bragi

You don't think there's anything wrong with processing downer cows and selling their meat to people who have no way of knowing that it came from sick animals? You're not at least a little concerned about people eating diseased beef, and then, after a few years, wondering why they can't walk in a straight line or form comprehensible sentences? Has it occurred to you that there may be good public health reasons, rather than the subversive efforts of pierced hippies, that it's illegal for people to process and sell meat from downer cows to the public?

And BTW, just because a person lives in a city and writes for or reads the NYT, doesn't mean they're all uninformed liberal idiots who don't know what they're talking about. I've lived in big cities, and I've lived in the rural South, and I can tell you from personal experience that, on the whole, people in cities are better informed, mostly because they can, and often do, read.

mconlonx

If we're talking about food from a moral and environmental POV, we should be talking about where it comes from, not what we're eating. Vegetable or meat, if you buy corporate/industrial farming output, you are contributing to all the nastiness that people usually dump only on industrial meat about. Industrial veg farming has it's own drawbacks--GMO foods, use and overuse of pesticides and herbicides, water issues, and all the oil that goes into producing and transportation. Monsanto and ADM ring a bell? It used to be that Brazillian rainforests were being cut for grazing land to support fast food burger in the US; now they're slash-and-burning rainforest to plant soy... soy being imported into the US to cover increased demand.

Buy as local as possible. Meat, veggies, everything in between. And eat seasonally--eat what's in season in your area.

Assuming that you're buying all your food locally, then feel free to make an emotional or spiritual personal decision to eat meat or no. When you get into environmental or moral issues at a macro level regarding your personal choice to eat no meat, then arguments start to fall apart because modern vegetable agriculture can be just as damaging to The Environment as meat.

Roody

Good post.

Along with the locavore movement, there's also the slow foods movement, which is making great strides in Europe right now. Good farming practices yield good food, so there will always be strong consumer demand for local and organic food.

Roody

Well, scoff at the NYT as they do, at least it does usually point out several sides of complicated issues. One problem with the agricultural "experts" is that they're bought and paid for by big agriculture. The land grant universities are to a large extent like private research arms of Monsanto and ADM. The ordinary farmers get a lot of info from ag agents of the universities, and directly from the big seed and chemical companies. They never hear the other sides of the issues, in many cases. But maybe that's one thing the internet will change? Any farmer in Nebraska can now read the NY Times, free, online every day.

jamesshuang

I really wish I could go for less meat in my diet. However, each vegetarian meal I eat leaves me horribly hungry after just a few short hours. All my vegetarian meals disappear so quickly. Even the high fiber stuff doesn't last - unless I get at least some meat, I get hungry. Why is this?

spinninwheels

Usually it's an association thing. If one consumes meat during a meal, digestion requirements are different than with a meatless meal. And there is almost always a heavy feeling. Sometimes the heavy feeling is an association to being full. This is usually not the case. One can still be full and not have that heavy feeling. Hence the old joke about chinese food and still being hungry afterwords.

Another point is that sometimes when the body requires more hydration, it can be mistaken for hunger. A good rule of thumb is when you're in between meals and you feel hungry, drink a couple glasses of water first. This may alleviate the feeling of hunger.

ericy

I am most of the way through the Omnivore's dilemma - not a quick read. Oftentimes when we go out to dinner, I will pick a non-meat dish. My fiancee is still much more of a meat eater. There is a really good vegetarian restaurant near us, and I keep suggesting that we go together, and she keeps dragging her feet.

ericy

It depends a lot on exactly what it is that you do eat. The meals that I eat have a balance of proteins, fiber, some fat, and carbs, and I really don't have this problem.

donnamb 

Keeping backyard chickens around here is a popular hobby. Apparently the zoning in Portland allows for a small number.

wahoonc

Not allowed by zoning around here and it is a small town. One of the reasons I have held onto my acreage. But even that is getting to be a fight. Golf course across the road keeps trying to get MY property rezoned to suit their uses. Tried that with the guy down the road and he retaliated by bringing in a couple of truck loads of hogs. Golf Course Community took it to court, judge ruled against them and also pointed out that they were pretty lucky that he only brought in a couple of hundred hogs....he has a permit for over 1,000

Aaron

donnamb 

You're going to love this, Aaron... Go to this page and play the video at the bottom of the page. Yes, that's right - our leading mayoral candidate keeps chickens.

JosephPaul86

I haven't eaten meat since last October or so. On the way in town i pass a very small farm consisting of 4 cows, a calf, 7 chickens and a few goats. Since it is about half way in town I often stop to take a break and talk to the animals. I struck up a conversation with the owner and she offered to let me have a couple eggs every week, free of charge. Nice lady, she is the land owner and allows the cows to graze on the grass free of charge as it saves her from mowing it.

I wonder why people won't actually eat a black bean burger instead of the fatty, unhealthy, unattractive, slaughtered rotting flesh alternative?

wahoonc

Because of attitudes like this? FWIW some people REQUIRE meat in their diets to live healthy. Someone pointed out a while back that we are all different. We didn't all come from vegetable eating human stock. Some like the Inuits subsist on a diet that is all most exclusively meat. Do we consume too much meat in the US? I think so, the answer IMHO is moderation.

Aaron

ericy

My contention is that in the not too distant future, we will be in a world where food will be so expensive that few will be able to afford to eat meat.

Experts: Global Food Shortages Could ‘Continue for Decades'