Monday, February 15, 2010

vegetarian

I've never preached about vegetarianism to meat-eaters, and I won't preach today.

But, quite frankly, with all we know (well, all that we have ACCESS to learn), I can't understand how people eat meat. I just can't wrap my head around it. Do you understand what you're eating? I don't think you do.

Whether meat-eater or vegetarian or pescetarian or lacto-vegetarian or ovo-vegetarian or lacto-ovo-vegetarian or don't have the slightest clue about our food and where it comes from or have interest in learning about it all, I recommend the following:

30 Days: Season 3, Episode 3 - "Animal Rights" Click the link to watch for free on hulu.com. For the record, as much as I support their cause, I think some of the people in this episode are crazy.

Food Inc. Found on instant play on Netflix. You can get a free 2-week trial and cancel it before they charge you.

EDIT: Also, the book Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Karen commented this post with this recommendation, and I totally forgot to have added it in the first place. This is the book that made me go vegetarian cold-turkey (HA. Turkey. Vegetarian) over 3 years ago. Good book.

The episode of 30 Days is hard to watch. To be honest, I wasn't able to finish it. I warn you now because it would be unfair of me to recommend it without proper warning. Side note: I highly recommend all the episodes of 30 Days. It teaches you so much and it's really entertaining.

Food Inc. is also difficult, but it has significantly less images of animal brutality and butchering. Unfortunately, there is definitely some. Feel free to skip around. I had to a few times. Other than that, it says a lot about where ALL of our food comes from and how it's processed and so on. It's done in an aesthetically pleasing way; lots of bright colors. It's not boring,


If you watch/have watched either of these or something like it, tell me in the comments. While I said I won't preach, I'd love to hear some reactions or thoughts on vegetarianism or meat-eating. My boyfriend and his family are steak-loving Texans. I won't judge you :)

13 comments:

Cade said...

I will watch both FOR YOU.
Even though I don't even want to imagine what happens when meat and other food products are made :(
But I do enjoy eating a good steak from time to time. I can't deny it!
I love you for who you are, including the vegetarian in you :)<3

Karen said...

So glad you posted this!

I lived as a vegan for two weeks this fall as part of an immersive journalism project. It was eye-opening in ways I never anticipated.

That being said...I still eat meat. Something I learned (and please, folks, correct me if I'm wrong), is that it's not only the kind of meat we eat (how it's made, etc.), but the sheer quantities of meat that we eat.

My solution, for now, is I pick 3-4 meals throughout the week that I want to have meat. Everything else I try to eat vegetarian.

One step at a time...maybe one day I'll switch completely.

(Other recommendations: Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin)

hufflepuff4ever said...

I've lived on a farm for most of my life, I've seen animals get killed. It's tough, but at least they live a better life than the animals that are raised for eating and slaughtered in horrible ways.

The only reason I eat meat is because I know there's no other way I'd get the nutrients I need. I'm already on meds that would cancel out the vitamins and supplements I'd need to take.

It's not fun, and I feel horrible whenever I eat it, but at least they got the chance to live and were killed and prepared in a more humane way.

Marlo said...

Also, Eating Animals is a great non-fiction book. It doesn't preach, but informs. Thanks for this post! Oh, and the book is by Johanthan Safran Foer.

cj. said...

I've been a vegetarian for a little over a year, ever since I watched the documentary 'King Corn' which is about how literally everything in the food industry is made with corn now days, and animals that should be fed with grass are now fed with corn which isn't good for them, etc.

Crystal said...

JohnnyDurham made a video awhile back about vegetarianism, and he had a link to another video called Meet Your Meat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4), which was the kicking point for me to eat way less meat. Like Karen said, I think what's harmful is the amount we eat, not meat in general.

In junior high, though, I saw this thing on the public access channel. It was a slaughter house, and they had cows hanging from their feet, being gutted. That was my first foray into vegetarianism. :\

Robyn said...

I completely agree in that I can't understand how people can be aware of factory farming and still eat meat. I'm a vegetarian, but I don't talk about it that often because if I started I would just feel like I was being ignorant. Like, "You eat meat? You know those animals suffered? What is wrong with you?"

By the way, since you live in New York (I mean, there are other reasons to, but I guess thats the main one as to why I'm mentioning this) you should do a quick google search of "Freeganism" if you haven't heard of it. It's pretty interesting / enlightening.

Goober said...

animals are animals.
people are people.

im muslim, so i only ever eat meat that's slaughtered so the animals goes through the least pain possible, but i totally do it for religious reasons.

animal cruelty is sad, but remember they are JUST ANIMALS, born for the sole (almost) purpose of our consumption!!

Bre Melvin said...

I see those pigs and now I want bacon... maybe sausage... hmmm.. like for reals, not even trying to be funny

Emma Styles Photography said...

No, I don't think i do as a meat-eater understand what I'm eating - and neither do I want to know. If something looks like the animal which it is I can't eat it, whether it's chicken or lobster. I don't eat much meat just because I'm not too keen on it, but yet I am too much of a meat-eater to be vegitarian. As long as meat doesn't look like an animal, I can eat it, so I spose I choose to not understand what I'm eating.

Unknown said...

Food Inc. is a really good movie. It really made me think about what I eat and where it comes from. I've actually considered becoming a vegetarian multiple times, but I always end up deciding no- I feel that as long as the meat was treated humanely, and killed humanely, I don't really have a problem with it. I think it's not so much the that eating meat is bad, but what and how much we eat.

Ms. Bruce said...

skinny bitch made me go cold turkey vegan. bad idea. i wanted to fall down a lot. i backtracked to vegetarianism which was wonderful. it'll be two years this may =) and i've never looked back.

i always knew if i watched one food documentary about the truth behind our meat i'd make a drastic decision, which is precisely why i waited so long. which was dumb. but honest.

Unknown said...

It's sooo funny that you put that 30 Days episode up there because that's the reason why I became a vegetarian!! That episode is just so eye-opening and not like shocker eye-opening like a lot of those PETA videos but just witnessing this hunter experience that whole thing, it was just so informative. That little calf too, aww!