There are all sorts of reasons to avoid eating too much meat, especially if it's from animals raised on so-called factory farms (known to the industry and its regulators as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs). There's animal welfare, since the animals are typically kept in cramped conditions that are likely to turn the stomach of many people. There's the environmental cost, since the meat from an animal feeds fewer people than the feed and water used to raise that animal could. There's the concern about antibiotic-resistant strains of disease, since animals in close quarters are often treated before an outbreak happens, leading to the possibility of bacteria growing resistant to medicines humans need to stay healthy. And then, there is swine flu. ...
For a while, I tried to be vegetarian. It didn't work. Later, I got into a conversation with a social justice person at work who is also a home cooking fan, and she pointed out that in food history she's read, vegetarian food traditions have always been Elites. Food traditions from even the poorest areas have always included small amounts of animal protein (milk, eggs, or meat) with the predominant grains, veggies & fruits. Especially necessary for hard physical labor. So now my goal is to eat less animal protein, and try to get more of it from local free-range farmers.
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julifolo) wrote,
