Meat is Murder

#2 Meat is Murder

Morrissey is a famous vegan. As a big fan of his,
I've still found some of his rants quite amusing. Until now.

A circle time discussion of class pets was meant as a light-hearted way of getting to know the kids better. We had several dogs, cats and rabbits. We had a hamster and some budgies and a number of goldfish. And Chloe had a pig.

"A pig? That's a bit different. Where does it live?"

"In the garden," she replied.

"Why do you have a pig, when everyone else has dogs and cats?"

"So we can eat it," she replied as if this was a stupid question.

The class looked horrified. I looked horrified. In my shock, I moved swiftly on to teaching subordinate clauses, trying desperately to get the image out of my head of Chloe with a bolt-gun to the head of an unsuspecting Percy Pig.

My own attitude to eating meat is anything goes, as long as I don't see it alive beforehand. My visit to Korea, for example, still haunts me. At a fish market, my friend chose a fish for our tea. It was swimming in a tank with others. The fish seller, grabbed it from the tank, killed it with a fatal blow and then sliced it before our eyes. There was no need to cook it...it was still warm. Then there was the time I went sea fishing off Bridlington. I caught about a dozen mackerel. Back home, they remained in the freezer for months. I couldn't bring myself to eat something that had been happily going about it's life in the North Sea before I put an abrupt end to it.

What a waste.

Recently, I've read a book that has changed my attitude. 'Eating Animals' by Jonathan Safran Foer opened my eyes to the appalling conditions that animals on factory farms contend with. It gave evidence on the pain and stress they endure, which were beyond what even a depraved imagination could comprehend. It also gave some alarming statistics about the dangers posed by contaminated meat entering the human food chain, something which occurs every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

"We know, at least, that this decision will help prevent deforestation, curb global warming, reduce pollution, save oil reserves, lessen the burden on rural America, decrease human rights abuses, improve public health, and help eliminate the most systemic animal abuse in world history."

Mostly, this book made me ask questions. Can I justify eating a creature whose only purpose in a painful and inhumane existence was to feed me for just one meal? 

Whilst it wouldn't turn me to vegetarianism, this book has made me question where my meat is coming from. I want to know that my meat has enjoyed life before its slaughter. I want to know that it was slaughtered as humanely as is possible. I want to know exactly what vitamins and nutrients it was fed in its diet.

There will be a price to pay. Organic meat is more expensive (and let's face it, there has to be a reason why meat is cheap compared to in the past), but perhaps we eat too much meat anyway?

So this book has changed the way I think. It's the reason why I regret not doing anything with the mackerel I caught. It's the reason why I will happily eat the carcass of lamb that a nearby farmer gave to us recently. Finally, it has made me see that Chloe was right after all.