When I first started Experiments in Living, giving up meat hardly registered on my radar. But I’m really bothered by the whole thing. It seems that eating meat is like death (well duh!) but also in the sense that we don’t like to think about it so we can accept it. Sure, you can’t cheat death, when it’s your time, it’s your time. However I can’t go on enjoying meat when I think about the cruelty that has gone into producing it, and how unnecessary it all is.
It wasn’t even the animal cruelty issues that got me on this path to begin with. I was browsing the book section in Oxfam and there was a section about how wasteful meat production is. Rainforests are being destroyed to farm beef cattle, and the cattle are fed on grain that is grown on land which could be used to grow food for humans. All this when food scarcity is a daily reality for people in many parts of the world.
I’m not denying that I’ve had some really yummy meat dishes in my time. And I’ve enjoyed eating meat. Deep down inside though, I’ve been in a kind of denial. Cutting up chicken breasts to make a meal, brings me close to the fact that this is a dead animal. What kind of a life did it have? Probably not much of one, judging by the videos on the PETA website .
HTB and I had a discussion, where I told him about a friend of mine who would happily eat meat except pork. It wasn’t for religious reasons, but due to the fact that pigs are intelligent animals. She ruined all this by adding that it was all right to eat beef “because cows are stupid!” HTB remarked that it depended on how OK you were with killing and consuming another sentient being, which I suppose it is what the debate comes down to.
I have been looking at alternatives to meat and dairy for my daily diet, and will continue to phase out meat. I actually like the soya and rice alternatives to milk and I’m sure that being aware of the food values of what you’re eating will go a long way to a healthier diet. My Meat Free Monday has been a really enjoyable experiment, I’ve expanded my repertoire of meat free dishes, and as time has gone on I’ve become less reliant on cheese and eggs to top up the protein. It’s weird though, even though I don’t regard myself as a veggie (yet), I’m not sure how much longer I can stomach eating meat.
