Thanks for a great article! Good humor and lots of info. Here’s my secret fear (like the bacon question above- don’t tell anyone!) I don’t trust the food industry. I’m worried they are sneaking powdered crickets & worse into the food supply! Yikes! Seriously- I will continue to buy local to the extent possible and I may even try the vegan sausages. I should be safe- it would be heresy to use powdered bugs in it, right? Lastly, thanks for reminding everyone that we are to either refrain from meat on all Fridays or substitute some other sacrificial act, each Friday being a memorial to Our Lord’s Crucifixion. The exception being when a Solemnity falls on a Fri. A big ‘thank you’ to my Dad (RIP) who made sure his kids knew the Church teaching on this subject.
Great interview. In the last year or so I've gone vegan again after having abandoned it a dozen or so years earlier, and Prof. Camosy is absolutely correct that it is VASTLY easier / less time-consuming now than it was then, especially for those of us not living in major cities or university towns. I hope many people will consider giving some a try, at least occasionally, even if they have no interest in making any major lifestyle changes.
2) Why has no one invented veggie/faux-"fish anything" food yet? All I remember seeing is imitation crab, which is ... fish. Maybe we can just have an amnesty day for that?
3) I was on board with this guy until he listed the foods he does eat, which are all plants-sussed-up-as meat items. I think he needs a good veggie cookbook, so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian_Cooking_for_Everyone <--- get this, or anything by D. Madison.
4) I grew up in the Midwest in a meat/potatoes family, but also surrounded by thousands of acres of soybean fields. Given the choice between grilled meat and grilled tofu, I will always go for the soy. If you are looking to switch your diet, just remember to give your gut flora 30 days to repurpose to digesting only plant food. You may feel wretched during this period, then it's all good.
As much as I dislike factory farming I'm glad it exists to some degree. Without it I think we really would be facing a Malthus situation. While I doubt I'll ditch meat I can certainly get better at buying local.
Having grown up around and had contact with farmers and farms all my life, including some farms of family members, I've never seen any direct evidence of animals being "brutally tortured and killed"; I can't claim that it doesn't exist, as I haven't been everywhere, but the vast majority of farmers and ranchers would vigorously deny that they mistreat their animals. They don't mistreat their animals first because they actually care about them — that's why they're in the business at all; there are far easier ways of making a living. They also don't mistreat their animals because it would be bad for their respective bottom lines; animals that are mistreated don't thrive, and so they would be worth less when sold.
In my experience, such allegations as Camosy makes are simply, or at least primarily, calumny.
Thanks for this thought provoking article! I am very sympathetic to his thought process and frequently consider reducing my meat consumption… but it’s so tasty.
I do try to buy organic meat when possible, because I can afford to and I imagine that places following protocols for USDA organic certification are probably treating their animals better than those that don’t.
It is a source of humility for me when I consider all the reasons I think it would be good to eat less meat…but then I don’t follow through because it’s inconvenient or less pleasurable. It gives me sympathy for those who struggle with aspects of the moral life that I don’t struggle with. I’m not really “better” or have greater self-discipline than others, I just happen to have been given grace in certain areas.
I love vegan sausages! It's the truth, they are really good. I am having vegan kielbasa tonight in fact.
Bacon is good
Thanks for a great article! Good humor and lots of info. Here’s my secret fear (like the bacon question above- don’t tell anyone!) I don’t trust the food industry. I’m worried they are sneaking powdered crickets & worse into the food supply! Yikes! Seriously- I will continue to buy local to the extent possible and I may even try the vegan sausages. I should be safe- it would be heresy to use powdered bugs in it, right? Lastly, thanks for reminding everyone that we are to either refrain from meat on all Fridays or substitute some other sacrificial act, each Friday being a memorial to Our Lord’s Crucifixion. The exception being when a Solemnity falls on a Fri. A big ‘thank you’ to my Dad (RIP) who made sure his kids knew the Church teaching on this subject.
Great interview. In the last year or so I've gone vegan again after having abandoned it a dozen or so years earlier, and Prof. Camosy is absolutely correct that it is VASTLY easier / less time-consuming now than it was then, especially for those of us not living in major cities or university towns. I hope many people will consider giving some a try, at least occasionally, even if they have no interest in making any major lifestyle changes.
Observations:
1) Fish Amnesty Day acronymizes to FAD.
2) Why has no one invented veggie/faux-"fish anything" food yet? All I remember seeing is imitation crab, which is ... fish. Maybe we can just have an amnesty day for that?
3) I was on board with this guy until he listed the foods he does eat, which are all plants-sussed-up-as meat items. I think he needs a good veggie cookbook, so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian_Cooking_for_Everyone <--- get this, or anything by D. Madison.
4) I grew up in the Midwest in a meat/potatoes family, but also surrounded by thousands of acres of soybean fields. Given the choice between grilled meat and grilled tofu, I will always go for the soy. If you are looking to switch your diet, just remember to give your gut flora 30 days to repurpose to digesting only plant food. You may feel wretched during this period, then it's all good.
Nah. I'll go with what Our Lord himself told us, not some dubious personal interpretation of the Catechism by some "moral theologian":
Acts 10: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
As much as I dislike factory farming I'm glad it exists to some degree. Without it I think we really would be facing a Malthus situation. While I doubt I'll ditch meat I can certainly get better at buying local.
Having grown up around and had contact with farmers and farms all my life, including some farms of family members, I've never seen any direct evidence of animals being "brutally tortured and killed"; I can't claim that it doesn't exist, as I haven't been everywhere, but the vast majority of farmers and ranchers would vigorously deny that they mistreat their animals. They don't mistreat their animals first because they actually care about them — that's why they're in the business at all; there are far easier ways of making a living. They also don't mistreat their animals because it would be bad for their respective bottom lines; animals that are mistreated don't thrive, and so they would be worth less when sold.
In my experience, such allegations as Camosy makes are simply, or at least primarily, calumny.
Thanks for this thought provoking article! I am very sympathetic to his thought process and frequently consider reducing my meat consumption… but it’s so tasty.
I do try to buy organic meat when possible, because I can afford to and I imagine that places following protocols for USDA organic certification are probably treating their animals better than those that don’t.
It is a source of humility for me when I consider all the reasons I think it would be good to eat less meat…but then I don’t follow through because it’s inconvenient or less pleasurable. It gives me sympathy for those who struggle with aspects of the moral life that I don’t struggle with. I’m not really “better” or have greater self-discipline than others, I just happen to have been given grace in certain areas.