I’D LIKE TO MEET MY MEAT
Allow me to be completely honest with you for a moment. I love meat. I love steaks, I love ribs, sometimes I love chicken and I have a new found love for fish and chips. Proscuitto is fantastic and salami often makes a sandwich. I also love cooking meat. With countless recipes designed to create and tantalize, it’s hard for me to stay out of the kitchen.
Photo: Another Pint Please… on Flickr
Here’s my problem: how do I go cruelty-free? The truth of the matter is that I am not able, nor do I want, to go completely vegetarian. I, personally, take no issue with the consumption of meat as a food source. I do, however, take huge issue with the ways in which animals are treated before being prepared as food. As an animal lover, I am becoming more and more aware of the absolute importance of humane treatment. I also don’t want to become one of those pretentious, selective eaters.
It’s becoming a gray area for me. One can go so far as to say: “well what about leather handbags and shoes?” That’s an extremely valid point. What about them? How is the source of that leather traceable?
I refuse to rely on PETA’s website because I would presume that everything there would have to be read with a fantastically large grain of salt. I’d find it hard to believe their facts and information wouldn’t be largely biased. This is where you, my readers, come in.
I’ll not lie to you though…giving up McDonald’s and Chinese food will be no easy feat for this chica.
Over to you…
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16 Comments
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Your best bet is to go and talk to Harry…they grew, slaughter
and process their own beef, turkey and chicken. He could give you insight as
to the whole procedure. By buying local you also help with the reduction of gas emissions etc. and keep it within the 100 miles.
Most of the leather used to make handbags and shoes are a by-product of the beef industry.
Local is def. the way to go. Another option, if you like beef is to try bison. It tastes just like beef, has a WAY lower fat content and isn’t so mass-produced (ie- less feed lot conditions). I love the vegetarian thing, but Scotty still eats meat. We buy Sunrise Farm pasture raised poultry (http://www.sunrisefarm.ca/) at safeway, and go for organic milk (free of the bovine growth hormone… no pussy udders) and free range eggs.
The whole leather thingis kinda tricky, but there are so many great non-leather products that it just takes a bit of practice (besides, non leather is otfen cheaper)… I figure that I wouldn’t buy anything with real fur… so why on earth would I buy leather? Obviously leather is great if you need it for motor biking gear, but other than that, I don’t see the purpose of skinning our animals (unless of course it is done to make use of the whole animal… but I don’t know if that is always the case).
…You’re stepping into the realm of being a mindful consumer… so glad! But it’ll snowball from here on out.
Bison is leaner, but is not neccessarily farmed cruelty free. If you want to eat meat, really read the labels. Buy your meat at Capers. Almost all commercial meat is inhumanely farmed, fed hormones and antibiotics. McLean meats, for example, provide grain feed, humanely treated, organic pasture raised beef, pork, and chicken. Commercially, in this day and age, this is about as good as it gets. Unless you want to hunt your own.
It is expensive, but the benefits outweighs the cost. All meat, eggs, and dairy should be on your high priority organic list. And remember free range does not equal organic.
At the end of the day, just do the best you can for your body, the environment, and the animals. Perfection on this issue is nearly impossible.
I’m not vegetarian, but we definitely eat less meat than we used to. We get organic, free-range chicken or beef and make sure that our beef has only ever been grass-fed. We also eat organic free-range eggs. We buy all of it from the Farmers Market which has the added bonus that you get to talk to the vendor/farmer about how their product is grown (and obviously has all the other benefits of eating locally). Now that Vancouver also has the winter farmers market (just off Commercial) it means that this can be done all year. Check out http://www.eatlocal.org for more about the Farmers Markets here and their vendors.
We also buy local organic dairy, which is pretty easy to get commercially.
We are trying really hard to eat local, in season produce. This is easy in the summer, but much harder in the winter. For the first time I made jam (yummy), we’ve frozen lots of berries and I’m going to try canning too.
But I completely echo Phaedra’s sentiment. I think it’s basically impossible and impractical to be a purist and eat only local and organic. I just try to be more aware and make the best choices I can depending on availability, convenience and budget.
You should watch Fast Food Nation …
PETA are nutcases. And distasteful ones at that.
I’d say find a small, well reputed butcher shop. That way they aren’t only dealing with one kind of meat, and they’ll have a decent knowledge of where they get the meat from, what happens to it, and butchers always know the best way to cook everything.
Hey there.. Id say for all your food, not just meat.. you should know where it comes from. Once you know that.. you can also find out if they explain HOW they raise it. Not knowing where our food comes from and how its prepared is going to be a very out-of-date concept in the coming years.. at least for anyone that cares about their body and the world around them… which I believe you do.
Im a vegetarian.. although I do eat fish and eggs. I pay attention to where my fish comes from and how my eggs are raised. Thankfully, especially in the case of eggs.. I can read a good amount of info from the farm on the web and I can take a long bike ride to them and see for myself. Fish.. not as easy.. but thankfully there are watchdog groups that I can consult for how fish are raised.. and Im especially wary of salmon. But alas.. I know I dont always manage to eat fish that was raised right. there’s a certain extent of success vs failure that I accept for myself… even if it seems hyprocritical to others.
IF I were a meat eater.. Id say buy organic meat… its available. Also read the label.. on the meat.. look up that company and see what theyre worth as far as you can tell. maybe ask around on the internets.
As for mcdonalds.. you are way too beautiful and intellegent to be eating there.
As far as cuelty goes I think it’s safe to say Canada has some of the highest standards in the world. Having worked with farmers for the past decade you learn how important it is to buy locally. It really is the only way to know what you are eating and where it came from. One thing I learned about 5 years ago is if it says “product of Canada” it doesn’t mean it’s from Canada, for anyone who hasn’t heard of this you should watch the story Marketplace ran last year. Turns out food is no different than anything else, cheap imports always win. You have to love the Canadian government selling out it’s own yet again! http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/product_of_canada_eh/
As far as Peta goes I think the ad they tried to run in the Winnipeg newspaper proved what idiots they really are!
While PETA may be “extremests” in their tireless campaigning for animal rights, I find it very sad that people refer to them as “nutcases” or “idiots” – yes, they shouldn’t break the law as they have in the past i.e. breaking into company buildings, stealing animals in the middle of the night to save them, etc. as this tarnishes their image, but it also shouldn’t negate the fact that they do GREAT WORK FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS.
The only thing “distasteful” about PETA is the atrocities against animals that they simply film undercover: animals skinned ALIVE in the fur trade (including DOGS), chickens getting beaten and kicked because they don’t die quick enough, cattle hanging upside down for days while still alive and don’t even get me started on the animal testing, it’s absolutely barbaric.
Go to their website (www.peta.com) and watch some undercover video footage…once you’ve wiped your tears, I believe you’ll see what side of the camera the REAL nutcases are on…
Their methods may be extreme and off the map, but their message is always the same: End Animal Cruelty. And isn’t that what we all want?
Special Provincial Constable, BCSPCA
Reading this post caused me to reflect on something that I had wanted to write about. Instead I will just throw my 2 cents in here.
I have vowed to never ever eat veal again. I visited a veal farm years back and was shocked to see the manner in which these calves are raised.
Check this out paying special attention to the “Housing” portion.
http://www.vealfarm.com/industry-info/facts.asp
Now do a google image search of “veal housing”
I can’t justify buying a piece of meat that when alive, never even had the opportunity to go for a stroll through a field. Instead it was confined in an area where it had just enough room to stretch it’s legs, and perhaps the only walk it did get to enjoy was to the slaughter house.
It makes me sick to think about it.
I took Angekins advice and watched the videos, and I can honestly say that with all the farms I”ve been to in the last 10 years+ I’ve never seen anything close to what they were filming. I’m not saying cruelty doesn’t exist in Canada, the problem is it doesn’t matter how they do it Peta will see it as cruelty because the animal still dies and we still eat it.
I realize they’re trying to do good work, but they keep shooting themselves in the foot time and time again, When they decided to use Tim Mclean”s murder in one of their ads they lost all credibility with me.
What I sould have said is the people in charge of marketing at Peta are idiots.
I’ve been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for three years and it’s not as hard as you would think. You get to learn lots of new recipes and I eat far more healthily now than I did in the past. I switched over for plenty of reasons — animal rights, environmental, health concerns, et cetera.
I’ve heard Windsor’s Meats has a good reputation for free range organic meat, which is likely more expensive, but is a good way to ensure you are getting the best stuff around.
With a little bit of planning, it’d be easy to reduce one’s meat consumption to once a day or even just a few times a week.
I do have insight into the meat commodity chain and the leather and footwear industry, but that warrants a post that will link back to you
Well yes Tony, PETA would love it if the whole world were veg-heads, but they know that’s not going to happen, so part of their campaigning is to have the major meat machines at least kill humanely and they commend any companies who do. Recently they ended their campaign against KFC in Canada and thanked them for FINALLY signing an agreement to ensure more humane standards and methods for the transport, housing and killing of chickens. This is a BIG win!
But a BIG loss? The Tim McLean thing, I totally agree…whoever thought of doing that should be shuffled back to Riverview…
And Kay, you’ll be happy to know that McDonald’s got on board years ago. The only reason I hate them is because their fries are so freakin good, yikes.
That’s good know. But I still wouldn’t eat at KFC or Mcdonalds if it was free!
O.K maybe the fries.
I enjoyed your post. If I may, I would like to suggest my farm web site. We have plenty of information on organic, grass-fed beef and recipes.
Sumas Mountain Farms is the only producer of 100% certified-organic, lifetime grass-fed & finished beef in the Lower Mainland of BC (Canada). We also offer chicken, eggs, pepperoni, jerky, salami, sausage, farmer sausage, and more.
Because our beef is 100% grass-fed & finished, the quality of the meat is exceptional, and the flavor is unsurpassed. Plus, it is more nutrient-dense and packed with healthful Omega-3′s than conventional beef, which is healthier for you, your family, and the planet.
Please visit http://www.sumasmountainfarms.ca/ for more information!
Thanks.