If everyone had to slaughter critters for their meat, there would be a lot more vegetarians.

[Tobin S.]

I was talking to my mom about me switching to a vegetarian diet. She said that if she had to kill and slaughter animals for her own meat she probably couldn't do it. I think I lot of people would have a problem with that.

I can do it, but I hate it. I used to fish a lot, and I would sometimes bring the fish home and clean them. I always hated doing it, but I did it anyway. If it was a matter of survival I could do stuff like that, but few people need to do that to survive now days.

[Kali]

1. really you could say the same of growing plants

not many can or are willing to grow their own food, period.

[Tobin S.]

6. If people had to make that choice, I'd think most of them would go with a garden.

[Kali]

11. I doubt it. I think most people would resort to stealing whatever they could

if they were faced with working directly for their food.

[Tobin S.]

13. You're assuming uncivilized conditions.

That's not going to happen. I'm talking the way the world is right now.

[Kali]

14. actually, no I am not

most people are not interested in producing their own food, that is one of the main reasons "civilization" even exists. most people do not have the time or inclination (or talent, frankly) to garden, raise livestock, hunt or do much at all other than hit a grocery store or drive- through. less and less even do the grocery store, at least in the west.

it is a lot of work to raise your own food. pretty much full time work, not much left for a paying job or many of the pleasures being part of a civilization. people that do it learn pretty quickly the benefits of animal and their products in terms of nutrition (and calories) and in the system.

[hlthe2b]

2. My grandfather raised beef cattle. I've seen it all and I hate it. I'd raise dairy cows, but never

beef--and I'd quickly be run out of business because I couldn't bring myself to slaughter the old cows.

Out of sight, out of mind--no adage was ever truer (and more counter-productive to changing our way of eating)

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. Native Americans HONORED their kills.....

For they respected the land and the animals that fed them by honoring their sacrifice and not laying to waste any part of the animal that could not be used for food, clothing, tools, etc.


I abhor Big Game Hunting that is a thrill kill sport that it has become because it does nothing to replenish the earth of its nature and beauty.

[radical noodle]

4. That's probably true

I'm not a member of this forum, but saw the headline. I once worked in a pork processing plant that both killed and cut. I was in the office, but it was a job I was forced to take by the unemployment folks while on temporary leave from another job. I hated it and there are still things that turn my stomach when I think about it. I was able to escape after six months there.

The only good thing I can say is that nothing was wasted. No part of the pig goes unused.

[moose65]

5. I'm not vegetarian or vegan

But I grew up out in the country, so I know where meat comes from. My grandparents raised chickens for Holly Farms (later Tyson) and they always had a pig. Most folks who grew up in rural areas know what it means to slaughter animals for food. I also worked in gardens too, so there's a lot of back-breaking work involved in raising fruits and vegetables too. Most people probably wouldn't be willing to do that either!

[matt819]

7. True. So what?

It's been a long time since we were hunters and gatherers, and at some point most societies came to grips with having others hunt and yet others prepare and sell.

That said, I'm with you. I couldn't kill my food. As long as I still eat meat of some kind, I'm grateful that farmers sill raise beef and chicken and that fisherpeople still fish. I'm cutting back. I've had meat only twice this year. Chicken and fish maybe once a week. The rest is veg.

[Tobin S.]

9. The point is that I think most people would be naturally inclined to eating a vegetarian diet.

At this point it would be better for the entire planet.

[Kali]

10. that is debateble but I see this is in a "protected" forum

if you ever want to really delve into the benefits of livestock on the land and the realities of costs and benefits to various types of food production, give me a heads up. love you Tobin and love the journey you are on.

[matt819]

12. Any sociologists or anthropologists here?

Interesting question.

Let's go back, say, to the early days of the industrial revolution. More people in urban areas, fewer hunters/gatherers.

Putting aside the wealthy folks, who could afford to pay people they didn't see to kill and prepare their animals.

But lower and middle classes? What was their meat consumption? For beef and pigs, probably the off cuts and offal. My guess is that that they purchased these, not killed them. Same for those special occasions when they sprang for some other cut. Chicken? Maybe they were all still close to the time when they had to kill to eat, so they killed when they could afford to, or purchased whole chickens and related animals live and slaughtered them. But people are people. Not everyone could do that. So I would suspect that one person or family in a community became the local butcher. The people could still eat meat - when they could afford it - but didn't have to slaughter the animals themselves. Fish was effectively "free," though I'm sure the government and landowners figured out a way to charge for the opportunity to fish. And preparing fish was - and still is? - probably not as gag worthy as dealing with poultry or beef.

I'll bet a quick search on Amazon would turn up any number of books on how we came to eat meat, etc. once we stopped hunting.

[captain queeg]

8. I worked in a slaughterhouse for years

I’d agree with your assessment. It’s pretty rough work that most people would avoid at all costs. That being said commercial slaughter is fairly humane. What really sickens me is the way many animals are raised. I’m thinking specifically of chickens because I’ve seen that. Certainly cattle’s lives are usually better than that, at least they can move around.

I guess I’d rather be shot in the head than live a long drawn out painful and sick death like many humans and animals. Speaking for myself.

[Laffy Kat]

15. Yet in a way, raising and slaughtering your own is so much more humane.

True farm animal usually only have one bad day. I couldn't do it either, though. I can't even clean fish.

[2naSalit]

16. +1

[MLAA]

17. Once I acknowledged the animal cruelty involved, I could no longer eat meat...

even if others were doing the mistreatment-killing. Before I acknowledged the cruelty 10 years ago I tried to not think about it for a few years and prior to that it didn’t even cross my mind.

Sure glad a friend of mine showed me the way to live a kinder, healthier and more responsible to the planet life.

[Karadeniz]

18. Isn't human physiology geared towards consuming plants? I thought our teeth were

Designed to grind, not tear flesh. And I thought our long intestines were there for processing plants.

[Codeine]

19. I was raised in a hunting family

who also raised rabbits for food. Slaughtering things was normal activity in our home; in fact my parents would often poach or hunt off-season game and slaughter it in the kitchen (!) so nobody would see that they had broken the law. Nothing like waking up and wandering out for breakfast only to see black plastic bags covering the floor and an antelope draining out into a bucket next to the dishwasher.

Those experiences taught me two lessons — one is that I never want to cause avoidable deaths for my food, and the other is that if it ever became necessary I am more than capable of killing and slaughtering an animal. Thankfully I do not foresee any such circumstance.