MacRaven - Dave Haxton's Weblog

Fri, 23 Jun 2006

Hot juicy burgers from a bioreactor. Yummy.

We're already faking butter and cheese, how much longer will it be before "I Can't Believe It's Not Dead Animal" makes an appearance in our supermarkets?

For the life of me I cannot understand vegetarianism: in order for you to survive, something else has to die, be it a carrot or a Bambi. Life is life, and death is death, and to me the only difference between an onion and a cow is the "cute and cuddly" factor. Rank sentimentalism. You've still participated in a killing when you eat your tofu and salad, just as surely as you did when you chomped down a rib eye.

And if this is the end result of the vegetarian philosophy, I surely want no part of it! How much more out of touch with nature can you get then synthesizing "meat" in a "bioreactor"? Soylent Green, anyone?

I ate a field roast for dinner last night, because I am a vegetarian and those are the types of things we eat.

(link) [CNET News.com]

/Agriculture | 4 writebacks | permanent link

On 6/23/2006 16:30:32
Thomas Kemp wrote

Well, you are assuming that all vegetarians are so because of some sentiment about killing animals. I do not eat meat. In my life I have butchered hundreds of animals (the largest being sheep, or maybe a fat goat). I do not mind the killing of animals for food. When I lived on a farm, I raised and ate animals and felt fine with that process as I knew I raised the animals well. I do not eat meat now because I live in the suburbs of a small town. All meat in the stores and restaurants around me serve meat produced from industrial sources. I do not believe that animals raise in those circumstances are treated humanly. Nor do I believe that the chemicals and hormones used to produce that meat are necessary for me to live. So I choose not to eat it. Likewise, the so called "organic" meat sold in major natural foods chains frequently comes from confined feeding operations. I am aware that there are many producers who raise meat in humane conditions, such as you appear to be, but they are only available regionally.

On 6/23/2006 17:15:44
Dave H wrote

You're right

about the CAFO's and the nightmare that American agriculture has become. But I should have been more clear: I don't consider a person such as yourself to be a "vegetarian". You choose not to eat meat because alot of meat sold in stores today is close to poison. I have another name for folks like you: smart! And I like to think of myself as one of ya'll "smarties", too. I should have phrased it "ethical vegetarian" or something like that, to denote that I was referring strictly to people who refuse to eat meat for ethical or moral reasons. I won't eat most meats from supermarkets, either. Hel, I'm careful about the veggies and other foods I buy, too. And I don't pump my meat animals full of antibiotics and feeds - I supplement my chickens a bit, and I feed a bit of grain or good pellet feed to lactating mothers, but beyond that everybody eats grass (and bugs, in the case of my hens). And I will treat an animal with antibiotics when it's ill - but never as a preventative or supplement. And it's really too bad about the organic label - it means virtually nothing these days. Sorry for the misunderstanding, thanks for the comment and Be well, Dave H.

On 6/24/2006 21:39:21
Brenda wrote

I saw a study once that noted the soy industry kills more animals per year than the meat industry. Think of the impact of combine harvesters on the small rodent populations that crop up in soybean fields combined with pesticide runoff. The way I see it, eating the cows is more humane.

On 6/28/2006 11:01:12
Adam Thada wrote

other reasons

Besides personal health reasons, I was a pseudo-vegetarian (I guess "very limited meat intake") for awhile because of ecological reasons, I guess. The fact that it takes multiple more kilos of grain to get just one kilo of meat, rather than one kilo of grain for one kilo of bread (or nuts, or whatever). When I see people starving for want of even grain, I'm not quick to take up untold acres for my own leisure and comfort. Plus, I still haven't ventured into the slow-meat market due to logistics of large meat purchases and budget reasons, now being a married student. For now, I'll stick with the eggs! (Hopefully I'll be dropping by next Monday).

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