Because I am a sucker for advertising and because I like food, a few minutes ago, I consumed my first taste of buffalo meat.

The ads on TV and in the food section of the paper alerted me and like zillions of people around the country, I became intrigued and finally went to the store and bought some.

As individuals who try to think about what we eat and drink, over the course of our 20 years together, Mrs. Anthony and I have gone from fast food eaters to more health-conscious consumers and have run the diet gamut from frozen pizza to non-hormone, non-pesticide, non-antibiotic, sugar-free, aspartame-free, pretty much flavor-free food products.

And now we have come full circle to the point of trying buffalo, the first bovine product we've eaten in over 17 years.

The last beef we had was at a local (unnamed) steak house back in the 80s. Mrs. A and I both had a sirloin and after having a few bites, we found it rancid and horrible and we left it on our plates and by the time we had driven home, we agreed to skip steaks for a while.

It wasn't until we'd read more about the way beef cattle are raised commercially, online and in books like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and in Jeremy Rifkin's Beyond Beef, that we decided to try veganism.

To spare you all the gory details, I will say that once we learned about the use of antibiotics and pesticides in some cattle feed that survive the cooking process, as well as cement routinely added to create more weight "on the hoof" at slaughter. Not to mention (but here I go...) the use of downed cattle with diseases being forklifted onto the killing floor, all to keep the meat producer's bottom line strong, the idea of eating "low on the food chain" seemed a lot more appealing.

Eating low on the food chain means that one should eat the wheat or corn and drink the water that might otherwise go to feed cattle, and among the reasons according to John Robbins' book Diet for A New America, on average, to produce a day's worth of food for one meat eater, 4000 gallons of water is needed, whereas it is about 1200 for a lacto-ovo vegetarian and only 300 gallons for a vegan.

All of this may be arguable, but coupled with unsanitary conditions and disease, the overarching message is undeniable: eating commercially grown beef is not a good choice.

If this isn't reason enough, consider the increased risk of e-coli bacteria in beef products and that Mad Cow disease is still an issue and hasn't gone away. Go ahead, look it up.

So, after reading all this stuff, for about a year we ate no animal products. That meant no dairy, (no ice cream), no pork, poultry or even fish.

We had the "nothing with a face" image in mind that vegans espouse, but gradually, we gravitated back to some dairy (frozen organic yogurt, which we still opt for) and then fish again, but only wild salmon and halibut, some cod, and then organic chicken came back on the menu.

That's the way we've eaten since 1989 or so...but no pork and still no beef.

The recent rounds of national ads pitching bison (the proper name) and the high quality of the meat caught our attention, and when we read up on it, we learned that we could buy organically raised, grass-fed, non-hormone or antibiotic laced, lovingly-killed (old Monty-Python joke) meat at a number of different stores in town.

At Trader Joe's, I collared my pal John to get his take on Bison.

John said, "It's a hot item right now...cooks quickly, have you tried the Buffalo Jerky?"

John looked around the store for it, but it had sold out.

He gave me a package of pre-prepared frozen Buffalo patties instead and promised to have some Jerky in the store the next day.

To further my research, I found a package of the deep, red bison meat, frozen in one pound packages at Marlene's and brought it to the counter.

I expected that girls who work in a health food store might be strict vegetarians, but I gave it a shot anyway and asked if they had tried it.

Surprisingly, Kaelah said she that she had tried it, but that she preferred the regular organic beef. Jenn said she thought it was good, but if I wanted to grill burgers, as John had said, I should be careful not to overcook it because of it being so lean. Jenn also suggested using some egg to help bind the burger together.

I bought the package and some organic buns and brought it home, but at dinnertime, I opted at the last minute to make tacos.

Call them Bufcos if you want...(on second thought, don't). I figured that the taco seasoning would cover up any possible gamey flavor, so I set out all the fixings, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce, onions, etc.. and with some blue corn taco shells, they were excellent.

With all that seasoning though, it was difficult to tell buffalo from (what I remember) beef hamburger to taste like, so right after dinner, I barb-b-qued a couple of burgers from the left over pound of meat.

I did what Jenn said and mixed in egg white with some onions and gas-cooked it on low.

The burgers still tended to fall apart, but I added a thin slice of cheese at the end and let it rest for a couple of minutes before trying it.

Since this was the first taste of buffalo without too much garnishment, I asked Mrs. Anthony what she thought.

She has always craved meat protein and after sampling the burger, she gave me the thumbs up. I asked her if she could feel the power of the noble buffalo's energy swelling up in her veins and she wrinkled her nose at the concept, which I assumed means "yes, but did you have to put it that way?"

At the risk of helping to create a rush on bison meat that could rival the horrible way white settlers nearly decimated the buffalo back in the latter part of the 1800's, I will ask you:

Have you tried buffalo? What do you think?