Personally I don’t find it necessary and I believe devoting resources to growing food by feeding it food is detrimental in the world we live in. I respect people who hunt their own food, but generally I view farmed animals as a waste of resources.
When I was vegan I essentially made a connection between consuming animal products as a corollary with eating my dog. Not much of a difference outside of cultural considerations, so I quit. I eat dairy and eggs now though, really more of a compromise with a diet that works well for me without being too restrictive based on the area I live in with availability of affordable alternatives. I have moved to a relatively high protein/low carbohydrate diet and that can be quite difficult without eating a lot of processed foods, which tend to be niche products and expensive.
I used to eat meat, grew up eating it, but at this point I don’t miss it. The mock meats don’t really taste the same, and I did have about a month where I tried eating meat again (that was about seven years ago now) and simply couldn’t do it. The meats that I could even stomach were too similar to mock ones - foods like hamburger, cold cuts, pepperoni, etc. - that I found it wasn’t worth it and the cost was about the same for what I considered good quality.
At this point I have made a pledge to myself that if I wish to eat animals, I have to be responsible for their deaths, IE I have to kill the animal if I want to eat it. I have several friends who are regular sustenance hunters (not trophy hunters, they aren’t after the biggest antler racks by any means) and have considered hunting with them to see if it’s something I am willing to do or even something of which I am capable.
Generally speaking I like animals more than people, so that’s always a factor too
So yeah… A hippie…
nowing some things about farming (both plants and animals) I can tell you this:
That statement is wrong on many levels.
Firstly the food you grow doesn’t eat food you may eat. The corn and wheat it’s been given are unsuitable for flour or whatever. Grass fed is completely different thing.
Chickens are cute too… Young ones especially. And they are juicier and tastier…
Anyways, I just wanted to know the reasoning. Thank you for sharing, although I disagree with you on some points.
I guess if you’re into pigeonholing people? I don’t find this a useful tactic in conversation. Any other hippies you know whose favorite round is .45 ACP?
I live in the state of Iowa, and what we grow here is a lot of animal feed (soy and corn in massive quantities), also the largest egg-producing state in the US, and the most pork on top of that. I work in the agricultural research industry, so I see what goes into this process fairly directly.
Yes, what is fed to animals isn’t human-grade, but there are choices in that equation, mainly that it is profitable because of awful subsidization decisions (IMO). We also have a lot of biofuels research here.
I don’t know why you thought this was a necessary statement. I get enough of this sort of thing from people IRL who for some reason seem threatened that I don’t live like they do.
At any rate those are my reasons, can’t speak for anyone else.
Here’s what I’m about to eat (so glad I’m almost out of Halloween candy!):
Sorry… I just thought it would be funny for some reason. My point was I don’t really make the mental connection you do. I understand your reasons without really understanding them (try to decipher that statement)…
No, I get this entirely. Without going too far OT I believe it has a lot to do with a tribalist mindset that we as humans are still very much stuck with. We evolved as socially dependent creatures and as such we create like-minded subsets of each other with which to associate, either because our belief systems are similar enough to be compatible, or just through hardwired preferences (generally a combination of both I think).
As I get older I’ve been trying to be less tribalist or exclusionary, and having lived in half a dozen places in vastly different areas of this country I find having discussions with people has been very interesting, ranging from the very leftist-totalitarian types to right-libertarians (speaking politically).
Basically my goal is to avoid the echo chambers that we’re really good at making for ourselves.
Afternoon snack (IE self-reward after painting the trim in the hallway, which includes two double corner doorways): mozzarella cheese stick, dry roasted almonds, and a Stone Delicious IPA.
