“What I Eat” (by Carl Safina)

Here is a whole different perspective to eating compassionately: http://carlsafina.org/2016/04/07/what-i-eat/

Some quotes:

In nature, if a predator kills an animal for food, that prey animal got to be who it was supposed to be until the moment it was caught. By stark contrast, animals on modern farms seldom experience one single moment of life as they might have enjoyed it. On modern factory farms, are animals forced to live miserably before they die.

More thoughts:

If I catch a fish, the fish got to be who they were supposed to be until I caught them, similar to a natural predatory event. And—most important—I don’t harm the ocean’s capacity to produce another fish. But if I eat tofu, it comes from a soybean farm on land that used to be the natural home for many plants and animals. Vast areas of Brazil, for instance, lands that once grew monkeys and macaws, have recently been cleared to raise soybeans. Yes I know; much of the soybean crop is fed to farmed animals, so yes I agree; meat is still more of a drag on nature than tofu. But palm oil, qualifying as “vegan,” is a nightmare for tropical forests, wiping away vast communities of non-human beings including most of the orangutans on Earth.

Please do read his thoughts on eating. It is very eye-opening.

His conclusion:

The tradeoffs are not always simple or obvious. But how to improve our relationship with food isn’t so hard. So for me, local and organic matters. Cruelty matters. Knowing where your food comes from matters. Being perfect isn’t possible, but we can ask which food does less harm. That’s why improving our relationship with food isn’t so hard.

Personally, I share all that Prof Safina stands by; the only thing is I don’t catch fish or seafood.

When eating out (especially at Chinese dinners), I eat whatever is served too because I do not want to be an inconvenience to others, but that would only be fish, prawn or chicken (I do not eat pork, beef, mutton or any other animal).  At home, we only eat eggs from Kampung Harvest because all the hens live happily and are not sent for slaughter (that’s from my friend, Ivan’s, farm). The eggs are unfertilised too.

But I do have to buy chicken and fish for all my 11 cats. They are carnivores, hence, they have to eat meat. There’s no choice there.

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2019/03/01/what-i-eat-by-carl-safin..

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