I don't often have much to say on here; LinkedIn isn't the greatest platform for Ag, but something I came across yesterday prompted me to write this: In an age where sustainability is key to saving the planet, most people I come across give none or very little thought to the sustainability of the food on their plate, or rather the sustainability behind the journey to get it there. There's not much of a culture of providing for oneself in the UK, or there wasn't when I left, 8 years ago. Here in the States, it is a little different, but I still come across many who get uptight & preach against processing their own meat for the table, but will quite happily go & grab a packet of chicken breast from the shelf at the store. For the first time yesterday, I came across someone from the UK who had processed & cooked a mean rooster she had. Something we do all the time here without a thought. I say without a thought, that is not strictly true; every creature that is used to put meat on our table is dispatched with a little prayer of thanks for the giving of it's life to nourish us. I could also mention the quality of life for the animals we provide for ourselves, but that is a discussion for another day. Below is what prompted this post.
"If most people had to kill their food, most people would be vegetarians."
I suppose that *sounds* right, but it's provably not true. The history of man is that we hunted for meat and killed it ourselves for 2 million years. This is what we did. It is written in the grooves on mammoth bones, spear points, and campfires the world over.
It is why we domesticated chickens, sheep, goats, camels, horses, cows, ducks, geese, pigs, and pigeons.
We raised our own meat and killed it too. It was sold alive in the market until 150 years ago, as there was no refrigeration. You wanted chicken for dinner? You killed it in the backyard. There is no trick or art in killing, and it is not shocking after you have done it and lived with it. This was the "daily normal" for almost all of human history.
It is only the arrogance of modern lazy times when ripe fruit is delivered in winter, and sugar and nuts come in a bag, that we have embraced foreign foods such as potatoes and tofu, almonds, and pumpkins, papaya and pineapple.
There is nothing wrong with vegetarianism, and quite a lot good, but eating meat is not immoral, and killing things is not shocking.
Are the hawk and the fox immoral and unnatural?
Is flying in grapes from Chile, almonds from California, and apples from Oregon morally superior to local eggs, chicken, and grass-raised beef?
Is hand-harvested food picked by impoverished peasants in Mexico, Colombia, Kenya, and China morally superior to the machine-planted and harvested corn that feeds our cows and chickens?
I don’t think so.
If you feel otherwise, I’m more than OK with that, but I’ve come to see a lot of misery in a coffee cup and a lot of exploitation in a banana. Killing a chicken? It’s not shocking to me.
Co-Founder/CEO @ BoldtSmith Consultants | Packaging Optimization Expert
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