LULING, Texas — What does your burger and fries for lunch have to do with water conservation?
According to the James Beard Foundation in New York, the more beef we consume, the more water we waste.
The prestigious foodie organization is calling for restaurants to cut its beef with ingredients like soy or veggies — That initiative isn't sitting too well with some Texans.
Blake's in Luling is famous for its burgers.
Their beef is local and chances are came from the Luling Foundation Farm.
"Approximately 300 animal units, about half of those are devoted to purebred, registered, black angus operation," said farm manager Michael Kuck.
The cows there are born and bred to become, well, lunch.
So would local Cody Haliburton know if his mushroom and swiss burger was cut with soy or veggies as the James Beard Foundation is suggesting?
"If it was cut with any other substitution, there's no doubt it would be easy to notice," said Haliburton.
Kuck says a burger at lunch isn't really making that much of a dent in the water shortage issue, anyway.
"A very small percentage of what the animal actually consumes winds up as a beef product, and a very large percentage ends up being recycled so the process begins again," Kuck said.
He also said about 85 percent of the water a cow uses is given back to the earth.
Humans use more water than a cow ever will in its 12-year lifespan and a cow will use 10-15 gallons of water a day.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, humans use 80-100 gallons of water a day, with, or without a burger.
For more information on the Blended Burger Project, visit here.
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