I once tried to convince a vegetarian friend that it was ok to eat fish because “Fish don’t count.” Apparently that’s Pescetarianism or ‘being a cat’ as I like to call it.
In a Pescetarian diet you eat mostly fruit and vegetables, and no meat, only fish. You can continue to eat all kinds of grains, beans, nuts, and what have you, and also choose whether or not to eat animal products such as eggs and milk according to your preference.
Pescetarianism sounded like such an incredibly healthy diet and the ideal diet for someone to switch to who’d long been thinking about going vegetarian but couldn’t stand the thought of giving up their beloved sashimi. So I went Pescetarian for several years which proved to be a great success.
When left to my own devices I’m almost exclusively Pescetarian and I still consider it to be an ideal diet. Or at least it would be were it not for overfishing and mercury poisoning. We really screwed the pooch on that one.
These days I eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, tons of fish, and no meat. Only duck. And the occasional dead cow. Or, indeed, any other farmyard animal.
Maybe it’s old age creeping in but when I look at the world these days my heart grows weary at the thought of all the dead things that we keep stuffing into our mouths. Except for fish —of course—fish don’t count.
I’ve even caught myself asking, “How many animals were killed so that I could eat this?” of everything that I eat. Even, for example, with a sausage roll. It cut down on my sausage roll consumption to say the least.
It’s not that I’m moralistic about it — I just don’t think people should eat what they’re unwilling to kill for themselves. I’d happily gut a fish and cut off its head. Or stick a hook through its mouth. And have done many times. A cow, sheep, or pig — not so much.
People should at the very least go to a slaughterhouse once to watch it being done. See how the other half lives — then doesn’t. I was alarmed to discover that some kids have grown up unaware that meat is actually dead animals. They just didn’t make the connection.
Schools should arrange tours of abattoirs. Instead of going to a farm to feed the animals, lets watch them being slaughtered so that they can be packaged up and fed to us. So that you make the connection between the living thing in the field and the hunk of meat on your plate. Not for ethics, just for perspective. Not for the sake of the animals but for the sake of ourselves.
It would certainly give us a clearer view of the world. We’re all cattle being stuffed through the system for the benefit of meaningless mouths. Food for thought if nothing else.
Um, this may be long:
For the most part, I agree. My kids know about the food process. They understand the whole food chain. We still eat meat, but we also support organizations committed to pushing for more humane treatment of animals, and we try to buy from local small farms when we can.
Why not go meat-free? Because it's bigger than just me and mine. And like most things, the consumer, er, consumption is the least of the issues here.
There are places where cattle is the only sustainable source of protein due to environment, but they tend to take care of their animals better than more industrialized countries.
Why don't we? Because capitalism. Especially here in the US. Big beef and dairy are some of the biggest propagandists I know. (Did they have a 'Got Milk?' campaign in the UK?) And since we notoriously do the 'bigger is 'Merican' bs, the demand for beef, pork and chicken is HUGE.
AND since these markets are monopolized by 4 major companies, including one in Brazil (hence the deforestation of the Amazon rainforests, if I'm correct), these products are not only pushed harder, they are so mechanized to the point where they can afford to sell cheaper than the ethical farms. Which in turn means more sales, which drives up demand, which... well, cyclic issues cycle.
Especially in this economy, where penny pinching is ridiculously necessary right now due to orange reasons ("I said, we're gonna try to get groceries down. Right? An old fashioned term but a beautiful term. Eggs."). But I digress.
Too much, let me sum up: If we want to do a better job at the quality of life of the animals we eat, it has to be more than decreased consumption by household. That changes nothing unless we do it nationwide or globally, and that's just not going to happen. Instead, change is more effective when we: 1) support local farms where we can see the conditions of the farms and the slaughterhouses (I like the European word for it better, but I can't spell abattoirs. That looks wrong), and 2) work to break up the monopolies to help those smaller farms be sustainable.
Oh, and living wages, better economy, governments that actually care about people...
I know, I know, I dream big, not realistically.
Anyway, thank you for coming to my TedTalk.
Interesting read (AuDHD rabbit hole):
How Four Big Companies Control US Beef Industries:
https://www.reuters.com/business/how-four-big-companies-control-us-beef-industry-2021-06-17/
US Dairy Crisis:
https://nffc.net/what-we-do/dairy-crisis/