Meat-eating and the industry

[JackFrost]

I looked at my eggs and they had a two on them. I'm glad it wasn't three

That doesn't impress me. (...) To be happy about that would be like saying I'm glad someone was tortured by Americans rather than in Auschwitz. There is a difference, but it's hardly rosy.

I find the above statement to be in rather poor taste.

Yep, she violated a law. The one about anyone who makes a Nazi reference automatically loses the debate. ^^

[ILuvEire]

Yep, she violated a law. The one about anyone who makes a Nazi reference automatically loses the debate. ^^

Lol. Wow.

Also JackFrost, I really like your avatar.

[JackFrost]

It's true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law

And thanks! I even have it in t-shirt free from work.

[Eoghan]

Yep, she violated a law. The one about anyone who makes a Nazi reference automatically loses the debate. ^^

Lol. Wow.

Also JackFrost, I really like your avatar.

I agree, cool avatar, and I would love to have one of those t-shirts - and that's exactly what I tried to tell Sarabi, but she decided I was one of her detractors and didn't want to listen to me...

[KingHarvest]

What would be even better would be an, "Osama votes for McCain," shirt.

[HerrFraeulein]

I'd vote McCain. He has a golden smile. Plus he's been to Nam.

[Eoghan]

I'd vote McCain. He has a golden smile. Plus he's been to Nam.

Sweden would vote Obama, no doubt about it

[Gormur]

I eat animal products and meat, but only free-range organic. I think it's important that the animals are treated well, but also that I know what I'm eating, not eating anti-biotics, and staying healthful.
I mean, if you're eating an unhealthy animal product, how can you expect to be healthful? You are what you eat, afterall..





raw milk (is this available in other countries as well? I only see it in a few US states, like California and Oregon)

[DelBoy]

I eat animal products and meat, but only free-range organic. I think it's important that the animals are treated well, but also that I know what I'm eating, not eating anti-biotics, and staying healthful.

Although organic meat farming isn't very good for the animals nor for the meat.... to be certified organic means that the animal can't receive certain medicines. Butchers say that they can usually tell if an animal they get is 'organic' due to the bad quality of the meat and signs of disease...

[Trapy]

Butchers say that they can usually tell if an animal they get is 'organic' due to the bad quality of the meat and signs of disease...

Hmm, I've never heard of this before. Organic beef here is ~ $7 lb, and the 80/20 cheap meat is ~ $3.50 lb (97/3 is ~$5.50 lb). If what you say is true, I feel alot better about not buying the ultra-expensive organic stuff.

[Kirk]

I eat animal products and meat, but only free-range organic. I think it's important that the animals are treated well, but also that I know what I'm eating, not eating anti-biotics, and staying healthful.
I mean, if you're eating an unhealthy animal product, how can you expect to be healthful? You are what you eat, afterall..

Totally agreed.

I eat animal products and meat, but only free-range organic. I think it's important that the animals are treated well, but also that I know what I'm eating, not eating anti-biotics, and staying healthful.

Although organic meat farming isn't very good for the animals nor for the meat.... to be certified organic means that the animal can't receive certain medicines. Butchers say that they can usually tell if an animal they get is 'organic' due to the bad quality of the meat and signs of disease...

Well, I haven't heard that, but there is indeed a difference between standard industrial agriculture which happens to abide by the letter of the organic law (but still has cramped spaces for animals, which lead to much higher chances of disease and unhealthy animals as that's not how they were designed to live) and agriculture which adheres to the spirit of the original organic movement in insisting upon sufficient space for animals to be themselves. It's not always easy for the consumer to tell which is which, unfortunately.

I don't think I'm a supertaster, but I can tell the difference between, say, free-range, organic eggs and standard ones. The former's taste is indisputably richer, yolkier, and the color often slightly more orange. This indicates to me a greater degree of healthfulness of the hen which laid the egg and I would be entirely unsurprised to find out such eggs pack greater nutrients, as well.

I don't eat a lot of meat but in the rare occasions when I buy, say, ground beef I make sure it's grass-fed, free-range, and organic because it also tastes better to me. It tastes like beef should...rather than being some kind of superbeef it just reminds me "you get what you pay for" in comparison with cheaper ground beef, which in the US means that it was fed on corn (not its natural diet and much less green-friendly, and the corn they give cows is super low quality, full of petroleum-based syntethic pesticides and most likely GMO), most likely given antibiotics because it lived its entire life on a cramped feedlot, and maybe even fed other animal byproducts.

Yes, admittedly the beef I buy is comparatively expensive, but I'm of the mindset that since I don't eat it very often I may as well pay for good quality every once in awhile instead of cheap low-quality crap (literally) all the time. I know people are different but for me as I see it there are so many excellent plant-based sources of protein (incidentally, like the savory soy sausage I'm eating right now) I see little need to eat meat voraciously and that ultimately saves me money, is better for the environment, and I believe is healthier.

[HerrFraeulein]

I eat animal products and meat, but only free-range organic. I think it's important that the animals are treated well, but also that I know what I'm eating, not eating anti-biotics, and staying healthful.
I mean, if you're eating an unhealthy animal product, how can you expect to be healthful? You are what you eat, afterall..

Totally agreed.

It's always struck me as odd that people who are OK with killing animals (for no really vital needs of their own) often still claim to think it's important that the animals aren't made to suffer "unnecessarily". Not that I'd rather have them totally indifferent, mind you, nor do I find the position flawed as such, but what I find intriguing is how, on a psychological level, it's possible to care at all about a being that, to you, is pretty much just food. I mean, people who claim to be overall indifferent to what happens to animals, though not more sympathetic per se, are at least "comprehensible", consistent, if you will. So, if ya don't mind my asking, short from getting off on cruelty to animals, would you guys really mind if the animal went through hell before landing on your plate?

[Steisi]

It's always struck me as odd that people who are OK with killing animals (for no really vital needs of their own) often still claim to think it's important that the animals aren't made to suffer "unnecessarily". Not that I'd rather have them totally indifferent, mind you, nor do I find the position flawed as such, but what I find intriguing is how, on a psychological level, it's possible to care at all about a being that, to you, is pretty much just food. I mean, people who claim to be overall indifferent to what happens to animals, though not more sympathetic per se, are at least "comprehensible", consistent, if you will. So, if ya don't mind my asking, short from getting off on cruelty to animals, would you guys really mind if the animal went through hell before landing on your plate?

Sure I would I explained before that I'm not gonna give up meat (entirely) any time soon, because I (personally) feel I need it for a healthy balanced diet. That doesn't mean I want the animals to go through torture before it gets to my plate -why would I? Eating meat doesn't automatically mean I'm heartless, sadistic and..well, hungry. Okay, so I might be the latter but I'm not the former two I suppose I view as kind as a necessity; the animal has to get to my plate so I want to do it in the most humane way possible.

By the way, do Americans not use the word healthy at all? This word healthful looks and sounds exceedingly odd and foreign to my British ears

[Lazar Taxon]

By the way, do Americans not use the word healthy at all? This word healthful looks and sounds exceedingly odd and foreign to my British ears

No no no - in my experience, Americans, like British people, almost exclusively use "healthy" (to describe people, lifestyles, food, practices, etc.) and rarely if ever use "healthful". (Although I think some pedants might insist on a distinction where "healthful" describes things that promote good health, like food, whereas "healthy" describes things that posssess good health, like people.)

[Steisi]

By the way, do Americans not use the word healthy at all? This word healthful looks and sounds exceedingly odd and foreign to my British ears

No no no - in my experience, Americans, like British people, almost exclusively use "healthy" (to describe people, lifestyles, food, practices, etc.) and rarely if ever use "healthful". (Although I think some pedants might insist on a distinction where "healthful" describes things that promote good health, like food, whereas "healthy" describes things that posssess good health, like people.)

Thanks for the clear-up!