Regularly, with some relish, and for the better part of the last two years — as long as I’ve been dedicated, in earnest, to eating only meat of known origin — I’ve interrogated every vegetarian and vegan that has crossed my path. My line of questioning has been consistent. Roughly as follows:
1. Why did you stop eating meat?
2. What good do you think it is doing?
3. Don’t you think you could do more good by eating meat exclusively from local, sustainable farms?
I am hereby acknowledging that this has been a simplistic and self-righteous act, and I am sorry to all of the veggievores I’ve misunderstood over the years. I still stand by the belief that it is a far far better thing to eat meat, if you choose to eat it at all, only from small and traceable producers. The animals on these farms are living a safer, happier, healthier and (often) longer life and if you are ever in doubt, you could make a daytrip and lay eyes on them yourself.
But, …well… they’re still being raised to die. And although I’m fairly certain the circumstances under which they face death are much less terrifying than their factory-farmed brethren, there is something terrible and universal about the ultimate reckoning. I am suddenly having some trouble making sense of “life as commodity” with my trusty “local = sustainable always” position.
Incidentally, we organized this event with the Jamaica Plain Forum to try to get a bunch of people in a room together to talk through some of these issues, with a couple of experts in the field guiding the discussion. This seems more useful than me watching and re-watching those chicken dinner videos with Jamie Oliver on YouTube (see above). Though they are quite instructive.
I have no plans to stop eating meat. If I were to object on ethical grounds, I think I’d have to throw out all animal products — and a world without cheese is not one I want to live in. It seems a bit defensive to say, but Darry and I have reduced the amount of meat we consume to a responsible once-a-week, mostly the remains of a large ground beef order we got from Stillman’s around Christmas (16 lbs or so). I know this is not practical for a lot of people, but I guess I think they should do it anyway.
Maybe I should have been interrogating local meat-lovers all this time. Because there seems to a sort of worship of obscure and decadent carnivorous fare that excuses one set of ethical problems (the value of life) as long as another (the value of local) is covered.
Tags: Rants
Funny, I was just walking through Codman Farm in Lincoln yesterday, appreciating how happy all the animals there seem, and thinking what a shame it would be if they weren’t being lovingly raised for us to subsequently eat.
A stimulating post. I think your first two questions must have gotten fascinating responses. And perhaps the third did, as well, but for different reasons, I suspect.
A couple of things jumped out at me.
We all die. So isn’t it more that farm animals are being raised to be killed? I know I’ve read sentiments like this before, but had never thought about how euphemistic it is. I think a movement to responsible carnivorism rests in part on eliminating euphemisms.
The other thing that jumped out is an old peeve of mine: “the value of life.” Almost invariably, this is used to mean “the value of animal life” or “the value of lives that are like my own.” Of *course* life has value (and is sacred, even); but we eat plant matter with few moral qualms. We even eat *still alive* plant matter on a regular basis. Just another place where euphemism, perhaps, obscures a more complicated picture where some life is okay to consume and other life is not. The question, as always, is where to draw the line.
I liked Barbara Kingsolver’s take on it. Something has to die for everything we eat - whether it be soil microbes or insects from pesticides, organic or otherwise, or small animals that are pushed out of their habitats for farming. My dad kills squirrels and woodchucks and raccoons that would otherwise completely obliterate his rural garden, which he uses to supply himself with food - is that unethical of him? What about the workers that are working day in and day out in pesticide laden fields? Unless you are 100% certain of the organic conditions your veggies and grains are grown in (and if you’re buying organic strawberries in February from Mexico, I don’t see how you could be), there certainly are lives being harmed or even lost even if they’re not the ones on your plate. It’s naive to think that eating meat is the only cause of harm of another creature in our tier of the food chain.
Also (sorry for the serial posting) I think the cost of real meat is a GOOD thing…I buy my beef by the half side at a criminally cheap price (from a farmer where I grew up in upstate NY), but having to plunk down $800 in one chunk for my meat makes me much more aware of rationing it to make it last. ONE cow is going to die this year to feed my entire house, which includes 4 adults and 2 kids. Just one humanely raised, happy, pastured cow, and that to me is one of the biggest benefits of buying beef the way we do.
Hey everyone. Thanks for commenting.
Yes — responsible carnivorism. Which, I think, necessarily should reject events with names like The Boston Lamb Takedown. (We got an email recently, asking us to promote this.)
@Emma: I hope you weren’t thinking *we’re* buying strawberries in February! And totally agreed that in industrial ag, the victims are just as often humans as they are animals.
Buying a whole cow makes sense to me. Eating a turkey just at Thanksgiving makes sense to me. The Boston Lamb Takedown totally grosses me out.
Oh no no, not at all!! Just a general “you”, more like the occasional vegetarian I get preaching at me for being environmentally irresponsible for eating meat while they munch proudly on their 3000 miles traveled produce. certainly not directed at anyone here
Off to look up the Boston Lamb Takedown…
Hadn’t heard about the “Lamb Takedown.” Looks like some trickle-down from the Food Network. I do note that the event is sponsored by the American Lamb Board, who have this to say on their web site:
“American Lambs are raised on natural grasses in lush pastures across the country and are free of artificial growth hormones. Most lamb produced east of the Mississippi River is not grain fed, because producers have access to high-quality natural resources. Some western American Lambs are big enough right off the range, but most lamb produced west of the Mississippi River is finished on a high quality diet of corn and alfalfa. The grain finishing creates a consistent and delicious flavor that American consumers prefer.”
…which leaves me with various contradictory pictures.
I like Joel Salatin’s lines about his pigs: “They have very very good lives and one very bad day.” When you consider the existence of most [h]umanimal
life on the planet, that’s a pretty good trade-off.
Looking forward to seeing Jamie Lionette at the Forum. Without him, I wouldn’t be eating my two pound of pork per month during the winter.
Just found your blog. Sounds like you would enjoy reading “The Vegetarian Myth.”
This is coming from a respectful always-vegetarian (and sometimes vegan).
I personally do not eat meat because of it involves *killing* sentient beings, often, if not always, through painful means. The important thing is not that “life is valuable,” but rather that causing pain and suffering to those beings that have interests and subjective experiences is wrong.
As for the argument (that I think “The Vegetarian Myth” is making) that eating vegetarian is bad when it involves unsustainable methods of procurement like shipping long distances–well, there are multiple concerns when choosing what to eat, and while sustainability is one of them, morals (at least to us vegetarians) is another.
@Emma, the important difference between causing pain and killing sentient animals (e.g., mammals) versus plants is that the animals can feel pain and do not want to die. That is, the animals have interests, and those interests are to *not die.* The same cannot be said about plants.
@Michael, regarding the quote: “They have very very good lives and one very bad day” — would you say that about a human experiencing something similar? Let’s say someone who dies because of a bomb dropped from an airplane; “Oh well, they had a wonderful life but just had one bad day!” I think not.