Yet another outbreak of Foot & Mouth disease and yet more scenes of burning animal funeral pyres fill our screens.
Over the last few years, the British meat industry has been rocked by BSE, Salmonella and regular outbreaks of Foot & Mouth disease which have all contributed to people coming over to my side of the meat eating fence. The nice side with celery and lots of carrots.
The Vegetarian Society estimates that the number of British vegetarians stands at around five million. However, the number of families turning to vegetarian meals has risen substantially.
The surge in popularity of vegetarian meals appears to be driven by people who want to cut down on meat consumption for a number of reasons.
Now i know vegetarians can be preachy and snobby about their cuisine choice, and god forbid anyone who mentions they fancy a burger in front of one but i have always taken the view that eating meat or not is a personal choice and apart from the animal who involuntarily provided your meal, it hurts nobody so i leave it up to the individual to decide.
That said, one statistic that always makes me almost drop my carrot stick in awe is provided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The worldwide number of animals killed for food annually is 45 billion. This includes 306 million cattle, buffalo, and calves, 1.2 billion pigs, 795 million sheep and goats, and 42.7 billion chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese.
If that doesn't make you think, maybe this research that concludes that vegetarians smell better will.
Cheeseburger and a can of deodorant anyone?
7 comments:
Vegetarians: The OTHER red meat.
I mostly eat chicken and fish, not red meat, though I feel vaguely guilty about it. I think there was a study that showed fish probably feel pain. I may give it all up one of these days. I've done it before, but made the mistake of eating nuts and seeds, which I've since learned I can't digest.
I don't eat meat but i couldn't be a vegan and give up dairy produce. I have read the argument that fish don't feel pain so it is ok to carry on fishing but i'm not convinced, they don't look that comfortable flipping around when they get dragged out of the water.
I guess I'm happy smelling like liquor and steak.
I must admit to feeling the odd pang of guilt when I see statistics like that - and about the truly despicable conditions that many farmed animals are kept in.
At the end of the day, however, I'm fairly Macchiavellian about this subject: I personally feel healthier when I'm eating meat. In particular, I swear that if I haven't eaten red meat for a few days, my body will tell me to. Preferably steak. I do feel more better afterwards and I'm certain this isn't just psycho-somatic.
Although who knows, maybe one day this will change for me... A friend of mine (who's 35 and used to eat meat 3x a day) has just become a veggie and is recommending it. And I've been cooking lots of veggie meals lately - they can be great.
As for the smell though, I always find that I'm slightly (erm) 'windier' when I'm eating lots of vegetables, so I'm not sure she'd support my conversion! :)
I've never seen a 'vegie' who looks healthy. Not one.
Every form of life eats some other form of life. That's the way it is.
Only humans could be silly enough to think they can or should change the rules of nature!
Cheers.
Umm, plants ARE a form of life.
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