Very recently, I've lodged myself into one of the lesser-known categories of people who eat certain stuff known as "semivegetarian." My girlfriend Lauryn is going vegan. Pretty weird for any of you who used to follow my barbecue blog. Neither of us have really been broadcasting it to the world (aside from me writing this post now), but we both do it for health reasons and ethical reasons.
Health reasons are obvious. In a society where an extraordinary variety of food is constantly abundant, humans don't really have the need to have a meat-based diet anymore as we probably did early in our evolution. In fact, most people long ago probably were only able to get meat a few times a year anyway, as it was either expensive or required skilled hunting. Doctors and nutritionists will even tell you that meat is actually digested VERY slowly in the human system, and that the protein from meat isn't even absorbed as well as plant protein sources.
With plant-based (or milk-based, if you're non-vegan like me) proteins being efficient and easy to get, the only drawback to a vegetarian or vegan diet is getting B-12 vitamins. However, modern technology makes it easy to find those in supplement form.
Getting protein, calcium (for vegans), iron, and B-vitamins is not that big of a deal as long as you do some minimal research before undertaking a vegetarian diet. People who jump into these kinds of things without knowing what they're doing are making a mistake. Additionally, people who think "I'll lose weight if I go vegetarian" and then end up eating processed frozen dinners, simple carbs, and lots of cheese and fat are not going to lose weight. There are overweight vegetarians out there.
My ethical dilemma with eating meat is the most basic of meat-related ethical dilemmas: I love animals. I mean, I really love animals a lot. I have always felt that I really bond well with animals, and I really respect them. Even when I was eating meat on a regular basis, I always had that conflicting nag in the back of my mind. As mentioned before, since humans don't truly have a dietary need to eat meat anymore, I began to wonder "why is my sense of taste outweighing my immense respect for animals?"
People are not going to give up meat - at least not anytime in the next hundred years. What needs to be changed is the meat industry, people's views, and the respect for animals that has been abandoned. My uncle has been hunting deer all his life, and no one I've ever met has the kind of respect for nature he has. It's almost Native American of him.
We respect our dogs and our cats, who are mammals just like pigs and cows. Some cultures don't have that same respect for dogs and cats, which enrages and disgusts us as Westerners. That's probably how people in India, where cows are considered sacred, feel about our beef consumption. I offer no clear answer about who is right and who is wrong - I simply am giving the reader something to ponder, in case they've never pondered it before.
No matter who you are or what you believe, one thing that I will not be compromising about is that the quantity of meat consumed in Western society is unnecessary and outrageous. There is no reason to slaughter thousands of animals PER DAY just to make Slim Jims and Pupperoni Sticks.
If people will continue purchasing meat, which they will, it needs to be from sources other than Purdue and Smithfield. Quite frankly, there's no reason for the flesh of an animal to cost $1.50 per pound unless there's something horribly wrong with it, in which case it should not be consumed.
It's not only the United States either - many South American cultures produce and consume ridiculous quantities of beef. Of course, I am not quite sure about the state of the meat industries down there, but I can't imagine they're much better than here. If cattle-raisers, slaughter houses, butchers, and grocery stores are to keep up with consumer demand, there's no way in hell they can possibly get access to the amount of land and resources needed to raise cattle in an ethical way. People's views need to change in order for demand to change.
Most vegetarians and vegans will tell you about books they've read and videos they've seen where live cows are shoved by bulldozers and chickens are force-fed until they can no longer stand on their own weight. Those aren't untrue stories. Those things happen. There are readily available video clips of such things - I've seen them, and anyone who searches for them can see them. Often, people who hear these stories from vegetarian friends just react with a sort of defense mechanism - either using the old "yeah, but it sure is delicious!" avoidance humor, or the "come on, I don't want to hear about that!" denial routine.
Regardless of whether or not you would ever consider becoming vegetarian, I ask that you just don't trivialize it. It's not really a joke. Being vegetarian literally hurts no one - granted, there may be a few militant vegan weirdos out there, but there are militant weirdos in every group of people. Just respect people, that's all.
And yes, vegetarians and vegans - you also need to respect everyone else if you have any interest in winning them over or at least keeping their respect.
All of this being said, I mentioned at the beginning of my post that I am "semivegetarian." This means I might eat meat once in a while ("after everything you just wrote???!!!"). Even my recently-vegan girlfriend has mentioned that she might do so on very rare occasions.
For one thing, I am starting a job as a restaurant server in Sandy Hook, CT. My job will include trying to convince people to buy expensive, dry-aged steaks. Full of iron and irony. This is one of the reasons that, outside of this blog post, I am not broadcasting my vegetarianism heavily. I know that I belong in the restaurant industry, so hypocrisy is a given for me.
If I am a guest at someone's house, I will eat what they serve me; it's rude not to. I have a couple weddings to go to before this year is over, and I'm not gonna turn down meat dishes that are offered to me only to have them get thrown in the trash.
If there is meat in my freezer that has been purchased before I recently changed my dietary lifestyle, I will prepare and eat it; to me, the most unethical thing a person can do is throw out meat. An animal did die for that (and at least then my passion for barbecue can fade gradually instead of coming to a screeching halt).
And additionally, if every once in a while I am able to purchase meat from an actual organic farm, I just might. Like I said, my biggest problem is with the mistreatment of animals in the meat 'industry' - not with small farm owners who sell a bit of meat here and there.
I'm not going to post an adorable picture of happy piglets playing with puppy dogs in a pathetic attempt to be manipulative, just as I don't want people calling me an obnoxious hippie or something (I am very not-hippie). I just wish to explain my rationale and be taken seriously.
Image taken from http://www.koobros.org/malaysia/the-servant-vegetarian-restaurant-kuching.htm
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