vegging out

It was inevitable, I suppose, that I would become a vegetarian.

For one thing, I don’t like meat all that much–except for In-N-Out burgers.

And in the back of my mind I knew some of the (literally) sickening truths about our modern food industry.

I also knew that if I read Kurlanksy’s book (about regional food traditions before megamarkets and mass production), read Schlosser’s book (about the huge impact the fast food industry has had on our landscape, our socioeconomics, and our health) and watched the movie Food, Inc., that would be it.


So I procrastinated.

Because I like cheeseburgers, even if they are full of fillers washed with ammonia to remove E. coli. I like chicken tacos, even if the slaughter process includes scalding the animals in de-feathering tanks while they’re still alive and aware.


But I finally took the plunge, for a few reasons:

(unless otherwise noted, my sources are the above mentioned books/movies or goveg.com).

Health: My stomach has been jacked up by genetics and stress for years, and I feel much better when I eat a plant-based diet. Not eating meat also makes it easier to control fat and cholesterol and get more vitamins from my calories.

The planet: Although raising grass-fed beef can actually help the environment, 99% of the cows in this country are crammed full of corn and crammed into feedlots instead. This means grassland and forests are being transformed into industrial sprawl, we’re using tons of gasoline and pesticides to guarantee enough corn in enough places, and the process is creating more greenhouse-gas emissions than cars, boats, planes and trains combined. (Check my facts here.) The problem includes poultry and pig farming, as well; According to the Environmental Defense Fund, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads (more here).

The animals: According to Food, Inc., in some states farmers want to make it illegal to publish photos of the feedlots. That’s probably not because the areas are humane and clean.

Sometimes the cows are still conscious while they are skinned and torn apart. Both chickens and cows are fed too much and given growth hormones until their legs collapse under their weight or their hearts give out. Pigs receive no painkillers before their tails are chopped off. Chickens spend their entire lives in dark, windowless sheds, sometimes packed so closely they can’t move or lie down. Turkeys’ beaks and toes are burned off with hot blades.

These animals are neglected, kicked, maimed, hung upside down, deprived of sunlight, transported long distances in freezing temperatures and given third-degree burns with branding irons. Treating a dog or cat this way would be illegal.

The grossness: Even if you don’t care about the animals’ quality of life, consider how factory farming affects yours.

“A government health official, who prefers not to be named, compared the sanitary conditions in a modern feedlot to those in a crowded European city during the Middle Ages,” writes Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, “when people dumped their chamber pots out the window, raw sewage ran in the streets, and epidemics raged.” Not only do we leave cattle standing in their own waste, it’s caked to their hides when they go to the slaughterhouses…..and it doesn’t all fall to the floor or get washed off before the meat is ground into burgers.

The FDA currently allows farmers to feed dead chickens and chicken manure to the cows. And to feed dead cows to the chickens.

And according to the USDA, 98% of chicken carcasses are contaminated with E. coli when they reach the grocery store because of the filthy conditions in the sheds where they were raised.

There’s even an argument for vegetarianism in the Bible; although we are certainly told to be fruitful and rule over the earth, including its animals, I find it interesting that there is no mention of Adam and Eve eating meat. God allowed them to eat from any tree in the garden, but only after the flood did he permit eating animals.


So those are my reasons. Now, here are my other decisions:

I won’t be obnoxious about it, compelled to tell everyone disgusting facts about their food. Beyond this blog post, I won’t be one of those people who draws attention to her decision or pontificates on the subject unless invited to share my opinion.

I won’t be unkind. Unless directly asked, I won’t mention it to any hostess who serves meat. (I may even eat it if I decide graciousness trumps conviction in that occasion.) Human feelings are more important than an animal’s.

I will not become a vegan, although that’s the truly intellectually honest thing to do; if I really cared about animal suffering I would give up milk, cheese, and eggs, too—but I like ice cream and cheese pizza and omelets too much. Besides, have you ever tasted seitan? I have, and it makes me gag.

I won’t be judgmental. Some people truly don’t care what’s in their food or how it got there. Others—many, I suspect—know the details are potentially disturbing and choose not to explore further because they like meat and it’s inconvenient to stop eating it. And a few believe it’s liberal and un-Christian to care about animal welfare. (You can have this cheeseburger when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.)

Other than that last snarky comment, I won’t judge those who haven’t made this choice.


Obviously it’s not an issue of salvation. But some of these animals are smarter than dogs and even small children. God (eventually) gave them to us for food, but does that give us license to treat them inhumanely before they’re killed? Mama cows cry for their babies for days after the calves are taken from them and sent to veal farms—does God care, and should we? Yes, humans are to rule over the animals, but does it matter how? And what about stewardship of our bodies?  What do you think?