Eating Animals

Reading is dangerous. And that goes for any kind of reading whether it’s a novel, a non-fiction book, a magazine, a news article, someone’s Facebook post perhaps, and sometimes even a blog. It’s dangerous because once something is read, and if it is affecting, then usually decisions need to be made.

I recently finished reading a book by Jonathan Safran Foer called Eating Animals. Foer is the author of that incredibly popular novel Everything is Illuminated, published in 2002. I read it in 2005 and absolutely loved it. Eating Animals is a completely different animal (pun intended). It’s non-fiction for starters and it’s neither fun, entertaining nor quick-witted as his first novel was. What it is, though, is an introspective look at the eating of other creatures—animals—by us, humans. Many questions are asked within the book, one being “why do we eat animals?” And then the more important question: would we still eat those same animals if we knew that their lives and their deaths were atrocious?

Sometimes I hate reading and/or learning about something when it forces me to think about my own lifestyle, what I’m doing AND if I find that whatever it is that I found is something I don’t like about my life, is there willingness within me to change it?

I’m not going to go into all that Foer went into, the details and nitty-gritty, but I do recommend reading that book (if and only if knowing a little about the lives of the animals that are consumed regularly interest you). I believe ignorance is bliss, and unfortunately for me, I read that book and despite knowing deep down that probably much of what I was eating was not good anyway, Eating Animals really shed some light on the situation.

So, factory farming. Disgusting. Chickens, pigs, turkeys, and to a slightly lesser extent, cows, live horrendous lives on these large-scale factory farms. I won’t go into it; read the book. And then their deaths sometimes can be just as horrendous. They are then packaged and given to us in the form of chicken burgers, hamburgers, eggs, you name it. They aren’t so much an animal anymore as they are meat to be consumed.

Why is this important? There is the moral question. Is the lack of humanity given to the treatment of factory-farmed animals worth considering boycotting buying that sort of meat? Is the fact that meat taste good, especially when lathered up in BBQ sauce or marinated overnight in some sort of Worcestershire sauce concoction or otherwise delicious recipe, worthy of an animal being tortured (in some cases truly despicable torturous ways)? That’s a tough question to answer, especially when you’re on a road trip and it’s late and you’ve been driving a long distance and you’re starving and you see those big golden arches. You find yourself pulling off the highway, taking the exit and ordering three cheeseburgers, a 10-pierce chicken nugget and maybe something else for later. That’s a tough, tough call.

I’ll say this, I’ve been trying to eat healthier lately and when I found out about all that really goes into factory farming, even if I loathed animals and wanted to see them all perish in a grisly fire, I would still maybe not want to eat them anymore just because of the potential ill health effects these animals may produce. It’s self-preservation. These animals are disease-ridden, feces-covered, mal-formed monstrosities that could potentially harm the health of anyone who consumes them (especially if improperly consumed). And these places are swimming with terrible viruses, etc: think avian flu; swine flu. Stuff like that.

Factory farming is disgusting—it’s terrible for the animals and it’s terrible for us as humans.

That said, I had to ask myself the question: if I knew an animal was humanely raised and humanely slaughtered, would I be willing to eat it? As of now, yes, yes I am. I’m not giving up eating animals completely; I’m simply giving up eating animals that are factory farmed.

There is some good news, especially for those who live in the Seattle area and more specifically, north of Seattle. There is a wonderful little butcher shop called Double D Meats and all their meat is exactly that—humanely raised and humanely slaughtered. Their chicken comes from Draper Valley out of Skagit County way up north and their meats only from local farms that treat their animals well.

I would never demand anyone change their way of life. I do recommend reading Eating Animals, though, to get a bit of perspective on the situation. I definitely recommend checking out Double D Meats in Mountlake Terrace. And they have a wonderful array of spice rubs and sauces.

I also can’t say that I’ll never have food from the golden arches again either especially when hungry on a road trip, but I’m going to be more conscientious about my eating animal habits.