Food Bytes

I thought your article raised a good point about urban life: We are so far out of synch with the world around us, that urbanites may tend to look upon the slaughter of animals as barbaric. For this reason, hunting/harvesting of animals has been cast in a bad light, and hunters themselves are often painted as nothing more than gun-toting rednecks.

The truth of the matter is, animals are a legitimate source of food, and often contain nutrients that aren't readily available in plant material. There is something natural, and even beneficial in the sustainable harvest of animals for food. To criticize someone because they choose to feed their family in such a natural way doesn't make good sense. I suspect that if those same critics were to actually visit a modern poultry or beef processing facility, they might quickly change their minds about which food source is the better option!

In my opinion as an urbanite ex-farmer/hunter/fisher, the most unethical aspects eating meat (and dairy and eggs) are the ways in which most animals are raised and killed. How people can cavalierly eat eggs and drink milk that comes from enslaved, tortured, animals (and wear leather shoes from cattle pumped full of hormones and antibiotics) whilst slagging people for hunting and killing animals that are either wild or raised free-range blows my mind.

I don't think it is right to kill animals to eat. Raising animals also wastes a lot of resources. If everyone stopped eating meat, the food crisis would ease and starvation could be beaten. (People could eat the grains that are fed to livestock/other grains could be grown.) However I have a lot less sympathy for seafood, and I continue to eat it. Eggs, though, involve a lot of cruelty. Male chicks of the laying breeds are thrown live into garbage bags and then discarded! I find this horrifying.

Dear Kate (and all you other uninformed):

Humans evolved as ominivors - both meat and vegitation eaters. If it were not for our meat diet then Man-kind would not have evolved the brain capacity we now enjoy and which makes us the species that we are (good or bad). Protein aids in brain development. That is why infants drink milk and not graze on grass.

As for hunting for your own food - well I am a woman and I am quite capable of hunting and dressing out my own food. If there is ever a crisis in this world where food sources fall short - Well I am sorry to say but you will be starving in the city but I will be dining on wild rabbit, fish and deer up here in the country... One should always be able to sustain and support ones self in all situations...

City People make me laugh :)

As for the bleeding hearts who think all animals that are raised in captivity are treated cruelly - well come on up to my place and I will show you around the farming community here where the animals are treated better than their owners. After all, the animals are the owners income so they know to treat them well else they will not be living very well themselves....

This misconception that feeding animals is denying food to starving people has gained momentum in the popular press, but it is misleading. There are cattle raised on pasture land which is unsuitable for other crops because the soil is too thin, rocky, etc. Many farmers are using byproducts, that are unfit for human consumption, from other industries in the animal feeds. These byproducts are from bakeries and breweries, to just name two.
For those who choose a vegetarian lifestyle, don't kid yourself that this is better on the environment. Think about how far your fruits and veggies have to travel to reach your table. This is using non-renewable energy. Most of us here in Canada (and many people around the world) do not live in a climate that allows the growing of food year-round. Where do you think your bean sprouts are coming from in February? Livestock can be grown year-round in Canada. Despite all fearmongering about meat, there are many nutrients which our bodies require that are more readily available from an animal source than a non-animal source. Calcium, for one, is more easily absorbed by the body when it comes from milk than from broccoli or a pill.
As for hunting and eating what you have killed, perhaps this is not something everyone can do. But if it ever came down to catching your own food or starving, I think we would all manage to eat that cute little bunny.

It's a pity plants have no cute little eyes to beg for mercy. Yet they grow, reproduce and silently suffer the ravenous appetite of the rest of the living world. So let's be logic; let's stop eating meat and plants or let's have a rock for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Seriously, we kill to feed or we die. I am at peace with that. I lived on a farm and got to kill the chicken, bunny, lamb and tomato that ended up in my plate. I have empathy, just as much as any hard core vegetarian or animal advocate out there. I just want my food to have a real life before it get killed humanly. So I eat organic a much as possible, I buy only what I need, re-heat my left overs in respect for the animal (or the turnip :-) that died to feed me and read labels.