Huuungry!

[NakedElf]

I definitely feel sorry for my food, and would stick to free-range stuff if/when I can. I don't eat fast food, anyway (no fast food in my area and the smell makes me ill,) but if I'm at a regular restaurant, I eat the food and don't ask questions. (I prepare almost zero meat at home because I don't like the taste and aren't a very good cook and don't want to deal with the germs, so the only thing that typically comes up when I'm shopping is eggs, and I do try to get free-range eggs. And then I forget to eat them, because I still have strong memories of the days when eggs used to make me ill.)

Weirdly enough, one of the hardest things for me to eat is lobster. I just feel really, really sorry for lobsters. I mean, imagine eating a dog... That's me and lobsters. Too bad they're yummy :P

It helps when you can't see their heads.

[Grabmygoblin]

I do find standards in America odd.

a few people pointed out that while Americans demand blood from Michael Vick for dogfighting, no one seems to care about all the domestic violence within athletic communities, or other common animal cruelty.

same thing with food, people don't seem to get as worked up about the disgusting "lagoon"/shit pit farms with animals that are tortured throughout their mercifully short lives, but consider traditional meals which use dog meat barbaric.

my older sister had a roast pig at her wedding reception. I honestly was not as bothered as many of the omnivores. I just don't understand why so many have this disconnect and prefer to have the disconnect between the slice of nondescript protein on their plate and the source... but then again I also grew up around farms, not large cities, which may be part of it.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Many people just don't like to eat the cute animals. They couldn't give two shits about the ugly/delicious ones.

[RobertBlake]

Many people just don't like to eat the cute animals. They couldn't give two shits about the ugly/delicious ones.

So what's kept them from eating you then?

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

I don't taste good. I'm composed mostly of ash and cinder, with trace amounts of shoulder meats and bonemeal.

[RobertBlake]

Some of us find the combination of burnt wood and shoulder meat quite the delicacy.

I'm not one of them.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

I'm the new mesquite, baby. For that esoteric wood flavour, look no further.

[Rkolter]

The disconnect is cuteness, and not everyone has that disconnect. I've eaten dog, and I'd eat it again. It's not bad. But, I would not eat a dog that I knew. I've eaten rabbits too, but I wouldn't eat a pet rabbit.

[Grabmygoblin]

no, that's too simple. why would someone love turkey, but refuse to eat from the whole bird at thanksgiving if it were just a matter of cuteness?

I think part of the issue is the way people just don't know where their food comes from these days. some vegans similarly bother me because they don't understand that chickens lay excess eggs and cows produce excess milk! either humans gather the eggs or they rot, milk the cow or she will get sick, and shear the sheep or it will just keep growing wool until it can't move!

cuteness undoubtedly is part of the issue, I find pretty much every critter cute, partially explaining my reluctance to eat them.

[McDuffies]

I have no disconnection between meat and it's sources, but I just don't see animals as living toys, so when I'm eating meat I don't feel like I'm eating pieces of something cute and cuddly.
The whole earth's ecosystem is based on some organisms eating others, and humans are simply on the top of food chain. My feeling of pitty is limited to hating animal torture and poor living conditions - for as long as they live.

I don't think of idea of eating dogs and cats as something monstrous, it's just one of those habits that western society inforced to us. I've eaten rabbits and imo they're much cuter than cats or dogs. I've eaten baby pigs and baby cows and it never bothered me a lot. If that pig was per chance living in forest, in freedom, it wouldn't have much chance of survival. Heck, before they even start eating real food, we have to feed at least one or two of them with a spoon, otherwise they die of starvation because they're weaker than the rest.
Frankly, I like cats, but have you seen what a cat does to a sparrow, or a pidgeon? My sister as a kid always used to get mad at our cats for eating cute animals, but it's not like they have a choice whether to eat them or not. Humans don't have choice either, not all of us have the same constitution, same needs for food, not all of us waste same amount of energy during the day. People with smaller constitution, less needy metabolism, less physical activity during the day, may get away with vegetarian food, but I know that when I don't have anything meaty during the day, I feel a hole in my stomach, and you know how skinny I am. Imagine some 2m high dock worker who carries crates for entire day, to return home and finds tofu and salad for lunch.

The only qualm I have about it is that to eat a cat, some dogs, rabits and such, you'd have to kill a lot of them to get just one proper meal, which to me is not very rational.
Of course, mind you, I grew up in society where slaughtering of animals isn't limited inly to slaughterhouses. My family used to have a pig sty and still has chickenhouse. Annual spring and autumn pig slaughterings are a sort of tradition here, the goal is to make the supply of pork for entire season at once. The sight or a pig being slaughtered never bothered me much 'cause it was being performed in my own backyard ever since I was a kid. Sight of pig's internat organs spilling around doesn't bother me either, except for a few cases when animal wasn't quite finished off, which is for me a genuinely disturbing sight)
In fact, I was quite looking forward to it, because that's the time when a few of native pork specialities are being made. Also there's always some barbecue while the meat is still fresh.
Well, since my folks "terminated" our pigsty we buy our pork from butchers or from other people, but we still make our own chicken.

[Eve Z.]

I don't think of idea of eating dogs and cats as something monstrous

I do. Cats and dogs have personalities. Rabbits are dumb.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Rabbits are not dumb. I know one that listens when you call it, knows how to use a litterbox and shows affection. It even knows which rooms it is not allowed to enter. That there is already smarter than most people I meet on the streets.

I remember when I was a 5 or 6, my mom always told me this story about how the butcher didn't show up, so she tied the pig up, poured boiling water all over it to remove the hair, and stabbed it in the heart.

She also knew this kid that liked beef until he found out it was cow. So yeah, a lot of people don't really think about where their meat is coming from unless it's staring them in the face in the form of a roast pig sitting on a table.

[McDuffies]

I don't think of idea of eating dogs and cats as something monstrous

I do. Cats and dogs have personalities. Rabbits are dumb.

I too can confirm from my experience that rabbits have personalities. In fact, most of mammals probably do, it's just that we don't keep them as house pets so we aren't familiar with the idea.
Pigs are equally inteligent as dogs, yet we eat them. I've seen pigs getting attached to people who treat them well, as dogs would, following them around and acting happy when they come home.
I can also remember a case when my cat caught one of the pair of sparrows, and the other sparrow kept flying around our yard for days as if it were mourning.

Which animals we eat and which not is just a convention and doesn't relate to animal's intelligence, personality, or any other objective factor, other than how much meat you can get from that animal.

[NakedElf]

I think part of the issue is the way people just don't know where their food comes from these days. some vegans similarly bother me because they don't understand that chickens lay excess eggs and cows produce excess milk! either humans gather the eggs or they rot, milk the cow or she will get sick, and shear the sheep or it will just keep growing wool until it can't move!

Not to mention that these animals only *exist* because of their usefulness to humans. If we stopped eating eggs, the eggs wouldn't pile up and rot because we'd have to kill the chickens. No farmer is going to waste good money feeding a bunch of chickens just for the fun of it. If the chickens/eggs are sellable, the beef/milk isn't sellable, etc., then the animals are a monetary loss to the farm. They'll likely get shot or gassed or otherwise killed.

I don't *like* how cows and chickens are treated. I would prefer to promote an industry which treats them better. But I also know damn well that their lives depend on our consumption, which is why I don't find veganism particularly moral.


I think people don't like to eat animals which they see as 'pets' because they see their pets as family members. Maybe not family members on the same scale as the humans, but still. It'd be like eating your mentally retarded cousin. You just don't do that. Once you identify someone (or some animal) as 'family', you don't eat them (except possibly in a very respectful cannibalistic ritual. But even then it's very rare.)

It's a lot easier to see animals as 'pets' when you don't ever kill live animals for food. Food comes in neat little packages at the grocery store. Animals sleep at the foot of your bed with you. Your subconscious sees them as different. If you do kill/butcher your own meat, chances are you're not going to differentiate between food and animals anywhere near as strongly.

[Corgan_dane]

Not to mention that these animals only *exist* because of their usefulness to humans.

That's a bit of a matter of opinion, no?

[NakedElf]

Not to mention that these animals only *exist* because of their usefulness to humans.

That's a bit of a matter of opinion, no?

No.

A 'milk cow' has been specially bred by humans for human consumption over the course of the last few thousand years. A milk cow is not a wild creature. It cannot survive on its own--in fact, if not milked regularly these poor animals serious internal damage* from the buildup of milk in their udders.

The milk cows alive today exist because a farmer bred them. A bunch of happy cows running around in a field did not go have great cow sex and produce some milk cows which an evil farmer caught, penned up in his barn, and started milking. These cows were bred by the farmer at the farmer's direction from a stock of milk cows for the specific purpose of producing more milk.

In other words, their entire existence, both as a breed and individual animals, is solely the work of humans who created them for human benefit.

The moment milk cows stop being financially/economically/nutritionally useful to people, people will stop breeding them. They will stop spending money to feed them. They will stop milking them. A few cows might survive in a zoo or animal rescue center or 'living museum', but the vast, vast majority of them will die.

*edited

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Most dog breeds exist because of humans. The Bulldog is an example of irresponsible breeding, since it's a living nightmare of problems. They can't walk properly, have trouble breathing and many can't even clean themselves. Other dogs not bred to show standards were created for specific human uses, like sheep herding or pulling sleds.

What was this thread about again? It think it was about cooking.

[Rkolter]

Technically the cow wouldn't explode.

They might have grevious internal injuries and die a gruesome death. But sick farmers short on help don't awake to the sound of cows popping off.

If cows would explode if you didn't milk them, I'd breed them just so I could own exploding cows.

Different food thing - Honeycrisp apple harvest is this weekend. Best damn apples on EARTH. Beth and I are going to pick a bushel or two and have apple stuff for weeks. I'm salivating thinking about them.

(anyone wanna come?)

[RobertBlake]

Back on the food matter, I had baked beans on toast for lunch yesterday. Basically it's just baked beans served over a couple slices of bread that's been buttered and fried. It's actually quite good.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

I had Spam yesterday. It was grand.