Monday, December 04, 2006

Cows

I've eaten burgers for years, decades. It is one of my two favorite foods (pizza being the other). As of late, however, I am wondering if I wish to continue down this path. A movie opened in the bigger cities a few weeks ago called, "Fast Food Nation". It is loosely based on the book of the same name by Eric Schlosser. I haven't read the book, but below is a summary of its subject matter (click on the link and then click on the Salon article):

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/food/schlosse.htm

I just don't like the idea of cows dying for me. I'm wondering if it's really the meat that keeps me going back to Wendy's and Friday's. I despise steak, pork chops, and all that other stuff. All I'll eat is a hamburger, but it's not just the patty. I'm also eating the bread (bun), pickles, onions, mustard, and tons of ketchup. If meat is so good, why do I have to put ketchup on it before each bite I take?

I'm gonna try to eat a burger just once a week if I can swing it. Tonight I'll have pizza. Later this week, fish and chicken.

Wish me luck.

1 comment:

CM said...

I think any kind of mass-produced food product (particularly when it comes to animals) has all kinds of gross, inhumane, disgusting, and/or toxic details we rather not know about...I read an article today about chicken farmers gassing worn out hens when they stop laying because it is cheaper to just kill them and bury them -- than say, sell the meat -- because the hens that lay eggs have only a pound of meat, vs five pounds on a chicken raised for consumption. Some of the gassed chickens revive and claw their way out of the compost heaps where they were buried, stunned and zombie-like. I think we can't say we are separate from this kind of phenomenon, even if we are a hard-core vegan, or vegetarian, because everything is related and interlocked. Everything is interdependent. So I think it is your motivation, or intention, that makes what you eat a good action or a bad one. My ten cents.