When my niece Maeve came to stay with us about three months ago, I decided to try eating vegetarian for the while she was going to be here. With only a couple of very few minor exceptions I avoided meat while she was here, and have continued to this day, and plan on continuing. Maeve has followed this discipline for many years --- me, just three months, but it feels good. I've thought about this for a long time, for all the usual reasons. Mostly, I guess I just think it is better for the planet, and certainly better for the animals, and probably better for me? I've never liked eating anything with a face - at least not if the face is on my plate. I've always liked my meat in the form of hamburger, sausage, etc..... sort of no chance of it looking like a little leg, or other body part. I remember a few incidents with faces - I once returned my fish in a restaurant when it turned out to be a whole fish.... "Please go take the face off" I politely said to the waitress. I also remember becoming physically ill when my girlfriend's parents hauled out a huge platter with 13 lobsters on it for a Christmas dinner. I also vividly remember watching as a chef in a little seafood grill in Boston pulled out a live lobster and chopped it up with a big cleaver before tossing the pieces into a frying pan.
I guess eating other living things is sort of the basic plan of life, but if I go back to eating meat, I think I'll try to avoid eating from sources where millions of pounds of turkey meat need to be recalled when there is a glitch in the production line!
I'm not preaching - just sharing some of the thoughts I've been mulling around for a while.
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