This post from The Kitchn was interesting because it’s something I’ve thought about myself.

I’ll admit it. I like to eat critters but I get a little squeamish …. So there’s a tension here for me because I also think that this makes my relationship with the meat on my plate removed, privileged and not a little hypocritical. Is it OK for me to eat something I’m not willing to kill myself?

I have a hard time coming up with a justification for why it’s completely OK to eat meat, and yet it’s something that’s accepted in our culture and clearly doesn’t make you a bad person. At various times I’ve considered becoming a vegetarian. I haven’t done it, although I don’t eat much meat and when I do, I buy humanely-raised meat when possible.

One reason I’ve remained an omnivore is a little difficult to explain. This reason initially surfaced as a feeling that if I became a vegetarian, I’d be one of those obnoxious vegetarians who criticize everyone else’s plate. I am pretty sure that’s true, and I have gradually figured out why.

I have come to think that there’s value in ambivalence - we can’t know the perfect moral solution to every problem, because our moral sense evolved in response to pressures, and can produce conflicting results or results that seem to be clearly wrong on logical examination. I think that’s a very important thing to remember. We need to try our best to do right, but realize that we don’t have all the answers, and look out for opportunities to adjust and make our moral sense better. Thinking that you have all the answers, forgetting that questions exist where you can’t say what’s right or wrong, cuts you off from those chances to improve.

For me, the question of meat-eating is a reminder that I can’t know everything. If I did choose vegetarianism, the option where I deny myself pleasure but remove all moral qualms, I think it would be very easy to become self-righteous about it (maybe more so because it’s not an easy choice to make). So I would be obnoxious, and maybe also satisfied with myself and forgetful of the imperfection of my moral sense.

Over at The Kitchn, the linked entry had several really good comments. This, from “latenac,” I thought was particularly good:

I’m an omnivore. I can’t quite come to terms with viewing any subject as black and white. If you’re going to put animal rights above all else then a lot of other grey area comes into play. If you still eat dairy, how do you feel about what happens to the calves that are a by-product of making that dairy? If you’re a vegan that keeps pets how do you justify that it’s not exploitation of that animal and what do you feed them? After all, cats are obligate carnivores for example. What are you doing about the migrant labor that comes into play with you food choices? How do you feel knowing nothing you eat is truly animal cruelty free? You can’t just hide in a black and white view of the world b/c life rarely is.

I love food, I love the experience and ritual of it and I try to be mindful of where all of mine comes from. And I want to be part of the world rather than trying to rise above it. And I want my body to get everything it needs through the food I eat rather than having to take supplements. And with that view comes the grey area of knowing what we eat and where it comes from. We all have to find our level of comfort.

I’m not sure that I will always eat meat, or that I will always eat as little meat as I do now, but I will keep thinking about the question.

Posted by Amanda in Food |