I just finished reading a book called "Skinny Bitch", and while it was intense, vulgar and disturbing it was also incredibly informative and straightforward. To put it lightly, it rocked my world. So much so, that I am seriously considering giving up store bought meat for the rest of my life. I really enjoy and appreciate the taste of meat. I have been eating it my entire life and have never really given much thought to where it came from or how to was processed. A couple of years ago I started buying free range chicken eggs after Nathaniel told me about the time he did some temp work for a chicken factory. Now that I am aware of the horrific, inhumane, torture that animals endure so that we can buy their flesh it at an affordable price,I am disgusted and hell bent on changing my ways. I think that the majority of people would become vegetarians if they knew what took place in most slaughterhouses.
I always had an idea about how cows, chickens and pigs met their demise, but I never knew exactly. Now that I KNOW my conscious will no longer allow me to buy supermarket meat again. I can't even begin to describe what happens in your typical large scale operation. I actually felt like throwing up after reading an explicit chapter on slaughterhouse practices. While I don't think that becoming vegetarian is the answer to my dilemma I do plan on changing my ways. My plan is to eat only animals that either my husband has hunted or from small companies that specialize in free range, ethical meat production. There is one such company down the road from us and I have heard nothing but excellent reviews about them. Last year we got 1/4 of a organic free range cow from them. Apparently (this may sound a little odd) but they play classical music to keep the animals calm, prevent animals from witnessing the death of other animals and only process a few animals a day.
When people hear that my husband hunts they think of "oh how awful" and "how can you kill such lovely creatures" but I can assure you, that the animals that fall to his bow or gun have lived good, healthy lives and die swiftly. The same cannot be said for the majority of animals who end up in tidy little packages in the store. You might feel good about the meat that no longer resembles an animal - all traces of fur, blood and feathers removed, but I can assure you that animal was miserable, lived in its filth, could hardly move for most of its life and died horribly. Are you still hungry? I hope not. I know I am ranting but I can't help it. Not everyone can hunt for their meat, that is not practical or sustainable in our modern day society, but we as a society can demand changes and force companies to change their ways.
Perhaps one day I will become a vegetarian, but for the time being I will be vigilant about where and how I purchase my meat and try and educate others so that they do the same. I hope this resonated with you in some way.
3 comments:
Wow Jocelyn! THanks for sharing. When I read the first line of your post in Google Reader I was thinking "that doesn't sound like her!" but I see now why you were so intrigued by the book. I recently made some big cuts to my own diet (no gluten, dairy or soy and a few other things) and for the most part I always buy free range meats or, even better, from a local meat shop. However for convenience sake I still do sometimes buy from the stores... not anymore! Its true how easy it can be to turn a blind eye but I don't want to live a passive life and support those kind of companies. I'll be sure to better organize my shopping so I can ALWAYS buy safe meats!
We are so lucky to have a small (growing) meat company who set up a shop in our town a number of years ago. They grow and process their own meat, all of it is steroid and hormone free etc. I love shopping with them because they are such great, friendly people and because I am so comfortable knowing that the meat we are eating is safe and was raised locally. They even make their own lunch meat which has less preservatives and garbage in it, and it's lower in fat than grocery store deli meat. Also, we buy our chickens from local Hutterites (I'm not sure how they raise their animals, but I could ask my dad) and they are the best roasting chickens around!
I agree that most of us are so, SO far removed from where our meat comes from, or what it looked like before we handled it in a neat, styrofoam tray. It's good to be more in tune with where it comes from and how it gets to us!
wow. i do agree with you too joc about the inhuman treatment of these animals. i want to research where i can get meat that is from an animal that has a good life and has nothing added to it. i want safe and happy meat. thanks for your post.
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