More about meat

If I ever doubted the power of social media, no more. I posted a snippet on Facebook about considering vegetarianism earlier this week, and instantly everyone knows I'm giving up meat for Lent. Amazing!

Why stop eating meat? Jonathan Safran Foer dissects (no pun intended) our cultural decision to eat meat in his quick and satisfying (sortof like a blt) book, Eating Animals. One read through, and you'll never want to participate in the systematic torture of our furry and feathered friends again.

Now, I will miss meat. Foer states that there is no ethical option for meat-eaters in the U.S. You can't buy meat from animals that were raised in a sustainable, ethical, humane way and also slaughtered without unimaginable cruelty. Foer tells us that no slaughterhouse exists that can reliably knock out animals before separating them limb from limb. If you read his description of a cattle abattoir, where cows are routinely skinned, eviscerated, and have their lower legs snipped off while still conscious, well, you will not contest this. He also raises the overall ethical question of eating animals, period. Why not dogs? Kittens? The thought horrifies us. But give me a chicken sandwich and I'm thrilled. With bacon, please.

He suggests maybe we just don't know how delicious dogs are.

There are also the environment ramifications of factory farming and commercial fishing, as well as the injuries to workers in slaughterhouses, one of the most dangerous jobs in America. It's a well-researched chronicle of the American love affair with animal protein.

Well the good news is that here in the SF Bay Area, we do still have a couple options. Not Niman Ranch, which has gone toward commercial methods to maximize profitability. Bill Niman, however, is now goat farming and you can buy his wares at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market on Saturday mornings. You can also join a csa for monthly meat deliveries from Marin Sun Farms, and get beef from Five Dot Ranch in the Sierras at local stores and restaurants.

For now, I'll see how a vegetarian diet suits me. Garbanzo beans! Tofu! Cheese quesedillas! And it's easy to make the commitment not to buy meat from animals that lived in misery and died in agony, so, no meat from commercial farms. Now, what to do about eggs?