I just finished watching this video, which was in a weekly veg newsletter I receive. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, nothing I haven’t read about from many sources, but I’m still sitting here crying. The baby cows being taken from their mothers and facts about how (and how many) baby chicks are killed always hits a nerve.
If you consume animal products, please watch the video. This stuff is true. I watched all 12 minutes to make sure it wasn’t some sort of over the top animal rights crap.
The vast majority of all animals used for meat and dairy production spend their lives in awful conditions. It’s almost guaranteed any animal product you buy at a big box supermarket or eat at a chain restaurant is produced by one of the few large corporations controlling these industries who exist to make money and don’t give a shit about animal welfare or your health.
I’m not against eating meat. But if you choose to include it in your diet, and are not willing to say what you see in that video is ok with you, please do some research on how to get humanely raised animal products in your area.
Once again: http://www.meatvideo.com
I would like to know how people feel about this. Do you think it’s a lie? Do you just not care? Do you feel bad for a few minutes and go back to eating your factory farmed food because it’s what you’ve been used to your whole life? The last one was a yes for me for a long time, but at some point I couldn’t do it anymore.
K
I’m a dedicated carnivore, but after seeing the movie Earthlings, I’m holding out for meat that is raised kindly and killed mercifully. I’m still eating grocery store eggs (the layers’ lives are appalling) but only until I can get moved and raise chickens of my own.
Hi Naomi – thanks for the comment. I’m really surprised there aren’t more opinions about this, or maybe people just aren’t willing to share?
You can post anonymously, people, if you aren’t the confrontational type!
hi k,
this was extremely difficult for me to get through and i had to
look away lots of times. i have tried in the past to stick to a vegetarian diet but kept slipping into my old habits. my husband
is strictly a meat and potatoes person and it is hard to stay vegetarian while cooking for him. but after watching this video i am going to try even harder to not eat meat. i am not yet ready to go totally vegan. thanks for sharing this video and all your neat recipes with us.
hi meg – I know a lot of people are in the same situation, it’s so much harder when you have a significant other who’s not on board.
it definitely created tension between me & my husband because of course I wanted to share things I learned, but people rarely react well to hearing negative things about what they’re eating.
all I can say is take it slow, try new veg recipes that aren’t too strange… if the food tastes good people will warm up to the idea eventually, even if they never become strict vegetarians – my husband still isn’t, but likes a lot of the veg stuff I make!
I think that a lot of people don’t want to know. I don’t eat animal products because I can’t bear to be the cause of suffering for an animal. It baffles me that people can do it. But the key is denial. It is not hard to convince yourself that the animals that produce your products are eating grass in a pasture and that slaughter is minimally intrusive. I didn’t even realize until recently what happens to male chicks and that cows need to be pregnant to produce milk. I just thought that cows make milk. Period.
The most important thing is that people at least know what goes into producing their food so that they can make a choice as to whether they want make choices that are consistent with ideals.
The thing I have noticed though is that people do not want to consider anything that is in conflict with the images that they entertain in order to maintain denial. In my experience, suggestions that people look beyond the labels (free range, organic) to determine what is actually happening with food animals, I have been met with pretty intense anger. People are protecting their psyche. Don’t know how to deal with it.
If you can’t bring yourself to stop eating animal products or can’t for health reasons (I’m really prone to iron and B12 anemia and my dr said I really shouldn’t go veg), you can always choose to deal with farmers who produce a limited amount of meat. Beef, chicken, pig and dairy farmers are an important part of rural economies. My parents buy their beef and chicken from a friend of theirs. The chickens are free-range and the farmer only raises about 6 cows for slaughter each year. Yes, animals still die, but it’s a much less invasive type of farming and allows a family to continue living on the farm. You can usually find egg producers who do it the old way too. Although, the eggs may come with extra mud and feathers! If you do it this way, you get to know the farmer one-on-one which is a great way to feed your family! I’m not vegetarian myself, but I take the Mark Bittman approach and try to have as little meat as possible.
It took me a while to take the time to watch the video. A comment Wells made at the furniture store last weekend inspired me to take a look. My 2 year old walked over an animal skin rug, pointed down and said, “Caffrey’s rug.” Caffrey was our 11 year old boxer who passed away last May. Hmmmm. He doesn’t yet distinguish between our beloved family member and the animal used to produce this item. Do I want to be the one to explain that one.
I eat animal products, but continue to be disturbed by these facts. I enjoy buying local products from producers I have met and trust in terms of their commitment to respect for living things. A few years ago I decided that I wouldn’t eat an animal again until I could look it in the eye and participate in it’s slaughter. I started talking to friends who lived on farms and could help, “get me in,” and was dissuaded. Wonder why? The times I have no second thought about the animal products I consume are the times that I disassociate what I’m eating from living things. Information like this video helps to bring it home once again. More vegetarian/vegan recipes…good for all of us.
I care. Even my dog is happy and healthy on a vegan diet.
For us it was the movie “Meat the Truth”. Once I saw that I was done with all animal products. I want a healthy environment for my family.
Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that killing anything especially for our consumption, is ever “humane”. Given that fact, if you are eating animals purchased from a family farm that you’ve toured and have seen for yourself that the animals are raised and housed is the only assurance that the animals are well cared for.
I have a friend who raises Angus beef cattle here on the Northern CA coast. She can no longer legally hire the local arbator to come to her ranch and slaughter their cattle. With new restrictions in place they are limited to slaughtering for ‘family use only’ on site. They must now have their cattle transported to a slaughterhouse 40 minutes away. I realize that 40 minutes is fairly close but it’s a terrifying and uncomfortable experience for these animals that were raised in peace and tranquility. The slaughterhouse is a noisy, abusive, terrifying, mechanical environment where the smell of death and the bellows of fear abound not to mention the often times filthy conditions.
If you eat animals you contribute to their suffering, period. Personally I can’t feel good about any amount of suffering to feed me. I’ve been living vegan for six years. I’m 56 years young and see most people my age suffering from various ailments that distilled down, are food borne illnesses. Bottom line is that most people are willing to suffer and even die before they’ll give up the food and drink that’s killing them. It’s a choice and we can no longer act as if we’re confused, there’s just too much solid information that points to healthier living without consuming animals. And don’t even start me on the subject of what raising animals does to our environment . . . I live surrounded by dairy farms and know first hand the harm their practices create for the Earth.
Thank you for your wonderful recipes Kelly. I love watching Jane grow . . .