I remember reading in the early 80's a book by Frances Moore Lappe "Diet for a small planet". Two things have stuck in my mind for over twenty years since reading it.
1. The mother cow bellows like mad when her calf is taken away from her.
2. If we all stopped eating meat, there would be more than enough grain in the world to feed all of the worlds population.
Both of those things were enough for me to try three times to become and stick with vegetarianism. The first two times I fell off the wagon after a few years. This time, I have managed to stick with it.
I know that there are very good reasons why some people justify their meat consumption. Primarily they just like it, bacon was always the thin end of the wedge for me ;)
I just googled Frances Moore Lappe and came across her website and an offshoot Eat Grub. On it's homepage, Eat Grub says the following;
1. grub is healthy, local, sustainable food for all
2. grub is food that supports community, justice, and sustainability
3. grub should be universal
Those three points sum it all up for me about why I am a Vegetarian. I won't try to convert anyone here or bog you down in statistics. I just wanted to 'think out loud'. More later.
5 comments:
Gawdddddd, quick pricking my conscience will you LOL!! I know..... make that KNOW we should be going vegetarian, but somehow we just keep going, I do admit, I crave meat and the rest of the household would think they were dying without some too.
We have got better, reducing it to 3 times a week instead of 7, there is still work to be done on that one, even if we are buying loally produced paddock fed....I know, I know....no excuse, but I would be lying if I said we would do it ffor now at least.
I don't eat meat and havn't for 24 years. I was on holiday once, we were located near a farm. A cow had her calf taken from her. She billowed for nearly three days, it haunted me then and does now.
So without saying I guess you know how I would answer that question!
I eat meat, but we're cutting back. Have just read 'Living The Good Life' by Linda Cockburn, and was absolutely shocked by the amount of water needed to produce beef. Astounding.
Oh I wish i could become vegetarian! I've tried and failed sooooo many times :( I just can't seem to sustain it. BUT I have reduced my intake quite a lot, and only buy free range chicken. It's a start I guess-but I know I need to do better.
That cow story ^^ makes me want to cry..
You are so right - we should probably be largely vegetarian (with a small smount of meat to get our B12, etc).
One approach is to declare one day of the week vego, eg, "meatless Monday". That alone, will reduce meat eating by about 14%, which is a good start.
The only problem in my house is: how do I disguise vego food as meat? The carnivores I live with are generally "not happy" without their meat! I will have to get my thinking cap on.
Thanks for the challenge . . xx
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