So my first attempt at bettering myself involves
not eating meat for a week.
“Why?” I hear you, my stomach and various passes-by
cry.
It’s not about being a vegetarian exactly, I don’t
think vegetarians are amazing-should-be-praised-and-admired type people, and in
fact I think there are many flaws in the arguments for being one. It’s about
not eating meat for my own reasons.
Firstly, I don’t like the cruelty factor. In order
to meet the rising demand for meat some farmers have turned to intensive methods.
You know the horror stories; five chickens crammed in a cage big enough for one,
male calves from dairy mums shot at birth or shipped off to veal farms, animals
herded onto lorries and taken off across the world in horrible diseased and insufferable
conditions. Apart from they aren’t horror stories half the time, they’re true.
The second reason is one that I don’t totally
understand: the argument that meat farming uses and wastes too much energy and
takes up too much land.
I’ve done some research, check out http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100520030732AAVvgHD
for arguments for and against; you just need to skim past the ranty replies. Being a country bumbkin it upsets me to think
that more and more rural land will have to be used up to grow grain to feed the
many more animals intensive farming accommodates. Especially when I though grazing
animals, in the Summer at least, should be grazing, not eating grains…? So if
more veg was eaten and less meat, would that mean less energy was used, more
land could be saved for the environment, less demand for meat so intensive
farming wouldn’t be necessary? That’s the gist that I was going with.
I’ve never believed people ‘shouldn’t’ eat meat,
but I don’t think I can really preach any principles until I’ve tried it.
Challenge one: no meat for a week, and I shall
report my findings. Will vegetables be victorious?
Will the meat be mighty? Who knows, I may discover an overpowering attraction
to turnips and never eat anything else again.
Wish me luck.
Conclusion
This hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be. It
seriously decreased my chances at lunch satisfaction and a vegetable kebab on a
Friday night wasn’t quite the same BUT, I’ve quite enjoyed testing the versatility
of aubergines - very versatile as it turns out.
The conclusion I’ve come to, however, is that even though I
could give up meat entirely (even if refusing a pork pie would break my heart),
I don’t want to. I’ve decided to choose the life of the ‘happytarian’. The
basic definition of this is that you can eat meat and other animal products, as
long as they’ve been happy. By ‘happy’, I’m suggesting the animals have been
free range, eaten the food they are supposed to eat and not transported or kept
in cramped little cages, I’m not suggesting we should go and measure the size
of a sheep’s smile.
This would mean no meat in restaurants, cafes or buying a
meaty sandwich because you just can’t know where it comes from. I’m not going
to ask in every establishment I go into, I think my friends would start
refusing to go anywhere with me. But, it does mean if I do fancy a steak or a
roast chicken I can indulge, as long as I’ve brought it from a local, organic,
free range and happy-type farm shop or butcher. This might have to be a
once-a-month treat but it’s definitely possible. Yes, I’m happy with this
challenge and its conclusion. Metaphorical honey gathered for this week, onto
challenge two.
