By Dan R. Goddard

By not serving meat, Green restaurant saves energy and helps reduce global warming, says Mike Behrend, owner and executive chef. 

“We cut out the middle man and have much less impact on the environment by serving only fruits, grains and vegetables,” Behrend, owner of the city’s only exclusively vegetarian restaurant, says. “Raising cows, chickens and pigs for meat wastes an incredible amount of energy. It takes much less water to grow vegetables, and it requires less gasoline to get them to market. We grow a lot of our own produce in our garden.”

Eating meat may pass most people’s taste test, but it does not pass the waste test. Producing animal protein takes up to 15 times more water than producing plant protein. You need about 16 pounds of soybeans and grains to produce one pound of beef.

Also, global livestock is responsible for 18 percent of the planet’s carbon dioxide emissions. They also account for 37 percent of methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more potent than CO2.

Besides, a balanced vegetarian diet is healthier and cheaper. And as Green has proven to its growing number of patrons, a vegetarian diet can be delicious.

“Our business has doubled in the past year,” Behrend says. “I became a vegetarian because of environmental reasons, and I wanted to open a business that reflected my values. I think of it as a stewardship issue. The United States should be feeding the world. Instead, we feed most of our corn to livestock.”

Instead of meat, Green serves TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), a dehydrated meat analogue made from defatted soy flour; Wheat Meat (Seitan), made from the gluten of wheat; Quinoa, a grain-like crop whose seeds are a complete protein; and, of course, tofu, a Chinese food made by coagulating soy milk and pressing it into blocks.

On Green’s Web site at greensanantonio.com, Behrend explains that he weighed more than 300 pounds when he became a vegetarian in the summer of 2005. With the help of Weight Watchers, running, swimming, cycling and converting to a vegetarian diet, he has lost more than 90 pounds. In the past two years, he’s completed four triathlons, three marathons and two century bike rides.

“Becoming a vegetarian has greatly improved my lifestyle and health,” Behrend says. “The problem with eating meat is that so much of the energy and resources used to produce it are lost. Being a vegetarian eliminates all that waste.”

Besides not serving meat, Green helps the environment in other ways. The restaurant — located at 1017 N. Flores St. downtown — uses biodegradable packing materials such as corn plastic cups, sugar cane boxes and potato starch bags. Customers also bring in cardboard boxes that can be recycled.

“If you go to somewhere like Portland, Ore., you’ll never see a Styrofoam box or a plastic bag,” Behrend says. “Biodegradable products cost us twice as much, but we think it’s worth it.”

Green also pays extra for Windtricity through CPS Energy.

“It costs us an extra $300 a month, but it makes us feel good that our business can support energy from the wind,” Behrend says. “I like having a business that makes me feel good in so many different ways.”

DAN R. GODDARD is a San Antonio freelance writer.