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I was perusing the NY Times the other day and came across this gem:
Calling All Carnivores
Tell Us Why It’s Ethical to Eat Meat: A Contest
The article mentions that the dialogue on food, especially healthy, ethical eating, is controlled by vegetarians or those who largely abstain from meat (Jonathan Safran Foer, Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, etc.). Meat eaters, it seems, have “surprisingly little to say” in this important discourse. So, the NYT is opening up the floor for omnivores to discuss the ethical reasons TO eat meat. I remember the alma matter for all of our bloggers, Geneseo, had a debate by professors in the philosophy department on this very topic when we were in school (yay Geneseo).
The NYT contest ends April 8, but I think we can have our own mini-discussion right here. I love a lively debate, so meat eaters, let’s hear why it is ethically sound to eat animal protein. Go!
This is truly a question for the Western diet. To answer it, I will start by saying that I DO have a choice as to what I eat. There are many people in the world who have much less to say in the matter. I imagine their response to be much different than mine, or even to be confused about the question.
To me, the question is why it is ethical TO eat meat (why is it not unethical to eat meat) is unfair. My decision to eat meat is not rooted in ethics. Nutrition is the bottom line. Sure, we can survive on vegetarian/vegan diets as many people do, but I don’t believe it to be optimal. Good meat (grass-fed beef, organic chicken, wild salmon/tuna…) provides a quality protein source unmatched by any other food (soy and nut proteins are not effective alternatives). Vegetarians/vegans are also much more likely to be iron deficient (although I agree you can get enough iron with the right choices of veggies) and are almost certainly B12 deficient without supplementation (which I don’t believe is necessary to a good omnivore).
Some species evolved to eat meat, others did not. We did. I gave Morley a piece of kale the other day. Why did he spit that out and proceed to swallow the pieces of grilled lamb I gave him hardly remembering to chew? There is something that is hardwired in him to prefer meat (although there are many veggies he likes). I can’t say I blame him. The ethical question here is should I be held to a different standard than other omnivores? I’m not saying that there is no ethical dilemma in putting meat on our dinner tables. Before modern meat production this would not have been a likely debate to have. I don’t have to go into detail on how factory farming is ethically questionable, a major contributor to environmental issues and produces a less nutritionally dense product (many of the same arguments apply for modern agriculture). Jacquie and I are lucky enough to be able to buy a good deal of meat from small local farms (which we visit) and I hope to make these meat products a mainstay in our diets. The best we can do is to make informed choices. Know where ALL of your food comes from and what it “cost” to produce it. I look forward to reading the winning essays in the NYT.
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