Earlier this evening, as the newly crowned Webmaster of the Bates College Student Government, I sat in on a mostly uneventful meeting of the Student Government's RA, or "Representative Assembly." At one point, however, my attention was piqued by a complaint raised by one representative unhappy with our dining commons' breakfast offerings. He complained that, after he spent many months moaning and groaning, our dinning commons still serves meatless sausages — for the apparently large, or perhaps just influential, vegan population — at breakfast.

I generally object to faux-meat products. If I'm going to cook something vegetarian or vegan food, I don't want to imitate beef or chicken. At the same time, however, I have no problem with vegetarian food or vegan food per se. I frequently skip the questionable corn dogs and fried fish on offer for a heaping plate of chickpea curry and rice.

Nevertheless, I see this representative's question as a brilliant example of one of America's fundamental nutritional problems. People seem to think, or have been brainwashed by large agribusiness, that protein is the only food capable of providing "energy" and the only "real" food. First, if it's energy people want, they should be eating food with lots of sugar, for a quick spike of energy, or, for sustained energy, something with a low glycemic index number, such as whole grains or pasta. Second, most of the protein produced in this country contributes to global warming and the inhumane treatment of animals.

More importantly, though, while there is nothing wrong with protein, people who eat lots of protein tend to substitute protein for other food. In other words, people eat protein rather than whole grains or vegetables. And that's not good.

Americans need to redefine the place of protein in their diets. There's nothing wrong with meatless sausage. (Though I would argue there are better ways for vegans to have protein at breakfast.) But there is a big problem with the perception that we need to consume so much meat; that we need protein at the center of our diets. We don't. It's not healthy. Something needs to change.