It's been a week without meat and I'm doing OK with the new way of eating and shopping. It's actually been pretty easy. I've been for dinner at my sisters and out to a restaurant without any hankerings for meat. I've been grocery shopping and didn't even walk past the meat section. So far, so good. I came home to find my husband cooking bacon and didn't even start salivating. I'm not going to lie, it smelled damn good but, I just thought about the sizzling pig flesh and moved on.
Now, for the hard part-the family! When I approached my family about making a united choice to give up meat I was met with a mixed reaction. My eldest daughter let out an audible sigh of relief and said, "thank you, mommy". She made the choice not to eat meat 2 years ago and hasn't looked back. My husband's response was interesting but, not surprising. He really gave it some thought for awhile. He was chewing on the idea which got my hopes up. As he opened his mouth, I thought he would say that he would ponder it for a few days and then we could talk about it. Nope, he said, "what about chicken?" So, needless to say, my husband will need some more pondering time. I knew my youngest daughter would be resistant as she loves meat and would happily eat steak at every meal but, I thought I could get her on the animal rights and cruelty issues. She loves animals and hopes to one day adopt 5 dogs and 2 horses. Her response, "I can't live without bacon." Some people might remind me that I am the one that buys the groceries, therefore I'm in charge. That would definitely be one route to take with my family, however I don't' live in a dictatorship. Every family member needs to make his or her own choice. I think that to stick to this new lifestyle one must make the decision for themselves and for their own reasons. No one likes to be told what to do and, undoubtedly, if I make this decision for them, it will be meaningless. I am making my choice and perhaps I will be an example for them.
It's been tough explaining to people that I am making this transition from omnivore to vegetarian. Of course, being a vegetarian is not a new idea and all of us know at least one vegetarian in our lives. I don't know why it is so crazy, then, for me to become a vegetarian. Am I too old? I am learning more and more about factory farming and its impact on the environment and our health as consumers of meat and citizens of the world. This is where I start the conversation. What is funny is that a lot of my friends immediately seem to be defensive about eating meat, like somehow I am questioning their choices. Not true! I am educating myself on a global issue that effects each of us on the planet and when questioned about the choice I am making I'm going to share what I know. I am new to this and I have no intention of judging people about their choices. It's like my mental framework has changed because of this new knowledge and I can't 'unknow' it. Now that I know the effects of factory farming I can't continue on the same path. The only thing I can do is make the daily choice to not eat animals and hopefully my family will learn from me and make the change along with me. Until then, I am going to have to be tested by the smell of bacon on weekend mornings and summer barbecues. I love a challenge!
I'll keep you posted.
Well, no one said it was going to be easy.
Time is Subjective
11 years ago
Now you have me curious about factory farming! How about educating me about it over a glass of wine?
ReplyDeleteI would love to tell you more about factory farming over wine! I am still learning more myself but, I can share what I have learned for sure! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
ReplyDeleteI've been anti-factory farms since watching Food Inc. Have you seen that yet? I know the standards in the US are vastly different than ours but I'm sure we're not too far behind. I do know that we don't use the Bovine Growth Hormone that the USDA uses in their cattle. The Doctor responsible for keeping our food free of that is coming to our church next week to speak.
Anyway, so I am anti-factory farms like I said but I still do eat meat. Thankfully we are surrounded by an incredible Mennonite community out here who hand raise their animals. They are not grain fed or sprayed with pesticides. I'm less about the animal cruelty issue or side of things, having hunters in my family, but I am about making healthy choices. Our bodies cannot take the chemicals that we are putting into to and expect to survive! We did cut Chicken out of our diet until we found a family farm who hand raises them and they're not grain fed but free range roaming on organic fields. It's more expensive, we are still waiting for our first to arrive, it's more like $4 / lb for a roasting hen but to me, it's worth it. Knowing that they did not grow up in 6 weeks and were injected with corn, pesticides and other chemicals.
As a family we made a choice last year to watch our intake of man-made products. Yes, we're eating more organics but it is more than that. It's reading labels and recognizing the poisons that are in our every day food.
Until we can buy a farm... we're looking at renting an acre to start our own co-op garden so that we know for sure that we're eating 100% real food, the way it was created.
The hardest part for the kids was giving up their "usual" school snacks. We completely skip that aisle now. :-)
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's all about choices and what's available to us in our area. Reading lables is so important and our kids will be savvy shoppers when they grow up. Knowledge is power, baby!