Eating Animals is also a popular book written by Jonathan S. Foer, this is a great read for those wanting to know more behind the history of the humane food movement and why it is so important for the future of feeding ourselves.
Jonathan puts into words so many of the thoughts and feelings bouncing around in my mind on the subject. I'd like to share some of those thoughts and excerpts for you to ponder as well :)
"Most people never have to confront the unpleasant fact that animal foods involve killing animals. They remain disconnected from this reality, buying their meats, fish, and cheeses at restaurants and supermarkets, already cooked or presented to them in pieces, making it easy to give little or no thought to the animals these foods come from. This is a problem. it has enabled agribusiness to shift livestock and poultry farming into unhealthy, inhumane systems with little public scrutiny. Few people have seen the insides of industrial dairies, egg or pig operations, and most consumers truly have no idea what is going on at such places. I’m convinced that the vast majority of people would be appalled with what goes on there."
"Eating animals is one of those topics, like abortion, where it is impossible to definitely know some of the important details...it is a slippery, frustrating, and resonant subject. Each question prompts another."
"[we are] a nation that spends a smaller percentage of income on food that many other civilizations have in human history — but the name of affordability treats the animals it eats with a cruelty so extreme it would be illegal if inflicted on a dog."
"Animal agriculture makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined; it is the number one cause of climate change. "
"A word on FREE-RANGE: applied to meat, eggs, dairy, and every now and then fish, the free-range label is bullshit. It should provide no more peace of mind than “all-natural,” “fresh,” or “magical.”
"The factory farm industry (in alliance with the pharmaceutical industry) currently has more power than public-health professionals. The source of the industry’s immense power is not obscure. We give it to them. We have chosen, unwittingly, to fund this industry on a massive scale by eating factory-farmed animal products."
"Farmed animals in the U.S. produce 130 times as much waste as the human population — roughly 87,000 pounds of shit per second."
Every time you make a decision about food, you are faming by proxy.
"If you are going to raise an animal with the purpose of taking its life, there is so much more responsibility than the standards for “humane - freedom from suffering.” I think they are entitled to experience the basic pleasures of life — things like lying in the sun, mating, and rearing their young."
"As I see it, animals have entered into an arrangement with humans, an exchange of sorts. When animal husbandry is done as it should be, humane can provide animals a better life than they could hope for in the wild and almost certainly a better death. Thats quite significant. Their lives are taken for a purpose. And I think that’s essentially what all of us hope for: a good life [with purpose] and and easy death."
"In earlier times, Americans were closely connected to the ways and places their food was produced. This connectedness and familiarity assured that food production was happening in a way that matched the values of our citizens. But farming's industrialization broke this link and launched us into the modern era of disconnectedness."
"The most ecologically sound farms raise plants and animals together. They are modeled on natural ecosystems, with their continual and complex interplay of flora and fauna."
Let's resolve to reconnect with our food this new year.
Can you be honest with yourself about where your food comes from?
Be an honest carnivore.
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