To Be a Vegeterian
I wish I had the will power to be a vegeterian. I wish I could be enthusiastic about meat alternatives. I just finished reading a book called Chew On This and I am just horrified. It's not just the fast food industry, but rather what the industry has done to modern culture. The creation of the McWorld - the identical communities, stores, clothes, food, etc. from place to place has done us all in.
I am getting ready to eat lunch and I cannot figure out the least offensive thing to eat. Does a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sound cruel and unusual? I don't know the treatment of workers in peanut butter factories or jelly plants or what the conditions are in the bread factory. Suffice to say, the ingredients probably didn't suffer in the same way that the pig in last night's pork roast did. And now I feel bad about that too.
If I don't want to go vegan - what can I do? Is shopping organic or kosher different than traditional? Do the animals have nicer lives before they are slaughtered? Does someone kill them kindly?
Whole Foods recently announced that they were removing lobsters from their stores around the country. It was too depressing for customers to see them in the tanks in such substandard conditions. Ironically, no one worries about the stuff over in the meat case that has already been separated and packaged. If we don't have to look at it, we don't have to think about it. Out of site, out of mind.
Last week I learned a very easy, quick and healthy meal. Salmon, seasoned and broiled for 15 minutes, couscous cooked on the stovetop for about five minutes and string beans microwave steamed in the bag. Delicious. But, no one talked about the poor salmon. Did he know his fate when he woke up that morning? Jesus served fish in the Bible - does that make it appropriate? In many countries, different animals are worshipped and protected. In modern societies, it seems to be more of a free for all.
I aspire to have the will power to eat better. I desire to learn ways to provide healthy sustenance to my family that doesn't hurt anyone - human workers or animals. I just don't know where to go next.
I am getting ready to eat lunch and I cannot figure out the least offensive thing to eat. Does a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sound cruel and unusual? I don't know the treatment of workers in peanut butter factories or jelly plants or what the conditions are in the bread factory. Suffice to say, the ingredients probably didn't suffer in the same way that the pig in last night's pork roast did. And now I feel bad about that too.
If I don't want to go vegan - what can I do? Is shopping organic or kosher different than traditional? Do the animals have nicer lives before they are slaughtered? Does someone kill them kindly?
Whole Foods recently announced that they were removing lobsters from their stores around the country. It was too depressing for customers to see them in the tanks in such substandard conditions. Ironically, no one worries about the stuff over in the meat case that has already been separated and packaged. If we don't have to look at it, we don't have to think about it. Out of site, out of mind.
Last week I learned a very easy, quick and healthy meal. Salmon, seasoned and broiled for 15 minutes, couscous cooked on the stovetop for about five minutes and string beans microwave steamed in the bag. Delicious. But, no one talked about the poor salmon. Did he know his fate when he woke up that morning? Jesus served fish in the Bible - does that make it appropriate? In many countries, different animals are worshipped and protected. In modern societies, it seems to be more of a free for all.
I aspire to have the will power to eat better. I desire to learn ways to provide healthy sustenance to my family that doesn't hurt anyone - human workers or animals. I just don't know where to go next.
posted by tqote at 12:08 PM
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