animals are raised in tight cramped conditions where they can’t walk. They are bloated with hormones and chemicals, living in their own excrement.
Its torture.
Say for example a pound of beef right now costs $1, with all the laws and rules set out for these cows and the industry, a pound of beef would cost $4 or $5. I guess time is money, and they know that people wont pay that much for it.
That’s really true. Does anything interest you about veganism/ vegetarianism, even if it wasnt full time?
Well, I already don’t eat a lot of meat as it is, besides fish; I eat a lot of fish. I stay away from breakfast meats if I can… but that’s because I’m in the gym a lot and trying to keep this godlike body lookin sexy haha.
What is the one ingredient that makes everything right in the world? Why?
Oh.. what’s it called… Love!
How often do you get that answer?
Probably a lot.
Haha. Never. You’re the first. That’s perfect though. If you could only eat one meal the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh man, um, sushi. It’s got everything!
Where can we find you online?
I’m going to make a Twitter account soon… all my friends have it and it seems to be everywhere.
I don’t want to be left out! I want to be cool too….
No worries, I’ll update it when you make one.
Posted on March 17, 2010
