Vegetarian

Vegetarian. What a loaded word.

Some thoughts on being vegetarian:

I am a vegetarian.

Ok, what came to mind, when you read that? I would guess a variety of generalizations that are usually associated with vegetarians. Skinny white liberal dude. Self-righteous. Judgmental. Elitist. Weird. Since becoming a vegetarian, I have been amazed with how many assumptions come with the label "vegetarian".

But, let us consider what being a vegetarian actually means. Eating vegetables. Not eating meat. I'm guessing it's the last part that gets people. Not eating meat. Gasp. In this particular country, meat has become such a crucial part of the staple diet. By that, I mean eating meat two to three times a day. When that is the norm, it's pretty understandable that a vegetarian sticks out like a sore thumb. And, truth be told, being a vegetarian tends to marginalize you a wee bit, because, as so much meat is eaten, you have to pick your way around food a lot.

But, lets consider a broader picture of the human diet, over, say, the past few thousand years. Have people always eaten meat two to three times a day? No. Not even close. Up until the invention of the factory farm, where cows can be raised and slaughtered in a few years, meat has come at a higher price. Think about it. If you kill your cow, you get a ton of beef. A few questions: what do you do with the leftovers? Do you have refrigeration? Billions of people around the world today lack refrigeration. So, killing a cow presents a bit of a problem. New question: what do you lose when you kill that cow? A source of milk, a source or muscle and work, a source of manure, a source of income. You lose all these things that minute you kill your cow. Of course, most of us don't have to think that way, because we buy small meat packages from the store, and the death of a cow has no impact on our sources for milk or manual labor. In a vague sense, it is from a cow, but we barely recognize that fact.

All this is to suggest a different way of looking at meat. It's a lot more than a hamburger. It's an animal (or was), and, more importantly, a domesticated animal, meaning that it provides a number of services for human benefit, only one of them being meat. Not to mention the fact that, for most of human history, a person got meat by killing said animal. Not by driving to the grocery store. By taking a life. Too sentimental? Have you killed a pig? I hear it's quite unpleasant, and most of us would think differently about eating pork if we did the slaughtering ourselves.

Ok, I'm climbing off of my podium now. I don't like preaching. But, I do like considering different perspectives on things that are usually accepted as normal. Is it normal to eat as much meat as we do? I'm not sure it is. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the extent to my identity as a vegetarian. Nothing to do with politics, or morality, or self-righteousness. Just reconsideration.