Youngblood
Food with a face
By Leonard E. Magloyuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:45:00 08/28/2008
“Animals, too, are God’s creatures… Degrading them to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible.” — Pope Benedict XVI
Lately, I’ve been having a problem of whether or not to go vegetarian. Various sources of information, from the Internet, the health and lifestyle sections of newspapers to some books I have browsed through all say that going vegetarian is the best thing one can do for animals, the environment, and one’s health. I have chosen to be an animal rights advocate. I have come to believe that animals, too, need to be respected. And this can only be done by living a lifestyle that does not support animal exploitation. It is not a mainstream idea, although it is something people from First World country care about.
I was taught to love animals, but not to the extent of shunning them for food. It seemed then to be the normal thing to do, and so as kid, I ate everything.
Our island town has eight barrios, and our province has 24 towns. You do the math as to how many fiestas we used to attend in all of which we were served all kinds of food, from “bistik,” “morcon,” “hamon,” pasta, “tapa,” “inihaw na lapu-lapu” and “sugpo” to roasted chicken and the requisite “lechon baboy.”
When I moved to the urban jungle to pursue a college education, I savored everything fast-food restaurants offered. In the countryside pizza was unheard of, hamburger was a funny foreign word, and a brownie was exotic. But my “probinsyano” [provincials’] palate quickly developed a liking for fast-food fare.
Some years later, when my weight ballooned to 170 pounds, I was determined to slow down. I needed a change in lifestyle. I had several options: the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, diet pills (with all its scary side-effects), going vegetarian, or going to the gym. I quickly dropped the last, finding it boring. I tried my own version of Atkins—lots of protein and no carbohydrates. And it did the trick. But not for long; soon I was back to my old eating habits.
I toyed with the idea of going vegetarian but didn’t give it a serious thought at that time. The idea was alien to my world. I was not vain enough to give up my love affair with tasty foods. I cringed at the idea of never being able to taste foie gras and caviar.
Recently, I came across a news report about a picket in front of a foreign embassy to protest its government’s resumption of beef importation from the world’s superpower. One placard screamed: “Eating meat is insane!”
Somehow, that message got through to me. I gave the idea of going vegetarian a second thought.
What does vegetarianism have to do with animal rights? I looked for answers, and here’s what I found.
Today, most small farms have been replaced by huge corporate “factory farms” where chickens, pigs, turkeys and cows are treated like machines instead of living and feeling beings. Virtually all meat, eggs and dairy products available in supermarkets and restaurants now come from animals raised in such farms.
These giant corporations spend millions trying to obscure reality with images of animals living peacefully in an idyllic farm or barnyard. Unfortunately, this pretty picture couldn’t be any further from the truth. Chickens are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds, with five to eleven hens to a cage. These cages are so small that the birds can’t spread even one wing. The chickens are genetically manipulated and given massive doses of antibiotics to make them grow so quickly that they become crippled under their own weight. The ammonia levels in chicken farms are so high that the corrosive substance burns the birds’ lungs and skin. Chicks have their sensitive beaks cut off without pain killers.
Dairy factories owned by big corporations boost production by injecting cattle with synthetic growth hormones. Female calves are taken away from their mothers soon after birth and added to the herd or slaughtered for the enzyme rennet in their stomachs (used to make cheese). Unwanted male calves are sold to the veal industry. When their milk production wanes, cows are killed and ground up to make burgers.
Pigs are kept in pens that are so small that they can’t even turn around. Many go insane because of the extremely crowded conditions in factory farms and compulsively chew on the bars of their pens.
Fish that are commercially grown are fed large quantities of antibiotics and other chemicals.
If their living conditions are not pathetic enough, you should watch how these animals are slaughtered. They gasp for breath up to the end, which makes you realize that these defenseless creatures value their life much as you do yours.
Leading health experts say that animals raised in corporate farms are sick. These diseased chickens, pigs, cows and fish produce disease- and bacteria-laden flesh and pus-filled milk that should be classified as “unhealthful.” The experts point out that what we call hamburger, steak, hotdog or salami are actually “decomposing, rotting animal carcasses.” They add that you cannot be healthy and well when you eat the fear, grief and rage of these creatures. They say there are healthier alternatives that you can eat without guilt, cruelty and harm to the environment. And I say: Don’t eat anything that has a face!
I suppose that going vegetarian is quite hard in this flesh-eating world. When I tell friends that I am seriously thinking of turning vegetarian, some roll their eyes while others raise their eyebrows. They give me a look that says, “Are you going crazy?”
But vegetarianism is a choice, a choice I still have to make. Indeed, it would require a major change in lifestyle. Right now, I have started with a diet that includes less meat and more vegetables. I am hoping that in the months to come, I will truly be 100-percent vegetarian.
Leonard E. Magloyuan, 24, is a business management student at San Beda College.
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