Opting Out

A few weeks ago I posted about a show, Kill It Cook It Eat It, which created some much needed discussions in my house about the meat we eat and where it comes from.

I cringe when I think about how industrialized and factory-like the meat industry has become. Farm animals are slaughtered by the thousands in a single day to maximize profits. Animals in huge farms are raised too quickly using growth hormones. Chickens are bred to generate meaty breasts that cause them to fall over. These birds often never see the light of day, they can barely walk around with all that weight and even if they could move their legs under their weight there would be no where to go because of the shear number of other birds crammed in around them. Laying hens are not much better off and spend their entire lives in cages laying eyes and then dying.

In my mind this is deplorable and I will not be a part of it. We are simply opting out.

That is not to say we are vegetarians. We have no qualms about eating meat. However my husband and I have developed an interesting strategy that frees us from the cycle of the meat industry. We will only eat organic meat and free range eggs. That is for the time being while we have no farm of our own, we will purchase meat that is certified organic because this means the meat was raised slowly, without hormones or pesticides. The cost, although much more than supermarket meat, is better reflective of the actual price to keep and raise animals in way that values their lives. We will not consume meat at restaurants.

Because of this increased cost, and anticipated health benefits, we plan to only consume meat once or twice a week. This was easy enough done to our current recipes by making vegetarian chili, or not adding meat to our pasta. Many meals were already meat free so this has been an easy transition.

Eating less meat is a common suggestion for minimizing your eco-footprint. Acres upon acres of prime farmland are used to grow grains for animals which in turn feed us. If as a society we eat the grain instead of the animal there would be enough food for everyone.