the horrible carnivorous addiction, revisited

At the risk of being redundant, I'm still struggling with the "meat" issue. And because this subject comes up from time to time on "somebody else's" blog, I decided to revisit it.. and open it up to discussion, if anyone cares to comment.

I admire and applaud anyone who can forgo all animal products and still carry on a normal life. Sadly, I am not one of those people. I am an omnivore. My body demands a certain quantity and quality of protein. I eat lots of dairy products, and some meat. If you would like more elaboration, please read my previous entry, The Horrible Carnivorous Addiction, Part 1. No apologies, it is what it is.

I do not wish to convince anyone that "I am right" because even if there were a simple answer to the meat eating/animal abuse issue, I certainly don't have it. I will tell you that whenever I have the choice, I will opt for organic, "natural" humanely produced food. And I'll opt out of meat when my body is up to it. I know my food choices are not ideal and welcome any suggestions (recipes?) My mind is open.

Also, my intent is never to insult or berate anyone and I hope anyone responding will give the same consideration to those with an alternate point of view to your own. Read: no flaming please.

HJ, if you're reading this, I have to admit you got me thinking about how even organically grown, humanely treated animals come to their final end. You're probly right, their heads are chopped off and they're turned into dog food. But I have to ask myself, what IS the "natural death" of a chicken? My guess is, its probly pecked to death by its younger, healthier yard-mates. Not exactly dying peacefully. And in comparison, head chopping seems more humane, swift and relatively painless. Same goes for other animals, farm or otherwise. The killing is not the issue so much as how its done. btw I recently read a very interesting article in Discover magazine about Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has a unique affinity for animals, and who has designed a slaughterhouse chute down which the animals pass without their usual fear. Seems like a contradiction I know, but at least its a step in the right direction.

Now we also have to look at what happens in the natural world. Or "the wild" as we call it. Carnivores kill. And I doubt they consider any sort of compassion to their prey when they do it. I once witnessed (on TV) a pack of hyenas taking down a wildebeest, and literally eating it alive, ripping off and devouring chunks of flesh while the poor beast bellowed in pain and fear. That, my friends, is an image that will haunt me forever. But it does serve to put things in perspective. Makes even the slaughterhouses seem kind by comparison.

We also have to consider all the non-food animal products, leather being the most obvious, and many, many more not so obvious ones. So is wearing leather condoning the killing of an animal? How can anyone deny that it is? And speaking of dog food, what about that? Domestic dogs do not hunt, so far as I can tell, so what they eat generally comes out of a can. Its meat, friends. I don't know about the rest of you but I've never met a vegan dog.

Then there are our precious cats. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a cat lover. But have you ever watched them hunt? They seem to be driven to kill birds, gophers, mice, lizards, baby bunnies... whatever they can get their teeth and claws in. And as anyone who's ever witnessed it knows, they often "play with" ie torture their victims. And often they don't even eat their prey. They kill for the joy of it. (OK, its instinct. I get it.)

Anyway... let's say you're a vegetarian, or a vegan. You don't believe in killing or cruelty. Where do you draw the line? Would you not trap (and kill) a gopher if she were destroying your yard? How about rats? Do you kill black widows? Not slap a mosquito if its biting you? Deny meat food to your pets? Would you search out all animal related products and forgo them as well? At some point the choices begin to get a bit hazy.

I'm sure this all seem like i'm making excuses and trying to defend and/or rationalize my meat habit. I suppose to some degree I am. But looking at the big picture does seem to put things into perspective. I'll also admit I'm about as hypocritical as you can get. I routinely "liberate" spiders and bugs, including flies if I can catch them. I refuse to harm the gophers or any other living thing in my yard. I absolutely cannot handle seeing any living thing suffer and/or die. Now, I believe it is much more noble (and in most cases more environmentally responsible) to shoot a deer in the woods, or catch a fish, and bring it home to eat than to buy a pack of meat at the store. Yet I could never catch a fish or even bait the lousy hook, let alone shoot a deer. However I have no problem eating any of these things, once its cooked. Somehow - obviously - I've managed to disassociate the meat on my plate with the animal who's body its a part of. Preparing it is something else again. Slicing raw meat makes me a little queazy. And cutting up a chicken practically makes me ill these days. Yet I continue to do it because I crave the shit. But it disgusts me and I feel like I'm selling my soul to the devil every time I do it. Until dinner time that is, when I conveniently forget the whole thing. See what I mean?

I am currently trying to cut down on meat again. The idea is to wean myself off, rather than go cold turkey (no pun intended.) It helps - sort of - that my husband and I are limiting ourselves to "natural" or organic meat (no antibiotics, hormones etc) which in addition to being much healthier, costs about three to five times as much as the factory farmed stuff. Most of the time I'm too cheap to buy it, so I opt for a non-meat choice. But after a week or so the craving gets pretty intense and I end up giving in, going for the blood. I don't know if I'll ever be able to give it up entirely.

I'm also starting to "get" the vegan thing in regards to dairy. Up until very recently, believe it or not, I was under the impression that dairy cattle were still raised (and milk produced) humanely. In fact, I lived on a dairy farm when I was a teenager and those cattle had the life of Riley. My aunt and uncle had 80+ acres on which the cattle grazed all day, then would stroll back to the barn twice a day to be milked. The cows were healthy and "contented" like the commercials used to say. Yeah, I'm sure they had a "shelf life" so to speak and were slaughtered at the end of their milking days. But it certainly didn't seem like they were being abused in the meantime. Anyway, I'd recently read/heard some pretty unbelievable horror stories about how dairy is produced these days, ie cows held in stalls their whole lives with milking machines on them 24/7 etc etc. I discounted these stories as completely untrue, based on my own experience on the dairy farm so many years ago. Well it came up again, and I decided to find out so I emailed my cousin who still lives on the farm. Apparently, the stories are at least partially true. She told me there are very few family farms left where she lives in Western Wash. and that the ones that do still farm, can't afford the land to graze their cattle (the land is being sold for housing - another whole subject I'd like to get into) She didn't go into detail, but did add they're milked three times a day now, as opposed to two. BUT... these are still family farms we're talking about. Factory farms are assumedly a whole lot worse. So I guess now I have to feel guilty about consuming dairy, as well as meat. Great.

Well I guess I went all over the place with this, didn't I? I'm sure I left a lot out. For instance, the environmental degradation and energy used in producing meat in our factory farms. The health implications and antibiotic resistance resulting from injecting or feeding such to the animals we eat. The food efficiancy of meat compared with the grain it takes to feed livestock. There are many many reasons to not eat meat, or at least, not eat factory farmed meat. Which is mostly what you get at the grocery store.

Anyway, here's the bottom line: I will continue to choose organically, humanely produced food whenever there is a choice. I will eat less meat. I will most likely never make it as a vegetarian, let alone vegan. It is what it is. I try.