An Experiment...
As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about what I eat and, more specifically, the moral/ethical implications of my food-buying choices (both at stores and restaurants). This has lead me to care about two things that I hadn't thought about much in the past: buying locally-produced food, and reducing the animal cruelty that results from my food choices.
Over the past year or two, I've greatly increased our use of locally-produced food by joining a CSA, choosing local foods at the supermarket, preserving local foods in the summer to eat in the winter, and preferring restaurants that use locally-sourced food. There is still room for improvement in this area, but I feel good about about what we're doing.
I've been struggling, though, to figure out what to do about the animal cruelty that is rampant in our food supply chain. This is a difficult issue for me, because I really don't have a problem with killing animals for food, but I do have a very serious problem with torturing them while they are alive.
I've been feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of sorting this all out and making my own choices about what animal products I should/shouldn't eat. It is possible to buy meat and dairy products from local farmers who represent that they treat their animals well. Whole Foods has a grading scale for animal treatment, and they send out auditors to make sure that their guidelines are met. Eggs come in a dizzying array of choices regarding the ethical treatment of the chickens and/or the diet they are fed. The products that purport to be humanely-produced are not as readily available (with the exception of eggs) as conventional animal products, and they cost a lot more. While I would be willing to pay more for more humanely-produced food, I don't have a lot of confidence in claims made on product packaging, and I don't want to be ripped off.
I know that eating a vegan diet would eliminate this issue, but I don't think that is a practical choice for our family.
This has resulted in me thinking a lot, but doing nothing. I hate it when I get that way, so I decided to do something to break the deadlock.
After talking to Kevin, we've decided that we will eat a vegetarian diet (at least at home) for the next month.
Over the next few days we may eat some non-vegetarian foods that we already have in the house because we don't want them to go to waste, but we will stop buying meat, poultry and fish. We'll continue to buy eggs, milk and other dairy products, and I will look for locally-sourced and humanely-produced versions of those things. We're not going to stop the kids from eating meat and poultry at restaurants, but I'll be trying to maintain a vegetarian diet for the entire period, including my upcoming trips to Georgia (to see Glenn and Beth) and Orlando (for an IETF meeting). I am not sure how hard it will be to do that... For me, eating a vegetarian diet at restaurants is not that far removed from eating a vegan diet, since I can't have cow's milk products, so it may be somewhat difficult, especially in those locations.
This experiment has two goals: (1) it will substantially reduce the amount of money we spend on inhumanely-produced animal products over the next month, and (2) it will help us understand how difficult it would be to eliminate most animal products from our diets longer-term.
I don't think it is likely that we will decide to become vegetarians in the long term. I do hope, though, to establish a base-line vegetarian diet that works for us, so that we can make more considered choices about what animals products we add to that diet in the future.
Over the past year or two, I've greatly increased our use of locally-produced food by joining a CSA, choosing local foods at the supermarket, preserving local foods in the summer to eat in the winter, and preferring restaurants that use locally-sourced food. There is still room for improvement in this area, but I feel good about about what we're doing.
I've been struggling, though, to figure out what to do about the animal cruelty that is rampant in our food supply chain. This is a difficult issue for me, because I really don't have a problem with killing animals for food, but I do have a very serious problem with torturing them while they are alive.
I've been feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of sorting this all out and making my own choices about what animal products I should/shouldn't eat. It is possible to buy meat and dairy products from local farmers who represent that they treat their animals well. Whole Foods has a grading scale for animal treatment, and they send out auditors to make sure that their guidelines are met. Eggs come in a dizzying array of choices regarding the ethical treatment of the chickens and/or the diet they are fed. The products that purport to be humanely-produced are not as readily available (with the exception of eggs) as conventional animal products, and they cost a lot more. While I would be willing to pay more for more humanely-produced food, I don't have a lot of confidence in claims made on product packaging, and I don't want to be ripped off.
I know that eating a vegan diet would eliminate this issue, but I don't think that is a practical choice for our family.
This has resulted in me thinking a lot, but doing nothing. I hate it when I get that way, so I decided to do something to break the deadlock.
After talking to Kevin, we've decided that we will eat a vegetarian diet (at least at home) for the next month.
Over the next few days we may eat some non-vegetarian foods that we already have in the house because we don't want them to go to waste, but we will stop buying meat, poultry and fish. We'll continue to buy eggs, milk and other dairy products, and I will look for locally-sourced and humanely-produced versions of those things. We're not going to stop the kids from eating meat and poultry at restaurants, but I'll be trying to maintain a vegetarian diet for the entire period, including my upcoming trips to Georgia (to see Glenn and Beth) and Orlando (for an IETF meeting). I am not sure how hard it will be to do that... For me, eating a vegetarian diet at restaurants is not that far removed from eating a vegan diet, since I can't have cow's milk products, so it may be somewhat difficult, especially in those locations.
This experiment has two goals: (1) it will substantially reduce the amount of money we spend on inhumanely-produced animal products over the next month, and (2) it will help us understand how difficult it would be to eliminate most animal products from our diets longer-term.
I don't think it is likely that we will decide to become vegetarians in the long term. I do hope, though, to establish a base-line vegetarian diet that works for us, so that we can make more considered choices about what animals products we add to that diet in the future.