There are a lot of reasons why I became a vegetarian (mostly) last year. I don't view my lifestyle as "better" or "higher" than those of you who do eat meat. After all, what kind of true vegetarian am I anyway if I still eat eggs regularly (as well as cheese and dairy products)? Here are the main reasons for my food choices:
I view the treatment of chickens, pigs, cows, and other factory-farmed animals as morally reprehensible, cruel, and disgusting. I am not a person who believes "no living things should be killed" in order for us to eat. In fact, I understand that death needs to occur for life to happen. The big fish eat the little fish, the soil around us becomes rich with nutrients from dead animals. I am not so disillusioned as to think that every human being must live a life wherein they don't directly cause the death of any animals.
The thing is, I can't look at a perfect, juicy, delicious, healthy chicken breast without picturing in my head that broiler hen who spent the few short months of her life pumped full of hormones so as to grow faster while sitting in a pile of chicken poop and urine. That hen lives in a cage where she can barely move. Her skin is covered in burns from the ammonia in her coup.
I can't eat a lovely pork chop without picturing the gestation crates where sows can't even move, or the lagoons of pig waste that seep into the ground and even get sprayed into the air sometimes.
I don't eat steak for two reasons: I don't like the taste of it (and never have), and for the treatment of cows (most specifically veal cows) on factory farms.
It probably seems hypocritical of me to admit I eat dairy products (that come from dairy farms where cows are pumped full of hormones to produce their milk and then stuck in cages...you get the picture). I can tell you that I try as often as I can to eat cage-free eggs, and that California passed a proposition last year that gives farm-raised animals the ability to turn around, stand up, and spread their wings/legs. This is a small step in the right direction, but it's not nearly enough for me. I simply do not like to eat highly-processed soy products (unless it's simply soybean curd or whole soybeans), and eating dairy is what helps satisfy me at a lot of meals. I am inconsistent, I know.
A lot of people have asked me why I don't eat fish. And I do--from time to time I eat shellfish (maybe 2 or 3 times a year) and I've been known to accept a tuna sandwich when there's nothing else available. But for the most part, we all know pretty well that the oceans are being over-fished and our waste is replacing the fish we catch.
One of my favorite things in the whole world to eat is wild Pacific salmon. It is so delicious, so rich, and I look forward to salmon season every year. I was really able to appreciate it for the first time when I started working at McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant in 2006. And the thing about this fish that I love is that it is regulated by the US government. During seasons when there aren't enough salmon, no one can fish them. I grew up watching the salmon swim up the "fish ladders" on the Sacramento river and going to the hatcheries. But I'm getting off topic here.
I try to focus on eating things that are as sustainable and cruelty-free as much as possible. I'm not a "hippy" as my husband likes to tease me, nor am I a vegan who believes nothing should EVER die. But I do feel a huge burden on my heart that we need to take care of our planet to the best of our ability; and not to take advantage of creatures that we eat by torturing them every minute of their short lives.
This is not a very well-written post, I know. I don't have a clear structure to my thoughts and I could have backed up my research a little bit better for you. There is some very basic information in the links I have splattered throughout the post and you can look at it or not--it doesn't matter to me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that my choices in food are mostly based upon a desire to refrain from causing torture to the animals we do eat, and to remember that they are a valuable part of the planet. There is something to be said for raising our meat in a way that they don't experience torture and stress every moment of their waking lives. We have been given this earth as a gift, and it's wrong to think that we can simply trash it and use and abuse the creatures that share it with us just because we can.
Yes, if we overhauled factory farms all over our country we might have to pay more for our food. Yes, we might need to pass on the chilean sea bass (that is STILL served at many high-end restaurants!) and other endangered fish populations. We might need to check the labels and do more reasearch, and go to our local Farmer's Market more often.
I also wanted to note that I am very close to deciding to add poultry (maybe a lean chicken breast or turkey cutlets) into my diet at least once a month. I recently have been listening to a podcast posted by an old dormmate and high school friend from the Philippines. I believe that she works on a sustainable farm and has her own cooking blog.
The podcast is a discussion about a book called The Vegetarian Myth which talks about the reasons vegetarianism (more specifically veganism) is unhealthy and will not "save the world," per se. I have yet to read the book and have not yet finished listening to the interview with the author, but so far it has been very interesting and I am eager to listen to more and read the book. Hopefully there isn't a long wait for it at the library!
I just want to end by saying that my reasons for being vegetarian (mostly) are not "trendy" or necessarily health-related (meat eaters can be very healthy). It's mostly my concern that I don't have a lot of ways to physically DO something to help our planet stay lovely and beautiful and one of those ways is in the choices I make about food. Because the person next to me will ask "why are you a vegetarian?" and I will kindly explain to them my reasons. This just helps a few more people each week understand the impact that our factory farms and fishing habits have on the earth.
I welcome ANY and ALL input and look forward to more cooking adventures with my new blog!
-Erin
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when i became a vegetarian, my mom used to ask me if i was a "strict" vegetarian or a fun one :). she found this very clever, but seriously, it's nice to be a fun one, even though i guess by your standards i might be strict, or at least stricter than you are. i've even been vegan, and i would be vegan now if i could recapture my old self-discipline (btw, i disagree with your definition of vegans as those "who believe nothing should EVER die"...fruitarian may be the word you're looking for). but i consider myself a fun vegetarian because i don't judge people for being otherwise, because i'm open to the possibility that i could be wrong about some things (but even in those grey zones, i prefer to err on the side of compassion than run the risk of erring on the side of cruelty), and because i never ram anything down the throat of anyone who has different habits or convictions than i have. but most of all, i'm a fun vegetarian because i have fun Being a vegetarian! my decision has engulfed me in a cornucopia of new, inventive, and delicious foods. it's also lent my life new clarity as i begin to align myself in ways that are more consistent with my intuitive convictions (it always feels good to escape cognitive dissonance). it's improved my health. it's introduced me to some fantastic people. in sum, it's helped me feel better in just about every aspect of life.
ReplyDeletea small note of caution: know that for every vegetarian myth, there's a china study...and then some. (i haven't read either one but the back-and-forth is endless. my best and most trustworthy recourse is to default to the evidence gleaned from my own experience: i have felt better, been sick less often, and watched all my measurable health metrics improve since changing my diet from omnivorous to herbivorous.)
in the end, why am i veg? it's almost all one man's fault, and he wrote a pamphlet that sums up the primary reasons up better than i ever could: http://www.hsus.org/religion/resources/compassionate_eating_as_care_.html
here's the thesis: "The moment of epiphany for me came as an awakening to the intimate but too often unacknowledged connections between the act of eating and just about everything else I claim to value as a person of faith. What I realized is that the links between what we choose to eat as individuals and the flourishing or languishing of God's creation as a whole are much more direct than we often believe. For though our daily food choices may at first appear far removed from the most pressing problems of our age, a closer look reveals that they have disturbing consequences not just for billions of animals, but for the food, commerce, and education systems of developing countries, the dignity of those employed in industrial farms and slaughterhouses, the integrity of our rural communities, the health of an increasingly obese and diseased human population, the accessibility of the health care systems that treat these ills, the sustainability of the earth's natural resources, and even the hastening of global climate change. The way we eat, it turns out, has profound implications for the whole of the created order."