1. A wild boar sloppy joe changed how I think about eating meat.

The older I get, the more I realize there’s no morally defensible reason to eat meat. We don’t need meat to survive or even thrive, thanks to the advances in plant-based protein and a general up-level in vegetarian cooking.

And yet… meat rules.

If you’re a meat-eater, you’re well aware that a pepper-crusted steak clears its portobello imposter with ease. Al pastor tacos off the trompo are a religious experience. Hot dogs, I regret to admit, are great.

But to support our collective appetite for meat, we’re doing serious and perhaps irreparable harm to the environment. Raising cattle in the American West consumes more water than all its cities combined, and cattle gas “emissions” are major contributors to climate change. Not to mention the ethical horrors of raising animals for slaughter on a commercial scale.

But when I came in from the blustery Chicago cold, sat on a wooden barstool and ordered the “wild boar sloppy Joe” at a local whiskey tavern, it got me thinking: how could I unwrap myself from my ethical pretzel to eat more of this?

Wild boar, when ground with spices and cooked with carrots, celery, and onion, served on a toasted potato roll, satisfies every meat-craving cranny of my brain. And wild boar are incredibly invasive, ravaging landscapes and farmland across the southern United States. By all accounts, we could use less of them.

“Eating these are good for the environment,” I told my lunch companion as we both wiped orange grease from our faces. “Take that, vegans,” he replied.

Cheekiness aside, it got me thinking: could invasive species provide the next frontier for ethical, carnivorous consumption? Let’s turn the overrun of deer into venison steaks. Make more fish tacos from Asian carp. Serve more of these plum-perfect sloppy Boars. And maybe save the world while we’re at it.

It’s probably not a commercially-viable strategy, and only paused my ethical concerns for a few minutes. But beyond being an impeccable bite, the wild boar sloppy Joe helped me consider my consumption and inspired me to chase down more delicious alternatives.

2. Burrito as a canvas.

There are few foods that cannot be improved if you were to put them inside a warm, flour tortilla. Sad salads become wraps. Steak frites is halfway to a California Burrito. One of Mexican culture’s finest gifts to humanity has been the humble burrito, the origins of which as celebrated as they are disputed.

My preferred story is of Juan Mendez, a street food legend from Ciudad de Juarez, Mexico, who needed to keep his taco ingredients warm during transport. He wrapped them in large flour tortillas and ferried them by “burro” (donkey) to his taco cart. Some genius thought to just eat the flour vehicles as they were, and the burrito was born.

And without Juan Mendez, we wouldn’t have my favorite food discovery of 2025: piles of Korean BBQ bulgogi and kimchi fried rice wrapped in a dinner-plate tortilla, courtesy of the folks at Seoul Taco.

The brainchild of chef David Choi, who started Seoul Taco as a food truck 15 years ago, the Korean BBQ burrito costs about $12 and keeps you full for a week. It brings the tangy, spicy, funky flavors of Korean barbecue to a portable, everyman hand-held.

The flour tortilla proves yet again to be a capable canvas.

3. Can everyone stop yelling about protein.

If you’ll be vulnerable with me for a second, I have something to admit. Perhaps you’re like me. Do you have a certain health and wellness expert you listen to with near-dogmatic obedience? A guru you’d follow into the center of the sun if he or she promised you clearer skin?

Just me? Oh well. My health soothsayer is Peter Attia, a Stanford-educated, Johns Hopkins-trained neurosurgeon turned podcaster. And he can’t stop screaming about protein.

Perhaps screaming is a bit much; I'll call it droning. Two of his most recent episodes were about protein and how the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for grams of protein per day is woefully inadequate for optimal performance. The RDA of 0.8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight equates to roughly 60 grams for a 180-pound person.

Attia and his guests pillory the RDA, instead recommending in the neighborhood of 120-150 grams per day for a 180-pound person.

Protein is good. I should probably have more. But my goodness. Have you tried eating that much protein? I have -- it sucks. I’m full, all the time. And we've completely bypassed the enjoyable, creative component of eating and gone straight to the fueling station. Optimization and enjoyment ought not always be on opposite sides of the seesaw.

Wellness gurus have improved my life in many ways. But when I stop feeling well, I’m inclined to stop listening.