Maquinna's Poop du Jour

My Internal Meat Hypocrisy

I believe that humans are physically designed to be omnivores. I believe this because of the kind of teeth we have been given, the design of our bodies, and the kinds of digestive acids we have to process food. I also think that a lot of people eat far more meat than their bodies really require. It's all about balance. Too much of anything, or a lack of something, and our bodies begin to show signs of problems, whether its malnutrition or high cholesterol or diabetes or scurvy or whatever.

When I was growing up, dinner was meat, a starch, and two vegetables - but the focus, always, was on the meat. That was the main course. Everything else is a 'side dish'. I think that sets up a mental hierarchy about what you consider to be the most important thing. These days, I eat mostly chicken and fish. Pork and beef are far more rare, perhaps once a month or so. Tofu and soy factor in, probably not as frequently as they should, as do other sources of proteins - beans and legumes. Still, there are days when I would like nothing better than a bloody steak.

Yesterday I visited the sheep farm down the road. The lambs have been coming for the past few weeks and I wanted to photograph them. They are so gentle, and curious - one kept trying to suck my thumb like a teat, while another sniffed the camera over and over so that I had to wipe its noseprints off the lens. Their breath was soft and warm. The youngest ones were still very unsteady on their legs, while the older ones pawed playfully at my legs with their hooves. It's times like these when I wonder how I could ever eat another bite of meat, because nearly every one of these lambs will soon be slaughtered.

It's some kind of cosmic joke - to be created to eat meat, among other things, but to have the propensity for developing emotional connections with animals. I could never draw the knife myself, so am I entitled to eat meat at all? I look at all the cuts of meat on the little pink styrofoam trays in the store and don't make the connection. There are no pictures of small, fuzzy lambs at the butcher - only of pork chops and rump roasts.

I know our neighbours with the sheep farm take very good care of their animals. They are raised with organic methods, are not penned in, and are free to roam as they will. I know also that when the time comes, they take the job of slaughtering the lambs very seriously and do it as quickly and painlessly as they can. I respect that, and yet I know we must be very different people. They can pick up that unstruggling lamb, look it in the eyes, and draw the knife. I would be haunted by that all my days.

The days that I am able to take a piece of meat and throw it on the grill without thinking about these things seem to grow fewer and fewer, yet I doubt I can ever give up meat entirely. I don't know how to reconcile this.

posted by Maquinna @ 8:52 a.m.