Often times, when people ask me whether I am a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian, I promptly reply, "I eat anything that moves ?". Growing up in a conservative family where most of my relatives eschewed things as mild as eggs, I find it shocking that I would one day don a carnivore instinct to devour churscarrias in Brazilian Steakhouses. At most times, I am a "poultrarian" - someone who eats only poultry products, but I have sampled a whole gamut of animals ranging from squid to alligator. I generally have no qualms regarding this fact, nor do I feel a sense of shame for doing the "forbidden".
However, it does leave a lump in my throat when I read about corporate animal farming or watch graphic videos showing the gruesome process of rearing and killing these animals. We all know its true that most poultry are raised in overcrowded pens where they are constantly maimed by their neighbours, we know they are fed genetically modified food, and we are very well aware of the cold hearted way in which they are killed. I am sure most meat eaters are well aware of the cruel living conditions of most factory farmed animals, and a majority of them even sympathise with the atrocities inflicted on these speechless creatures. But, when they are finally served at the dinner table, we nevertheless relish the chicken breast or the slice of sirloin. Is this hypocrisy or is this just animal instinct ?
At the core of it, man is just a smarter, more developed version of our four legged friends. Probably, the earliest human beings were pure vegeterians, eating fruits and tree produce. Things probably stayed like this for a while till someone sampled the remanants of a carcass and found it to be tastier than the leafy stuff they had hitherto consumed. In time, men learnt to hunt down the animals and make a meal out of them. Thus man was just one more predator in a jungle filled with flesh hungry beasts. This was the Natural !! There existed a food chain, and propelled by an oversized cranium, man rose to the summit faster than other monsters. Some proponents of the non-vegetarian sect extend this logic further to justify the meat eating action to be essential to maintaing balance of the eco-sytem. I think thats just balooney !!
Personally, I do not agree with the claim that meat is tastier than vegetables. It might be high in energy content, but if Transmogrifier is right, it is also the least energy effecient in terms of food production. I also do not agree with the fact that vegetarian diet is not as nutritious as meat based diet. Infact with the advent of the enormous obesity problems facing most nations, the "greens" might have the final laugh. I have seen a lot of Indians in US use the excuse that the vegetarian options are limited and it is very hard to be a strict vegetarian. I have used that excuse umpteen times, when confronted by elderly relatives, but I have also come to believe that the excuse is totally invalid. Over the recent past I have seen a lot of hard core meat eaters turn to greens and have had no regrets at their decision.
Despite the pro-vegetarian tone of this post, I continue to remain a non-veg and see no change in that status in near future. Human beings are selfish by nature, and morals always run a distant second to personal interest. I also believe that most vegetarians abstain from meat, not because they are against cruelty to animals, but because they detest the smell, taste of meat or because of religious reasons. And hey !! Aren't plants living beings too ?
ps: Food for thought (strictly vegetarian !) for this post was provided by my good friend Ramya.
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11 comments:
"the earliest human beings were pure vegeterians" -- not entirely sure if you can assume this to be true .. food production/agriculture came much later in the human evolution .. and quite a few primates are omnivorous which would suggest that early humans would have been likely opportunistic omnivores more than anything else ..
Tying up food choices with religions and faiths, is what fucking gets me ticked off. If one makes a conscious choice in terms of meat in their meal or not, for reasons like health and taste etc, I am okay with it. Just 'coz some dodo thought he wouldn't eat anything that moves, why would a huge sect of people just blindly follow it?
I remember a while back M had addressed a similar issue in a post of hers. My take is that everyone should be entitled to their own choices on the table. There is no point by getting preachy or looking down at someone eating meat (in fact they have no right to in the first place) because at the end of the day its personal choice and if it makes him/her happy so be it.
@Nice try..I beg to differ
I believe it is definitely easier to eat fruits fallen on the ground as opposed to hunt animals. Hunting required some set of skills and weaponry, and also the meat had to be cooked/processed b4 consuming. Eating animals was probably something human learnt by observing others around them, and hence I firmly believe that the vegetarians arrived first.
@Subash...I completely agree...In todays rational world, one would expect people to make choices governed by their conscious and not by their religious faith...
@Rohan Kumar...Personal choice it should be..but I still find it hard to digest the fact that despite pitying the sorry animals, we eat them with gusto..this again is a choice, a conscious choice, but is it morally correct ?
I recently read a news article about something which can only be called vegetarian terrorism. In Bombay, in some places where there are lots of Gujarati and other vegetarian communities, you can't get a house if you are not a veggie. They have forced the shops in those areas to stock veggie food only. Its a whole new kind of discrimination. Its this high moral ground that some vegetarians take that pisses me off. And, when talking about feeling sorry for animals, there a degrees in that. I guess you aren't sorry enough, or you wont be eating them.
@anarkist Some people do take high moral ground but its mostly only because they can't stand the smell of cooking non-vegetarian stuff in general..
earliest human beings pure vegetarians.. I thought there was scientific proof from dental structure tht they were actually carnivores but I might be wrong..
Mamals in general are classified as omnivores.
but it is not necessary that u have to cook before you eat meat.. common r u telling me tht no human ansestor ever ate meat before fire was discovered and salt was added to it...
Subbu.
I'm vegetarian, and I live in a part of the world where people think I'm some sort of crazy tree hugger because of it.
But the fact is, (no preaching here), a non vegetarian diet is associated with a higher risk of many different types of cancer. Fish, on the other hand, is excellent for health. I want to make it a habit, but I just can't seem to get past the smell..
@Anarkist..I think the gujrati community example in Mumbai is an exception...for every one such example, you could probably dig up 3 examples of non-veg against veg...
But the higher moral ground thing is painful...and if u notice its not pure veggies who tread this, rather those who have converted to veg after years of non-veg
@Subbu..u might be rght abt the fact that early meat was never cooked..but i still find it hard that humans would hunt animals and eat them, when they can readily pick up and eat fruits fallen on the ground... am still of the opinion that veggies came first
@Raindrop....a non veg diet is definitely associated with risk of health disease..a case in point is the widespread bird flu...but I must say the tribe of veggies is increasing in the western world..its becoming a fad, and the label of tree hugger would soon be outdated
I'm pretty sure man was a carnivore first. Try going into a jungle once and live off fruits that just fall from the trees. How many fruit trees do you see around? There are very very few that have edible fruit. And besides, you would be competing with other animals, like monkeys for instance, for the said fallen fruit, and obviously monkeys are much better equipped for picking fruits than you are.
And Subbu, "can't stand the smell" is a lame argument. You've got to live with people man. Next it would be "can't stand the name". Besides, I used to think (and still do, to a large extent) that 'pongal' looks, smells and tastes like shit, but I don't stop talking or associating with everyone who like 'pongal'. And pointy, I have not heard of anyone being discriminated for NOT eating meat. What 3 examples against every one are you talking about?
@Anarkist...Given the fact that 80% or probably more of the world are meat eaters, one would expect that the non-meat eaters are a minority and and discriminated more often.
...Abt the first humans being carnivores, I am still not convinced...i think I need to do more research before I can put forth the veggie theory
I am pretty sure that I read it some place reliable that humans were carnivores to begin with. They use to be like animals, moving in herds and hunting big game and all. Might be eating some fruit they could get from here and there, but they had no reliable way of growing these food items till the time they learnt the proper agricultural ways and that was about as recent as 10,000 years ago. Till then I think they relied heavily on meet. It’s the reason we humans still have those carnivore like teeth, suitable named canine. I think none of the herbivore species have these.
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