Can we love animals and eat them?

[orwell]

5. I can't...

...I was a big meat eater until I...

1) Worked in a meat processing plant

2) Moved to a rural area and made friends with a goat

3) Made friends with a steer

Number 1 got me off of all processed meats, especially hot dogs.

2&3 made me confront my indifference to the fact that sentient beings who enjoyed my company and welcomed me enthusiastically when they saw me could end up on my dinner table that night.

I reasoned that if I couldn't personally kill it and deal with the reality of death for my sustenance I shouldn't be eating it.

I do just fine with a mostly vegetarian lifestyle, only rarely eating wild caught fish. (I could catch and kill a fish even though I don't.) The only reason I am not 100% vegetarian at this point is that I do all the cooking and my life partner does not want to give up all animal products.

The side benefit is that I was unexpectedly far less stressed and angry after I gave up meat. I suspect that we ingest the fear (adrenaline and other stress chemicals) of the mass slaughtered animals when we eat them.

There is nothing safe or benign about the industrial meat industry. It is a house of horrors filled with death, sadness, stink, cancers, and fear. Work in a meat processing plant some time and get back to me.

With all the very tasty meat alternatives available, I can make any recipe I want and not have to have some animal's untimely demise on my conscience to do it. In essence, I have given up nothing as far as taste and texture and enjoy my food now more than ever.