Animals: Good to eat

It was Pollan’s book that reverted me back to being a carnivore after a long period of vegetarianism. My decision not to eat meat, at the time, was based on my concerns about the environment. I have never had a problem with animals being (humanely) killed and consumed. After all, I was nearly eaten by a lion in Uganda. I figure as long as animals are willing to eat me, I’ll do them same for them. Rather, I was critical of the processing of animals and the distance traveled to bring meat to my table. When I read about Joel Salas’ farm, I thought, “That is how it should work.”

An animal should be able to live its life as an animal. Chickens should scratch around and eat bugs. Pigs should wallow in “clean” mud. Cows should graze on grass under the sun, etc. If the animal has had a happy life, I have no problem with eating it. There is something grotesque about torturing an animal all its life and then sending it through a disgusting mass slaughterhouse process.

Humans were made to eat meat on occasion. We do take this to the extreme in America, though. Meat consumption is through the roof and our health problems confirm this. When my mother came down with breast cancer, she was told to lay off the meat and fat and focus on better sources of protein such as legumes. We don’t eat enough fiber to take care of all the meat we eat. What I decided to do was resume eating meat but only do so if I can afford to purchase locally produced stuff. This limits my meat intake and I support local, humane farms at the same time.