Confessions of a former vegetarian
This afternoon at the grocery store I reached for one of the mouth-watering rotisserie chickens they sell at the deli. As I put it in my cart I grimaced a little bit as I recognized its shape and associated it with living birds, turning my eyes away when I saw the headless neck. The thought popped into mind:
If I had seen the conditions under which this animal lived and watched its slaughter, would I still purchase its meat?
I have never been entirely comfortable with eating meat. In my early 20′s I came across a video clip that showed a small pig shaking and scared as it was led to slaughter in a meatpacking plant, and decided at that moment to become a vegetarian. I remained steadfast in my decision not to eat meat for about two years. Then I began to reincorporate a little fish into my diet, in part because I came to the intellectual decision that fish did not experience fear and suffering at the same level as higher animals…and, truth be told, in part because it was getting hard to eat meatless dishes all the time. Then some health concerns related to having a carb-heavy diet cropped up and I started to buy some lean, organic, free-range beef and chicken from Whole Foods every now and then as an effort to get more protein into my diet. Then I began having children and moved to the ‘burbs and found that it was too expensive and difficult to find meat from animals that I could be sure were raised and slaughtered ethically, and it was too complicated to figure out how to make sure I (as a pregnant and nursing mother) and my children got proper nutrition from a low-meat diet, so it all just kind of flew out the window. These days we eat regular grocery store chicken and beef four or five days a week.
What bothers me about this is not that I’m eating meat per se — as I talked about in my post about why I was a pro-choice vegetarian, I’m no longer categorically opposed to the slaughter of animals for food — but that my decision to go back to eating meat was based more on convenience than on careful examination of the facts, and that I’ve taken almost no time to educate myself about what goes on at the slaughterhouses of the meat distributors I support.
Maybe it’s all fine — maybe the burger I ate at Wendy’s or the rotisserie chicken I bought at the grocery store came from animals who were treated well and killed quickly and humanely…or maybe the animals lived painful lives under hideous conditions and were slaughtered in a way that I’d find unconscionable. The problem is that I wouldn’t know. Because I haven’t wanted to know. Because doing a bunch of research about slaughterhouse practices would be depressing and time consuming and one more thing on my already overloaded to-do list, and if I found bad news I don’t know how I’d go about modifying my family’s diet anyway. As I’ve talked about before, sometimes when the search for truth gets inconvenient it’s easiest to just stop asking questions and do whatever makes your problems go away.
So that’s where I am: I eat meat, I feed my family meat, but I’m not entirely comfortable with it. I’m suspicious of my own lack of desire to get full information on this subject, yet I also don’t want to vilify all large-scale meat packing plants since the cheap meat they provide is a critical source of nutrition for low-income families.
I bring this up not because I have any great answers (obviously) but because I want to get advice from you guys: Does anyone else struggle with this issue? Anyone have any solutions for making sure that the meat you buy is humanely raised without breaking the budget? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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I don't have any kids, but totally understand the dilemma. I've done quite a back and forth walk on this subject and now I've decided to at least get the meat or eggs that says on the package that it is organic and farm-raised. You're right, how can we know for sure? Well, for now that's what I've come up with as a solution.
This can't be less work than researching companies, but I admit I was intrigued by this article I read yesterday: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/business/04chickens.html?scp=1&sq=chickens&st=cse
Hi, I'm new to the blog. In the short term, lentils might be a good thing to try. They have just as much protein as meat and it can easily be swapped out for them. I wouldn't recommend eating lentils on a daily basis, that would be really boring but I'm sure saving a few animals is better than saving none.
Rice and beans is also really good. Neither independently has the complete set of protein you need but when you cook them together it forms the entire set.
Most people eat far too much meat already, when they switch to non-meat substitutes they tend to carry this habit over. The classic food pyramid recommends two servings of protein a day, that's about two chicken breasts or about two scoops of rice and beans. Fruit, grains, vegetables and dairy should mark up a lot more food in your diet than meat. I can't speak for most families, but I know growing up it made up about half of my family's diet.
There's even been a lot of speculation that our meat-based protein overdose might be linked to our high heart disease rate and even some cancers.
Anyway, if you take two chicken breasts worth of food and swapped them out with beans or lentils three days a week, you could probably cut your meat intake almost in half. I think that's a really good result.
Oh, wow. YES. This has been a big struggle for me since we began having children. I have no problem with eating meat per se, but the food industry is, I think, a very poor reflection of the human call to God-like "dominion."
On graduate student salaries (and now just one grad student salary), there is no way I could afford to feed all of us on Whole Foods deli meat. And my husband has some health concerns that make meatless difficult.
My temporary solutions have been to increase the eggs in the diet (free-range eggs are expensive, but not prohibitively so) as well as have two nights designated for "beans and rice." I'm down to only two or three meat dinners per week, plus lunchmeat.
But I am dissatisfied with these "solutions." I'd rather not participate at all in the food industry, but there you are. The chilluns have to eat!
I dream of the small, five-acre farm.
Having always been a omnivore, I've never given much thought to how the meat I eat is slaughtered. With meat as expensive as it already is here in So. Cal, trying to find meat that is humanely slaughtered seems a lot of to do for nothing.
I realize from an ethical perspective it reflects a higher adherence to stewardship. However, practically speaking, if we had to research everything we use, I'm not quite sure a whole lot of anything else would get done. For me, our budget compels us to find the lowest price.
A question – if you could find meat that was killed humanely, but it cost substantially more than other meat, would you purchase it for that reason alone?
*raises hand*
hey I get to be one of the first—-yay!!!!
This is something I struggle with too, for the reason you mentioned and also another: it's life. Every animal I have as a pet is probably someone else's dinner in some other part of the world –which brings the issue it that much closer to home for me. Imagine caring for and naming pet frogs and then going to a restaurant where they serve frog legs.
I can't say it's wrong to eat meat, as God allows it and I think Christ ate meat/fish himself. But I can't for the life of me (no pun intended), understand why.
" 1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. " -Gen 9
A blessing? Sounds like a curse to me.
Jen, my background is in agriculture, so I struggle with this too, but from the opposite end of the spectrum. I have to struggle to contain my eye-rolling, having a pretty good idea of how things happen on farms. In the big slaughter-houses, the "factory farms," I am sure things are done that would make any of us queasy. I no longer know what percentage of things are done that way, because I've been away from the industry a while.
One thing we do is buy local meat. I know you live in the suburbs, but I'm sure there are farmers around you somewhere. Find them, or find a locally-owned meat market (because there you will probably find locally-grown meat) and buy your meat there. I know it's not convenient (my local grocery store carries this sort of thing, which is a blessing), so maybe it's not a good suggestion.
You might also consider buying half of a beef or pig through that meat market, which pans out to be much less expensive, though you then have to store all that meat in your freezer.
Hope this helps. The thing I hate about leaving long comments is I lose my train of thought at some point when the box starts scrolling down…
I so could have written this post (though not as well as you). I tried vegetarianism back in my college days, but found myself tired all the time.
In my little ideal dream world, all the food (not just meat and poultry) I buy would be raised and processed by local farmers. Animals wouldn't be raised in overcrowded corporate agribusiness facilities. Illegal immigrants wouldn't be underpaid and overworked in hazardous conditions. Our food would be organic, not filled with antibiotics and hormones or covered in pesticides. And of course, all of it would be affordable.
But I stay home, and while I am happy and confident (usually) in that choice, it means less money than two income families. We have credit card debt that we are digging ourselves out of, and while I would love to spend a little more and get the organic milk and the free range chicken and the locally raised beef, that isn't the wise financial decision right now. Right now I'm thinking about college for the kids and home repairs and whether we will need to buy a new refrigerator or if we can hold out a few more weeks.
Because I haven't wanted to know. Because doing a bunch of research about slaughterhouse practices would be depressing and time consuming and one more thing on my already overloaded to-do list, and if I found bad news I don't know how I'd go about modifying my family's diet anyway.
Ditto! I'm glad I'm not the only who feels this way.
There is so much wrong in the world, but we each only have so much energy. I'm glad people work so hard to inform us of this stuff, it's important that we know, but at the same time I often feel shackled with it. What am I doing personally to change slaughterhouse conditions? What am I doing personally to help eradicate malaria? What am I doing personally to reduce my carbon footprint? What am I doing personally to prevent domestic violence? What am I doing personally to save the world? Do we really need more things to feel guilty about?
I consider it a great day if I don't yell at my children, if I'm out of my pajamas before 10 am on a weekday during summer vacation, if I serve something other than cereal for supper, if I remember to return my library books on time. And for now, that will have to be good enough.
Absolutely! It is frequently on my mind, and I've been trying hard to reduce our meat consumption to 1-2 times a week for adults and 3-4 for the children. I'm not always successful and like you, have found that trying to cut out white offenders makes it more difficult. I need to learn more ways of cooking cheese, eggs and lentils!
You might enjoy an essay by Father Neuhaus about the religious/eschatological significance of vegetarianism, if you haven't read it already. He wrote it toward the end of his life. It was First Things, so I'm sure you would find it in the online archives. And check out Crunchy Con – Rod Dreher's blog. He's a big fan of Michael Pollan & co and mixes all this stuff together with his Orthodox beliefs to come up with some interesting results.
We are lucky to have access to humanely raised meat (including deli), poultry, and dairy at our local grocer here in Toronto, so we bite the bullet and restrict ourselves to that. Budget? We mainly manage it by eating less meat. We do a couple of seafood or fish meals every week as well as at least one bean-based meal. Our meat meals tend to have a high veg-to-meat ratio, with meat there more for flavour than calories. For example, I will use 1/2 pound of pork sausage in a six serving pot of spaghetti sauce. I have trained my teen sons to NOT eat the deli meat right out of the bag, standing at the fridge, or to have three glasses of milk at a meal.
Like you, I have been vegetarian in the past so don't have trouble dreaming up veg meals to cook. One of my sons is very much on board with this, and the other one is leaving for university soon, so we've found a happy place, food-wise. My dear husband is completely on board with this, having grown up in Lebanon in a family where meat was a treat.
I am also a former (and occasional) vegetarian/vegan. I reluctantly eat meat now because my health really suffers when I don't. I have an uncle who raises cattle and doesn't eat beef because he sees first hand the way the beef is processed and I don't think it's as nice and neat as we would like to think.
My children eat meat. This is my husband's decision and he has to cook it. Whether we buy free range or whatever depends on who is shopping. He goes for price, I go for higher quality.
So, yes I struggle with this. Daily.
There are LOTS of sources of low cost protein out there. Beans, hummus, yogurt, cheese (also tofu, tempeh, etc…)
They are also easy.
Its still dead meat-no matter how it was raised and killled.
Option #1 – Get a big freezer, or a group of friends together. Go to the farmer's market, get to know a local meat providing family and ask them about regularly purchasing a half-side of a cow or a whole cow (or pig, lamb, whatever) direct from their farm. Oftentimes if you trust them, tell them why you want to buy from them, and assure them that you will be a regular purchaser they will cut a deal with you and likely enough by buying "in bulk" you WILL save money in the long run. Option #2 – keep a beefer in your backyard (harder on the kids, but definitely cheaper
Option #3 – Have your kids join 4-H, even if they're city kids… there are always families to make friends with in 4-H that have farms! That's how we got our meat, eggs, etc while I was growing up, and all I did was show horses and photography!
I've never understood vegetarians, but that's because I grew up on a farm that has been in my family since 1818. For all of my life and most of my father's, the only livestock raised was hogs. We never slaughtered them ourselves (just shipped them on down the line), so I can't speak for the slaughterhouses. But I do know that on our farm, they were never particularly mistreated. It's not like they lived in the lap of luxury (they are animals, after all), but they certainly didn't have it bad. And they aren't as smart as everyone says
The only problem is, it's less and less feasible for family farms to make it these days, even large ones. The gigantic corporate farms seem to have kind of taken over the little guys. I'm not sure how things work on them. All I know is, my family is getting out of the livestock business. After almost 200 years, the only animals running around the farm will be a dog and some cats. No one in my generation is that interested in farming (except me, and my husband's scientific job requires us to live out East right now), and even if they were, they wouldn't exactly know how to make it profitable (or even livable). To me, the loss of two century old family way of life is a lot more depressing than the loss of the lives of some animals who were raised for the sole purpose of feeding us.
Sorry for the only semi-related note. Just been reminiscing lately as every time I travel back to the Midwest there are fewer hogs, and next time there won't be a single squeal!
And all that said, if I had the time and money, I'd totally buy local food every time, organic/free-range or not – because as is obvious, I'd prefer to support the local farming community.
we are vegetarians. with vegan tendencies (we will only eat dairy and eggs from humane local sources…..eventually we will raise our own chickens for eggs). I cannot in good conscience as a pro-life individual allow myself to participate in a system that causes so much suffering. In this day in age it is extremely difficult to guarantee that meat is raised in a humane way unless you go with a local farmer with an excellent reputation (which is also the cheapest way to get humane free range meat, know that organic meat often means the sick animals in large farms suffer since they are not allowed to use antibiotics to treat them for illness). We eat a lot of beans, whole grains and the like. Its jsut a different way of cooking. I have been a veg for over 15 years now, and would never go back.
Oh boy did you hit a nerve with me! Yes, I'm currently struggling with this. I do love meat, but I am concerned about the practice of how meat is going from animal to my table. Like you I've not investigated very far because I have 9 children and really I need to feed them.
I've been inspired about becoming vegetarian by Stephanie Nielson, the mother of 4 who was burned so badly in a small plane crash a year ago. The Dr.'s have been baffled at how she avoided so many infections. I think deep down inside that along with all the prayers going on to protect her, that her very healthy diet led to her bodies amazing ability to fight off all the bad things and allowed her to heal.
I'm riddled wiht health issues and so I'm concerned that genetically should I be raising my kids with smarter eating habits so that they are not plagued by the same health issues? Does eating todays meat contribute to our overall poor diet? I mean I feed them well, lots of veggies and such but really should I delve further?
See, a huge can of worms here! Now I've started my own post! Sorry, its just a lot of these same thoughts have been swirling in my head.
I hear you loud and clear. I'm not philosophically against eating meat, but know that our factory farming methods (for plants as well as animals) are hurting the environment, nutrition, and taste. I also know that we can't just give it up cold turkey. We would go back to the days — less than a century ago — when people were not only hungry but starving in this country. A hungry person doesn't much care how humanely meat animals are slaughtered, nor that the tomato tastes like cardboard. To fix the problem is going to take clear vision and slow, deliberate action.
Do you see anyone going along the path of clear vision and slow, deliberate action when it comes to any of the major problems in our society? I didn't think so. Least of all, me. We are all too busy living from one day to the next to take the time to understand most issues, from where our meat comes from to health care to the economy — and thus we generally take what we're served.
Oh, wait — you wanted ideas, not ranting. How about smaller quantities? Say, lots of healthy, filling lentils flavored with a very small amount of meat? That way the more expensive meat goes further, and even if you use the factory-farmed stuff, you're getting less of it and presumably doing less harm.
My grandchildren are omnivores, but nonetheless eat and love many vegetarian meals — and are as strong and healthy as anyone could want.
Yup, there are ways, and it gets easier once you develop new habits. These days you can usually find someone you can buy a share in a beef cow from (you need access to a freezer). Chicken is harder, because of government rules. There are a couple really good web sites, and I'm sure you've seen books and movies like Pollan's and Supersize Me. The trick to making it affordable (that I'm still working on) is eating less of the expensive stuff. Lots of (brown) rice and beans (on whole wheat and olive oil tortillas, sigh) and going back to the old fashioned "Sunday chicken dinner" idea where meat is special and not the huge center of every meal.
I'm sure once you've started down this road you'll run with it — it's fun, really. (And, yes, I think if you look into the conditions you'll be unhappy, I'm afraid).
Hi!
We buy our meat from a farmer we know, who runs a farm in our area. She runs a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where you pay for a share of her meat and guarantee you will buy from her, monthly, for 6 months in a row. The meat is organic, open pasture, humanely killed – and it tastes better than grocery store meat. I found her after we switched our diet to all organic, after an illness, and were trying to find a way to make it more affordable.
The nice thing about knowing and purchasing from a local farmer is that you can see the animals (if you want to), you support the local economy and you can escape many of the broader food recall issues that crop up. I have also found that the small farmers are more open to bartering, etc. for the products and can be somewhat flexible about this.
Have you tried buying kosher? I'm not 100% sure about how the animals are raised, but I know they're killed more humanely than other animals. You might also try buying from a local farmer. You might have to buy 1/4 of a cow at a time, but at least you know Bessie had a good life pre-steak
I share your concerns. I was not able/interested in sustaining a vegetarian diet. However, I am very concerned about where my meat comes from. And like you I don't have the budget or the accessability (also living in the suburbs) to by the food at Whole Foods or a similar style store.
After doing about 1-2 hours of research on the web, I found several local farms that deliver meat in my area. I have visited the farm of the one I order from weekly, and know that the animals are well taken care of and graze on fresh pasture up until their death, which is done very quickly.
My mother also raises some roasting chickens every year, and I will help her when she culls them (so I have hands on experience on all aspects of the process) and get some meat from that.
We have a large freezer, so we also will order a whole lamb, or 1/2 a pig at different times, and can get the very good meat at a significant discount.
I am sure that in Texas there are farmers that are grazing their cattle that would sell 1/4 or 1/2 side of beef the way you want it cut for a reasonable price. It would just be a matter of finding them and making sure you have a place to store it.
My wife and I also struggled to find good and affordable sources of meat. Neither of us was ever a vegetarian, but when we started having kids we started paying more attention to what we cooked, and that naturally caused us to ask questions about how meat animals are raised. A recall of ground beef from a local grocery store helped focus our minds, and books from the library (e.g., Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma) helped too.
We've found that at least here in Pittsburgh, it's very possible to get affordable meat from humanely raised animals. We live in the city, and there are two weekly farmer's markets within a five-minute drive at which vendors sell pork and beef they raise themselves. There is also a CSA with a "laptop butcher shop" that allows you to order meat from small farms in advance and to pick it up twice a year. I would be surprised if you didn't have even more choices in Austin.
The pork and beef from these sources are competitive with grocery stores on price, but they taste much better and we feel much better about buying them. The chicken and lamb are very expensive, so we don't have much of either.
Conclusion: if you have a freezer and are willing to go to farmer's markets, you can feed your family humanely-raised meat without breaking your budget. And if the farmer's market has a lemonade vendor – as ours do – then your toddlers will support your decision to buy local food.
I've had similar thoughts to yours, honestly less because of the humane or inhumane treatment of the animals and more for nutritional reasons. I'd love someone to walk into my life, hand me a big list of cheap food to buy each week at the grocery store and a packet of "how-to-eat-vegetarian" recipes.
I'm a meat and carb addict and as great as it would be to break that cycle and eat smarter (at least most of the time), it's just too inconvenient for me to take it on with everything else I'm doing in my life.
Any vegetarians out there who want to take up the torch and build us shopping lists and recipes?
This farmer thanks you for putting pork on your fork.
For us, I don't struggle with putting meat on our plates… because I see how animals are raised on our farm, on neighboring farms. Good, ethical farmers care fervently about the comfort and well being of their animals:
"A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast" (Proverbs 12:10).
Farmers choose to be farmers because they enjoy animals, are intuitively attuned with their needs,and make their days about keeping animals comfortable, healthy and happy.
I do humbly and deeply appreciate people's thoughtful reflection on the ethics of eating meat and I believe it is a farmer's obligation to answer the question of consumers and to be transparent about how we raise our animals.
Might I suggest befriending a farmer, get to know his lifestyle, ask for a tour of his farm… instead of believing second hand information, perhaps go right to the source and see first-hand?
We're just humble, hard-working, honest folk…
And, surprisingly, perhaps eating meat isn't the most important issue:
"He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." (Romans 14:5-6)
We are free to eat meat… or not eat meat, each as He is led, and so we respect each other….
All eating should be done onto the Lord, and with thanksgiving…
Thankful for thinking with you, Jen…
(and you're welcome to bring the family and come visit the farm anytime! ~smile~)
All's grace,
Ann
Absolutely! I'm a single 26 year old who is starting to buy beef and chicken from local farmers because not only do I feel that they are treated badly and slaughtered inhumanely at the big meatpacking places, BUT their meat it unhealthy for us. Cows are forced to stand there and do nothing but eat all day and they are fed grain from corn – which is bad for them. Their stomachs can't handle it and it makes them sick but the farmers keep feeding it to them because it makes them fat fast. What do you think that fat does for us when we eat it? Did you know that cows who are allowed to walk around and have grass only diets provide us with Omega 3 fatty acids? Cows from the big corporate farms only have Omega 6 (bad fat). Also, the whiter a chicken's egg is, the less healthy the chicken was. But the food industry has marketed this all as ok and we've bought into it for convenience sake. And I am STILL guilty for buying chicken and eggs at the large chain grocery store when I could just go to a farmer's market on Saturday morning to get a healthier kind of meat. I told you I was a single 26 year old so you would know that I have no idea what I will do when I become a mother. I have friends who are devout vegetarians and they are very good at finding recipes that are awesome and they aren't afraid to use fake meat. Maybe, if you're uncomfortable with it, the thing to research isn't animal abuse, it's recipes using soy meat. I had a lasagna with some kind of fake meat in it the other day and it was pretty good. Honestly, using it takes some getting used to but it does give you nutrition and the protein can be found in peanut butter and nuts – as well as beans if you can get your kids to eat them. A long time ago I read Being Vegetarian for Dummies and it had a lot of really good and helpful information on how to get nutrition without meat. But if you still want to incorporate meat, go to http://www.greatharvest.org and find a farm in your area that sells free range, grass fed beef and free range chicken (I buy from someone who just opens the barn door every day and if they want to go out and forage they can, but she also feeds them grain. She always calls them "Happy Chickens!"). This kind of beef, chicken and eggs are probably the best I've ever tasted and they're healthier for me. Sorry this is so long but I had been feeling the way you do so I studied up on the nutrition side of it and I was so excited to find someone else who is actually interested in it!
–Katie
http://www.frillythinking.blogspot.com
I'm a recovering vegetarian (for reasons you mention) married to a cow farmer. I try not to think about it, mostly. I know our cattle are treated pretty well, though once they leave here, I don't know anything. I agree with previous commenters – try to by a 1/2 or 1/4 side of beef or pork from someone in your area. We're glad to do it – it makes us a bit of money and is a good deal for the buyer as well.
I would look into buying a half an animal from someone who raises them near you, and having it processed at a local packing plant. This will probably be more expensive than grocery store meats (particularly those you have gotten on sale, for instance) but it is nice to know exactly where your meat comes from (and sometimes what that meats name was…)
My in-laws raise cattle, and we have a good custom packing plant nearby. We have gotten 1/4 beef and 1/2 pig upon occasion, and we can specify what we would like in our processing (how big of roasts, how many steaks or chops in a package, etc.) I've never done chickens this way, but it can be done (of course, chickens are easy enough to butcher without a packing plant involved.)
You asked, "Does anyone else struggle with this issue?" YES, YES, YES. I ate a mostly vegetarian meal for about a year (I did occasionally eat fish) but threw all that out the window when my husband and I started dating and it became clear that if I did not cook meat for him, he would subsist entirely on Taco Bell and Burger King. (Neither of which, in my mind, can be considered "real food.")
Now, as an omnivore, I enjoy the taste of chicken and beef, but I am often plagued by the thought that my decision to eat meat supports an industry of torture. I'm not opposed to animals being slaughtered for food – I am opposed to the horrible conditions one finds in most American factory farming operations.
I loved being a vegetarian – it was the least expensive and easiest dietary decision I've ever made, because I love vegetables, legumes and whole grains with a fanatic passion. My husband, however, is a stereotypical meat-and-potatoes guy, and I don't think it's kind for me to say, "Hey, you're on your own meal-wise." He wouldn't eat ANYTHING healthy, and he'd cost us 100s of dollars every month in fast food. And I wouldn't have the opportunity to show love to him by cooking for him. So instead, I disrespect God's creation. Not the best ethical choice I've ever made, but…
I have often thought that I'd like to buy meat from local farmers, whose ethical practices I can literally witness with my own eyes. The added benefit of such a practice would be supporting my local economy instead of "big business." But, um, that's more expensive, and more time-consuming, than just picking up some shrink-wrapped steaks at the supermarket. Again, my ethical decision making is not so sharp. *sigh*
Reading your post makes me think this is an issue in my own life that needs some re-examining.
Due to financial issues a while back, I began feeding my family less and less meat. We still eat it, but rather than having a big piece of meat as a main dish, I cut it up and cook it in something, and sometimes we have meals without meat at all.
We raise our own chickens, and this fall we plan to slaughter and eat some of them. I'm not totally comfortable with that, but I feel like our chickens were able to live a comfortable life and be slaughtered humanely.
Jen-
I definitely struggle with wanting to eat meat and being unable to afford much of the humane kind! It always helps me in situations like this to remember "Do what you can."
Can you cut out two meat-meals a week and replace them with veg meals? Can you cut out two grocery-meat purchases and replace them with organic, free range meat? Can you do research on just beef (or just chicken or just pork or just salmon or just tuna) and discover the best brand for that type of meat? Can you pledge to order vegetarian-only at restaurants or buy only vegetarian prepared meals at the grocery store?
Instead of being overwhelmed with the vast amounts of research necessary, just pick one small thing (I think you had a post about this prayer-wise just a few days ago, actually!) and go with it.
What works for our family is the following: Once a year, I split a locally-raised pig and/or lamb with another family or two. The animals are slaughtered, cut, and labelled, and we keep the meat in our freezer. My friend and I met the farmers at our local farmer's market. They provide information about their organic methods,and take orders a few times per year.
WE also order chicken during the summer from the same farmer and freeze some for the winter. This means we need a big stand-up freezer to get us through the winter.
Check out your local farmers' market and ask around about how to order meat from local organic farms. Look up Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) on the web for your area — they can be good sources of referrals to local farms that sell to the public.
Good luck!
Wow, your readers are early risers (or late bedtimers!).
We belong to a local co-op, and they source only ethically raised meat. The "without breaking the bank" is the harder part here but I would rather spend more and eat a little less to know I'm getting meat I don't have to worry about.
And when you come up for air in a few years and have time to read, anything by Temple Grandin on her work designing slaughterhouses is fascinating. She can think like the cattle or livestock can and creates stress free architecture for the slaughterhouses. And Novella Carpenter has a memoir just out this summer called Farm City, about creating a garden/farm in the middle of a transitional neighborhood in Oakland, CA. She raises her own fowl and eventually pigs, and reading her story was fascinating too.
I have been a vegetarian since college (so going on 25 years) and I have never had any trouble with feeling unhealthy or weak. I breastfed my son (also a vegetarian) for two years and he (now age 13) is totally healthy, so I have no concerns about whether raising children vegetarian is a good thing. I think that we worry too much about "getting enough protein" likewise about "eating too many carbs." Much of the current nutritional information with which we plan our diets is based not on an understanding of healthy eating, but on advertising for particular producers, especially beef. "Getting enough protein" is a red herring. You will get enough protein if you eat a balance of different foods (grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, pulses), and no, I don't even think about this much, I just eat what tastes good. If you do want to eat meat, however, I think that you are ethically obliged to eat only animals whom you know were raised and slaughtered humanely. This would include hunted meat (possibly the best, since the animal definitely lived a good life before dying). Sometimes, I confess, I do eat meat (turkey at Thanksgiving), but being vegetarian the rest of the time makes me all the more conscious that I am eating an animal–and therefore all the more thankful for the life that it gave so that I could live.
I felt like this for a long time. I'd eat vegetarian for a year or so, and then it would be too inconvenient or I'd get tired of not being able to eat what my friends were cooking or what my husband was eating and edge back into omnivorousness.
The thing that made a difference for me — and this is going to sound CRAZY — was that I started getting interested in raw food. Raw food is so different from cooked vegan or vegetarian food — my energy level is great, it tastes brighter — and often better, especially better than meat-substitute types of meals. I usually eat about half raw and half cooked food in a day, but focusing on adding as much raw food to my diet as possible (instead of on giving up meat) made me stop wanting meat — and white flour and sugar and even alcohol –eventually.
Also, it turns out that I feel healthier and stronger than I ever have before.
I'm pretty much with you: concerned about the meat we eat but feel there's not much I can do about it on our limited budget. Not so much because of ethical concerns as about health issues. I think meat raised ethically is healthy meat and unethical practices generally are as bad for the person eating the animal as for the animal itself.
I tried to do more lentils and beans and stuff like many of your readers suggest but find that it doesn't really satisfy me when I'm pregnant/breastfeeding. (Which is all the time since we got married.) I can maybe swap out one or two dinners a week with non-meat but more than that and I start to feel ill and very low energy. I already stretch the cheap supermarket meat by making stir-fries and putting a smaller amount of meat in sauces and all the other shortcuts people suggest. That's the only way I can keep even that in our tight budget.
I'd love to find a local source for free-range grass-fed meat, eggs and dairy as many people suggest. It doesn't seem to be as easy in our area as it is in other parts of the country. So I keep looking and hoping to find something and in the meantime grit my teeth and buy the supermarket meat we can afford.
Sorry no helpful suggestions here, just frustrations as I've already seen every suggestion made here and none of them has helped me find a way out of the dilemma: we don't have enough money for me to buy and cook the way I'd like and there's just no work around that works for us where we are now.
I have always eaten meat, and used to never even think twice about it. These days, however, I do think more about it. I also have tried to cut down on the amount of meat, trying to have 1-2 days/week without meat, and I've cut meat almost entirely out of my lunches. It's definitely cheaper, but I also want to be a good steward of the environment. Our small town has no nice grocery store with organic/grass-fed/free range anything, but I have looked around into finding somewhere I can get these.
Another thing I think about too is that it really is healthier and people live longer by eating less meat and more vegetables. So I'm definitely in a similar place in that I am not entirely comfortable getting meat from where I currently get it, but I don't have many other options right now. Maybe one day.
One more thing…besides the health thing which I am mostly concerned about. When I found a farmer who raised lean, grass fed cows, I asked how they were slaughtered. If that is a concern to you, and you can stomach the answer, ask! The farmer who cares about his/her animals and the quality of food produced will answer very honestly. I've also heard that when you eat meat, the meat should only cover about 1/3 of your plate and the rest should be fruits and veggies. On MY part, this takes a little extra planning and a some cutting and bagging up when I first buy veggies. So on the part of a very busy mom, I don't know where you would fit this in. Plus there is nothing wrong with flash frozen bagged vegetables and fruit at the grocery store. Big time saver! I think the most fun of trying to incorporate more veggies and less meat is finding new recipes and learning about new ingredients. Don't underestimate the power of seasonings. http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php has a list of foods and what is in them to make them healthy. Spices and herbs are in that list too. The more seasoned your food is, the better it tastes, the less you eat, but the more nutrients you get!
–Katie (again)
http://www.frillythinking.blogspot.com
Hi Jen,
Don't know how much information you would like, but this is a very thoughtful article on the subject by a Catholic in Touchstone Magazine, whose name (ironically enough) is Christopher Killheffer.
The words "humane" and "slaughter" really don't go together. In recent years, it's become easier and easier to be vegetarian (and even vegan). There are many family friendly vegetarian cookbooks out there (Nava Atlas and Dreena Burton come to mind). Once your eyes are opened up to the realities of the use of animals for food, it's hard to go back. I say, "go for it!" and become vegetarian, you and your family will be healthier, you'll be helping the environment, the food tastes so much better, and you won't be contributing (as much) to the suffering of animals. (just my humble opinion, only because you asked
)
Good luck!
My husband hunts, so a portion of our meat is from that. I know his incredible ethics, and that the deer, fish, or fowl lived a wild life as God intended.
We also eat other,domesticated meat, as well. Last year we bought a 1/4 of a grass-fed cow from a local farmer. We hope to do the same this year and maybe get a hog, too. Our Farmer's market is selling chickens this year for the first time.
I have 6 children (9 months to 10 years) and we've learned to stretch the meat that we have. We thoroughly enjoy the steaks in our freezer, but me stretch a pound of burger for spaghetti or chili (we always cook for leftovers). When we roast a chicken, we make the leftovers into a casserole and then crockpot the bones to make stock that turns into veggie soup (little or no meat left). So, we use up what we have. If I get three meals from one chicken, that's a bargain even if it's expensive chicken.
I can't afford the prices at our health food store, so when we're out of the good stuff, we do buy the factory farmed meat. By planning and buying in bulk, most of our meat is the ethically raised kind.
If you want to do some easy reading on these issues, I recommend Michael Pollan's books, Barbara Kingsolver's _Animal, Vegetable, Miracle_, and _Real Food_ by Nina Planck.
I do know that over half of the slaughter facilities in the U.S. were designed by Temple Grandin and are designed for a quick, ethical kill. (Reading her books is a fascinating look into autism, by the way.) I'm more concerned about the life my meat lived in terms if its confinement and nutrition than about it's kill because of that knowledge.
http://www.localharvest.org lists Farmer's Markets and CSA's all over the country.
You're certainly not the only one trying to come up with solutions to this issue with as little energy expenditure or inconvenience as possible!
I was a vegetarian for twenty years, and now we raise our own beef and pork. Our animals do have a nice life before they migrate to the freezer, and I have less guilt about eating them than I do about supermarket meat, which perpetuates very sad/bad practices in raising animals (Don't read Matthew Scully's "Dominion"…) How can we pamper an animal and then eat it? Honestly, I couldn't if I had to kill it myself, although I might bring myself to kill a chicken if my kids were hungry and I had little choice. All I know is that our animals receive kindness, medical care as needed, room to do their thing, and a lot of back-scratches and rubs, even as we keep in mind their ultimate purpose.
I wonder if the paidom.com people are near you? their meat is amazing. Right now we are able to get eggs, beef, lamb, and chicken from a farmer not too far from here. All grassfed organic. We buy the beef by the half, which comes out to just under $3/lb. Eggs are $2.25/doz. I keep telling him he could sell more and charge more, but he's got another day job.
It never really bothered me, but hubby and I have been getting our meat lately from Town & Country Foods and have discovered it's just better meat. It's all natural, organic meat and vegetables and although I don't buy it for that reason, that might be something that other people would like. It costs less than buying it at the grocery store and is not re-frozen like most meats you find at the grocery.
Now the only meat we buy at the store is deli meat for sandwiches and the occasional hot dog.
The meat comes vacuum sealed with excess fat trimmed off so you're not paying for lbs of fat. They're also not packed with preservatives or water. And the flavor is good.
http://www.townandcountryfoods.com/
As a former vegetarian myself, I struggle with the same dilemma. When I began eating meat again, I, too, shopped at Whole Paycheck – oops, I mean, Whole *Foods* – and other $$$$ grocery stores for my organic, humanely-raised beef and chicken.
Now we are a 1 income family living in the expensive S.F. Bay Area, and I can no longer afford to shop at places that charge 5 bucks for a tomato.
For awhile, I bought regular supermarket meat, and, like you, just tried really hard not to think about what type of life those animals had before they were slaughtered. However, my conscience kept bugging me, and I was never entirely OK with my decision.
Then, one day, I noticed that our local Costco had begun selling organic and humanely raised chicken, ground beef, and hot dogs. It was still kinda pricey, but *way* cheaper than Whole Foods meat.
So, that's what we do now – buy humanely raised chicken and beef (and eggs – they sell organic eggs, too) at Costco in bulk. (I stick the meat in the freezer in 1 or 2 lb increments, and defrost when I'm ready to use it.)
That takes care of most of our needs, but I do still buy regular meat when in a pinch, or for stuff like cold cuts or pork. (No humanely raised pork at Costco yet.) And we do eat at McDonald's and In-N-Out, etc, though we try not to go too often.
Lastly, if I'm using our slow cooker and the recipe calls for a cheaper cut of meat, I'll just bite the bullet and go to Whole Foods or our local natural foods store. I don't mind paying more for organic pork shoulder or whatever, since it's still pretty cheap, considering.
Lastly, I'm trying to make it a habit to cook a vegetarian dinner a couple of times a week. It's hard, though, once you've gotten out of the habit! Guess I need to drag out my old vegetarian cookbooks.
Anyway, hope this helps. My conscience does still bug me from time to time, but for us, this is a good compromise. We get about 75% of our meat organic and humanely-raised, which is pretty good, I think. It's still more expensive, but for us, it's worth it.
I just can't in good conscience, spend more for food (that I know I can purchase more cheaply) even if it is healthier or more humane. I work for my church's food bank and see too many hungry people experiencing seriously hard times. Every $10 or $20 extra that more affluent people spend on their own groceries is less money available to donate to worthier causes.
Jen you have an uncanny knack for putting your finger on the pulse, that’s a cool gift.
This very topic came up for us in a big way this year. We are raising beef cattle and meat chickens for the first time. The topic comes into sharp perspective when you’ve met and cared for the animal that will become your dinner. Especially when hubby announces that WE will be slaughtering and dressing the chickens ourselves. SAY WHAT?
We didn’t, I found a local slaughter house for the chickens and plan to do so for the cattle as well. I’ve also considered offering our grass raised beef for sale in our area directly to consumers who have similar concerns.
Frankly, the whole issue of slaughtering animals is creepy. I hope to find a slaughter house that follows kosher guidelines, but am I going to sit there and watch to make sure? Well, I didn’t with the chickens, although I saw enough of what was going on that I was comfortable that it was as humane as possible when one is killing another creature, and I had the option of watching if I had wanted to. “Ah, no thanks guys, I’ll just be over here, thanks though.”
How does one even go about researching such a topic? We certainly can’t rely on PETA, but am I going to go out and find out for myself? Even if I wanted to how would I do that? So how would I find the info and who’s viewpoint can be trusted? Is there a Ralph Nader of meat farming and slaughterhouse review?
But … since you are Catholic … are you equally as delicate about enlarging the profits of companies that make money off of and/or monetarily support abortion? Do you even know the donation patterns/principles of the retailers you shop at? Do you buy products made by the big pharma companies that make abortion drugs? Do you care whether the retailers you patronize are giving money to Planned Parenthood? If not, why not? Why aren't you equally sensitive about the small children being slaughtered?
OK, you get the idea. I don't think it's possible for anyone to be entirely ethically sensitive about everything in our modern lives. There are just too many interconnected components for anyone to keep track of.
Cut yourself some slack on the meat eating. It's a trendy thing, but it is not nearly the most important thing. Don't you live near Austin, a norotiously left-wing college town? See, you're immersed in that trendy nonsense in a way that most Americans are not — to rephrase, the culture of your area is not a good indicator of America's general culture, not to mention Catholic culture. Try not to take it too seriously.
Sarah Reinhard has good advice for buying local meat. Her approach gives you that old-fashioned personal connection with the farmer. Sounds like a good approach to me.
And if you're really looking to live more ethically, abortion is a better issue to eradicate from your life. Life Decisions International keeps a list of companies that fund abortion. Read it and weep, literally.
I recommend http://www.kolfoods.com
Granted it is Kosher, but I know the lady who runs it and they are expanding.
Oh, yes, I struggle with this also. I have read the Omnivore's Dilemna and loved it. For awhile I purchased meat from a local farm (Polyface Farm that is highlighted in the book) or from the Farmer's Market. I still like the idea of doing that but it's hard to pass up the convenience and much cheaper meat at the grocery store. Like you I kind of just don't want to know more. I feel like I should know more about where my food comes from and how it was treated…but I'm afraid to open that can of worms even more.
Probably an issue I should think about more.
It's a cop-out, to be sure, but the way I deal with this issue is to put it in perspective. If I had any extra resources–time, money, etc–I would put them towards stopping the cruelty and mistreatment of baby humans by the abortion industry. These little feeling animals with eternal souls are being painfully deprived of their earthly lives, and without baptism, may possibly be deprived of the beatific vision. I love animals, and it makes me sick to think what some must endure, but when you do get that gnawing guilty feeling, think that innocent babies are experiencing worse in our own backyards. No contest. Until we put right this injustice, animal welfare does not make the priority list.
Jennifer,
Alright, fessing up here. I really have not been very thoughtful about the whole meat-eating thing, and honestly, don't really know that I will, not in the short term anyway. I grew up spending time with a grandfather who made the best roast beef and gravy in the world; he was a true meat-lover. I guess it's sort of in my blood. I try to be thoughtful and intentional about most things in my life, but I'm afraid that if I were to be judged on the amount of attention I have paid to my meat-eating habits, I would be scorned ruthlessly. Alright, bring on the tomatoes…and could you throw in a slice of roast beef, too?
(I say this in jest, realizing it might not be a laughing matter to all. Also, I am an animal lover and cry every time I see Charlotte's Web. It's just not something that plagues me, is all. I'd rather worry about feeding the starving people of the world, and keeping my own family fed and healthy. Okay, enough already. Looks like you've gotten some great responses! Hope it's helped.
Here's a second vote for hunted meat – I can know with a high degree of confidence that the deer my husband shot was free-range and grass-fed without any research at all!
Just over a year ago, I decided that cheap food wasn't worth the monetary savings. But we don't have the money to pay $7/lb for ground beef at Whole Foods or whatever. Here's what we do:
1) Buy 1/4 beef from a local farmer who feeds them on pasture. Cost: $2.10/lb hanging wt plus butcher cost. That translates to $3.50/lb and we bring home between 100 and 150 lbs. We spend a day driving out to the farm, chat with the farmers, then drive to the butcher and pick up the beef.
2) Buy whole chickens from local farmers who treat them humanely. I can usually find them for $2.10-$2.30/lb from farmers who deliver to a nearby location. If I get a great price, I buy 10 at once. We have an extra freezer and I usually have food stored in my mom's extra freezer, too.
3) We have suburban, backyard chickens. We just got them in May and spent $500 on the coop and obtaining the city permit, but by October, they'll be producing 3 dozen eggs per week (we have 6 hens). We'll share/sell the extras, which will cover the feed cost. So they'll be free to maintain and supply plenty of eggs after the 6 months' initial set up costs.
4) We buy dry goods through http://www.clnf.org We order $400+ with friends and they deliver free as far south as Oklahoma. It's a little cheaper than the bulk bins at the co-op and far cheaper than the little packages of organic flour at Whole Foods.
5) We buy cleaning supplies, soaps, and paper products through Frontier Cooperative. Wholesale prices on Seventh Generation, Burt's Bees, etc, and free delivery with large orders (again, we order with friends).
It's not as cheap as buying only loss-leaders at the grocery store, but it's far cheaper than buying everything from Whole Foods.
While I don't have ethical problems with eating meat, I do share your concern about how the animals were raised and killed. I don't know how to deal with this other than buying expensive free-range-type meats, which I'm just not prepared to pay such a premium for. My best response is to reduce the amount of meat (and other animal products) in my diet. A book that may help you find the motivation to do so from a health perspective, as opposed to the ethical perspective, is The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.
Huge struggle for me. I was vegetarian for ten years-very serious about it-even tattooed Liberate across my back. We started eating meat again for similar reasons to yours-a difficult pregnancy food wise for me, a child who needed a special diet, two adopted kids who really need to make up for lost time in the protein dept.
I never thought I would buy non organic meat, but I find myself doing it because we don't have a infinite grocery budget. However, lately I have been trying once again to eat more bean based meals and go back to eating more organic or at least humanely raised meat. We don't need meat at every meal. We don't really eat beef, mainly chicken. I am trying to buy exclusively whole chickens, because then after roasting or boiling-I can make chicken broth which helps make the expensive bird pay for itself.
Things to look into: food coops which may make the meat cheaper. We have a couple locally that sell amish raised meet. Organic is not that important to me, but humanely raised is. Organic status is hard to obtain so many small farmers opt for the all natural label which is fine for me. We have a beef farm on our street that sells their meat in bulk-as in you buy some portion of a cow. The cows are grass fed but not organic. I have friends who chip in together and each buy 1/4 of a cow. The price comes out to being as cheap or cheaper than the store bought stuff. Of course you have to have the freezer space. I really want a deep freeze, but don't know where to put it.
We are trying our hand at raising chickens and if we get the guts to do it, we will try killing some for meat. We will at the very least have eggs from happy chickens. Currently we buy them from a local farmer down the road from us. But long term for us, we hope to grow/raise much of our own food. It's such a personal thing, what we put into our bodies.
I think you have to evaluate your life and what's on your plate and then decide how important the issue is to you and then take baby steps.
Left to my own devices, I would be a vegetarian about 75% of the time, and cook and serve a little chicken and fish the other 25% of the time.
With a family that's not entirely practicable, but my husband is very concerned about factory farming, and over the years we've made a few changes to our diet:
1. We eat no beef. I try to get some lamb on occasion, but honestly, red meat isn't all that healthy anyway and there are perfectly healthy children raised in areas of the world where red meat is not at all a part of the diet, or only served once in a great while as a *seasoning* to a dish. Americans eat entirely too much beef, all things considered; and some of the worst factory farming habits revolve around cattle raising.
2. We eat pork or ham less often than we used to. I really only buy it during the colder months (as nobody feels like eating pork roast or a giant spiral ham in August in Texas). I might serve a pork roast or thick pork chops as one meal, but then the rest of the meat is cubed and used in stews, soups, cooked for "bbq" sandwiches in the crockpot with ketchup and salsa, or otherwise "stretched." This is in keeping with my choice to use meat as an *element* of a meal, not as the main feature and focus of every meal.
3. We eat chicken, but again, I'm more likely to cook some chicken and then use it in other things. Last night for some company I had cooked a small pan of chicken tenders, sliced them, and used them in calzone fillings (one big calzone was chicken, broccoli, and cheese, and the other was spinach, tomatoes, chicken, and cheese). The rest of the meal was comprised of salads, none of which had any meat in them. Nobody went away hungry.
4. We don't eat as much fish as I'd like, but that's mainly because my husband strongly dislikes fish. I will cook it for the children and myself on occasion, though.
5. We eat a LOT of vegetarian meals. I will serve pasta with a homemade sauce (broccoli, tomatoes, onions, garlic etc.), bean dishes (I make "chickpea burgers" and homemade falafel as well as tons of black bean dishes, and we sometimes branch out into other beans–unfortunately white beans are something I can't eat, but split peas are good and I have a good vegetarian split pea soup recipe), I make homemade pizza, vegetarian chili, and so on. Even though I'm not the most enthusiastic cook in the world, I've discovered that I really enjoy making these sorts of meals much, much more than the kind where I used to shove some meat in the oven and serve a potato dish and a second vegetable–vegetarian cooking is way more fun, to me, for some strange reason.
I've already gone on too long, but I think the key for us has been to rethink the "role" of meat in our diet, and how much of it we consume. Very few countries in the world treat meat the way we do, or eat the portion sizes of it we think is normal. That said, we all have to do what works for our own families, and some families might find it much harder to think of meat as a smaller, less important part of dinner.
http://www.foodrenegade.com/eating-real-food-on-a-budget/
Jennifer,
Yes, I share your struggle. I became a vegetarian back in the 1980s before I had children. I did it for a combination of reasons: health concerns (my mom died of colon cancer at 47) and animal concerns. Even though my husband is a meat-lover, we had a vegetarian house until late in my first pregnancy. Then I started craving chicken and decided I should listen to my body.
Although I still cooked a lot of vegetarian food after giving birth the first time, I started to realize how much easier it was to cook for my family if I used meat. By the time I had three kids, meat-eating became the norm.
Then last year, Olivia, my middle child who just turned nine, decided she didn't not want animals to die so she could eat. A young vegetarian was born and I went back on the wagon in solidarity with her and because it was something I had been toying with for a while.
I'm happy I did and now, because of where I am spiritually, I feel that cutting the meat out of my diet can become part of more mindful eating habits. Although I haven't written about it as you have, I struggle with the fact that my careless eating does not match up with the spiritual path I want to be on. It's something I'm beginning to explore in more depth.
Anyway, sorry for the long comment. Thanks, as always for your thoughtful post.
YOu should find a theatre near you playing the new documentary "Food Inc." It can answer your questions in a short hour. It is possible to have a high-protein, low meat diet with your family. You just have to make sure you are having plenty of grains and beans and vegetables. These are more filling, too. I am reading a book right now called "Vegetarian Pregnancy" that is very insightful, although I am not a vegetrian – I just have a hard time digesting mammal (as opposed to fish and eggs).
Check out Food Inc, though, here is a link: http://www.foodincmovie.com/
It's so sad when eating becomes a confusing trial. I guess that's what happens when capitalism and productivity take priority – we lose touch with reality and the creation that God gave us to be stewards over. That's my biggest thing about this whole "food" thing, being a proper steward. If I am feeding my family OR supporting companies that produce food that I KNOW has poorly treated animals AND workers, I am not being a good steward, and I cannot eat in good conscience knowing that.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/ Food Inc.
The words "humane" and "slaughter" CAN go together if you buy from the right local farmer. I know the people who raise the cows on grass, letting them roam free and be happy. They are not scared and shaking nor are they abused when it's time for "slaughter." It's not even slaughter really. It's very fast and painless because the farmers care about the cows and the quality of the product from the cows.
From reading the comments it seems that most have an intuitive sense that causing animals avoidable suffering is wrong. Indeed when engaged in a conversation where treatment of animals comes up, I've responded that we should certainly minimize the pain we cause them. But honestly, if any of the people I was talking to asked "Why?" I wouldn't have been able to answer.
Would anyone care to offer the basis for their desire to eat/treat animals more "ethically?" I don't mean to be obnoxious, but I truly have no reason other than the fact that it seems like we should.
I tend to think more along the lines of the last anonymous commenter; I checked out Life Decisions International and noticed Whole Foods Market the first on the list of boycott targets (which I assume means they financially support Planned Parenthood).
This is a huge struggle for me as well. I have dabbled in vegetarian, vegan, raw food vegan, etc. My family does not do well without meat/on a high carb diet. And the book "Nourishing Traditions" is good at explaining why
I buy grass-fed/organic/free-range when I can, but current financial circumstances has forced me to buy the cheapest option the last few months. I pray that it is temporary, and do what I can in the meantime. But I do dream of that little farm where we can raise our own food.
Lisa
At the risk of my comment being lost among all these fine other comments, I'll add my two cents anyway.
I went through the Animal Science program at university and have a degree in Agriculture. I haven't used it much since I've been home raising children but I used to work for veterinarians and gained a firm grasp of how animals are raised & slaughtered in factory farms.
I don't have a problem eating meat but I do have a very big problem with factory farming. It's one of the reasons that I'm very reluctant to eat store-bought pork, for example. The things these animals are fed are not good for the animal's nutrition or for us as the end consumer. And the conditions many are kept in aren't conducive to good animal welfare practices either, although a good manager can make things much better for the animals.
We're on a tight budget too but I do make the effort to buy beef from a local producer here who raises their cattle up to slaughter. These cattle have never been grain fed, aren't given antibiotics as preventative medicine and aren't vaccinated either. The beef is FAR superior to what I get at the supermarket. Far leaner and better tasting.
I understand how tough it is to find but I do believe it's worth the effort. On the other hand, sometimes I wish I didn't know about how our meat is raised. Ignorance can indeed be bliss.
I really have nothing much to say about meat. Our family eats it, and like you said I choose not to think about it. I agree that animals shouldn't be treated really cruelly, but it annoys me when people go overboard that way, so I guess I just stay in the dark like you said, because I don't really want to talk about it.
I actually just wanted to say I really like your blog, and was wondering if you would post (or have posted) about your marriage and how your faith plays into that part of your life.
I have to say that I became a vegi 15 years ago because my to be husband didn't like kissing me after I ate meat! Maybe not the best reason to do it, however 15 years on and having raised 2 very healthy vegi children I wouldn't change my decision at all. It is in this time that I have had the opportunity to learn more about animal welfare and I also see meat as a way that we 'impose' our greed on Gods creation, we really do not very much protein in our diets. With talking with friends I have also had the benefit of spending about £20 less per week on my grocery bill.
Don't know if you live near any Amish communities (I've read that they are moving West), but Amish free-range chickens are yummy, and grass-fed beef is the best! (Obviously, I'm not a vegetarian.) If you can't access the Amish products, then Kosher is the way to go. As the popular ad says, "no ifs, ands, or butts!"
An anonymous commenter asked:
"Would anyone care to offer the basis for their desire to eat/treat animals more "ethically?" I don't mean to be obnoxious, but I truly have no reason other than the fact that it seems like we should."
Here's my answers:
1)That voice inside that makes you *feel* like you should treat animals with the minimum of pain is called your conscience. Although your conscience can be twisted, it isn't arbitrary; it is a link to objective moral reality. In other words, you feel like it's right because it really is right.
2) Treating animals more ethically almost universally coincides with better quality food (cleaner, safer, more nutrition).
3) Being cruel or inconsiderate towards animals builds a habit of cruelty or inconsideration; this habit can slide easily into cruelty or inconsideration towards people. This can happen at both the individual and cultural levels, I think.
Does that answer your question?
Oh, and Jen, I am so there too. Our neighborhood farmer's market sells meat and eggs (during the summer) that I think are locally raised and probably free-range. But our family is on food stamps, and the farmer's market doesn't take EBT cards. There's a farmer's market across town that does, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to drive across town every week to buy enough meat to satisfy my meat-loving husband and our 4 little ones. I'm hoping that when my husband finds a job, he'll be making enough that we can afford to do regular shopping at the farmer's market close to us.
Buy kosher. The End.
I definitely have friends that struggle with this issue, but I don't, and I believe it's because I was raised in the third-world and often DID see the meat I was eating in the before and during the slaughtering process.
I would be in villages where we'd pet the pigs that the villagers would later chase and shoot with bows and arrows before a pig feast. We would swim in the ocean and catch fish and lobster and then cook them on the fire ourselves. When you bought chicken, you often bought it live and saw it slaughtered in front of you.
Most of the people I lived around lived hand-to-mouth. They didn't have an option – they couldn't turn their nose up at meat or they would probably die of malnutrition. I guess I came to know the circle of life rather intimately – animals may be cute and … well… alive… but the fact of life was that they also kept us alive.
Because of that reality, it has never bothered me to eat meat. I did read an article by a food blogger in Chicago who took part in the slaughter of every animal she eats, because she believed that it would be unethical to eat what she was not unable to kill herself. Once she'd taken part in this process she made peace with being a meat-eater.
Yes to the first, and my only answer to the second is buying organic meat in bulk from a farmer, which is a huge initial outlay, and you have to have a chest freezer, and usually be able to use all the different cuts.
If you spend $10 a pound on organic free range beef, instead of $2 per pound on the beef at Costco, have you been a good steward of that extra $8?
Can not that $8 go to Operation Smile or for a new pair of shoes from Payless for your visiting child or?
I think you are straining at gnats and swallowing camels on this issue.
I don't think it is routine to torture animals in slaughterhouses.
I don't doubt that a pig put suddenly into a slaughterhouse might tremble or act frightened, but I dare say he would act that way if suddenly placed in your living room, too. They aren't people.
Was just led to your blog through the suggestion of a new friend…and I'm so glad I was!
I read several posts…laughed my head off at you husband's friend and his hotel-room-lock-out-incident! Yikes!!
I'll be back…I subscribed.
Oh….and welcome to the LIGHT SIDE! ; ) SO glad you joined us.
(sigh…) I think I did that twice as I was reading as well. I empathize. We have four kiddos and I would love, love to eat organic, free-range, locally purchased everything. But, it isn't within our means. I have been trying to incorporate at least one meatless main dish every week. This Fall, I'm upping that to two. My goal us to slowly cut back our meat comsumption to twice a week, but that's only if I can find things that everyone will eat without too much fuss. I don't know what the answer is, excpet that for me, I am sure that the Lord wants me to be more mindful of how the vast majority of the world eats…
I am vegetarian and have been since I was 14. I have no desire to eat meat but I have come to accept that others do (no, I was not so tolerent about that as a teenager).
I think that if you have the opportunity to buy directly from a farmer that would be the best way to buy meant. I hate to say it but what you buy in a supermarket was probably not raised or killed humainely.
My struggle is over the fact that I am not vegan. We buy only organic eggs even though they are more expensive because I feel better about the treatment of the eggs. I am tempted to go vegan but my husband loves his cheese.
There is always some struggle isn't there.