Monday July 13

Hello! Took the weekend off.
Spent most of Sunday preparing and cooking for my daughter's graduation party. Large barbecue, with lots of meat - mostly chicken.

This raises the whole tangled question of whether or not to eat meat, especially in the context of a blog on health and well being. I've settled the questions in my own mind. After years of being a vegetarian I now eat meat in balanced and moderate amounts. I'm also very fussy as to what meats I eat and where it comes from. I believe that Chinese philosopherLao Tzu was right when he said that the highest honour you can give a dead animal is to let it live on through your consumption of it. If I had to kill an animal, however, I would definitely be a vegetarian. I couldn't kill any living thing. If meat wasn't available on a styrofoam tray covered in plastic wrap I would probably just do without.

I've been accused of hypocracy in this regard based on the logic that if I and others like me didn't buy meat, then the industries that slaughter and package meat products would collapse. Perhaps! There are a tangle of moral and ethical issues involved. I, for example, don't eat baby animals such as veal or lamb. You have to make your own decisions on these matters. The rest of what I have to say today is based on the decision to eat meat.

If you are going to eat meat it should be from a healthy animal. Animals confined to cages, pens and stalls, that are fed chemical concoctions, and executed by automatic machinery do not fit my definition of healthy. There are options. Buy from Kosher shops and Halal stores. Jewish kosher meat comes from an animal that was butchered in an humane way by an individual person, not a machine. Halal meat is the Muslim equivalent.

More and more traditional grocery stores offer a range of free-range fowl. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other game hens that have been allowed to run free in a natural environment. Those tagged as "organic" have also not been fed growth hormones or chemical supplements of any kind. If you have made the decision to eat meat, make the decision to eat the best quality meat available.

All this talk of meat has reminded me of a joke.
Harold was in Calgary, Alberta, for the stampede and ran into Andrew, a friend he hadn't see in many years. Andrew invites Harold out to his ranch for the weekend. When Harold arrives on Saturday morning Andrew gives him a tour of the place. Acres of corn, barley, and flax, pastures full of cows and sheep, stalls filled with race horses and goats. As they are leaving the last big barn Harold can't help but notice a pen with huge pig in it. And damned if the pig doesn't have a wooden leg! "What's with the pig with the wooden leg?" asked Harry. "Oh! That's my superpig!" exclaimed Andy. "Two years ago I was out on the back 200 when the tractor I was driving ran out of control, turned over, and pinned me in a small stand of trees. I couldn't move. I thought I was doomed when out of nowhere comes my superpig. He throws his weight at the tractor and sets me free. He saved my life!"
"That's amazing!" said Harry.
"And that's not all!" Andy continued. "Last year, intoxicated, I fell asleep in the front room, in front of a raging fire. A spark from the fireplace set my bearskin rug ablaze and the house and I would have gone up in flames if not for my superpig. He smelled the fire, broke down the front door, and woke me up with his grunts and squeals! Saved my life a second time!"
"That's truly amazing!" replied Harry, adding.."but what's the peg leg all about?"
"Are you nuts?" said Andy. "You don't eat a pig that super all in one sitting!"

Be well!