A few years ago, I took a World Religions class where we studied most of the world’s religions in depth. We started off with Islam moved into Judaism then onto Christianity and forward to Hinduism among several others. When we were reading about Hinduism, we read a little about Mahatma Gandhi. While reading about more about Gandhi I remember reading something about him saying that the world is full of suffering and if we can have a meal that will sustain us without adding more suffering into the world why wouldn’t we. While writing this I searched desperately to find the exact quote but could not. Now I’m wondering if I made part of it up and added some into it, I don’t know. But the point is the same. Humans do not need to eat meat to survive. We can have very full and flavorful meals any time of the day that are nutritious and just as delicious as meals containing meat.

I love this article by Abigail Geer 5 Reasons Why We Shouldn’t Slaughter Animals for Food. I would love to convince everyone to become a vegan but not only would I be a hypocrite if I advocated that I also think that is a very large ask of someone who still eats meat. I drive a car with leather seats, I eat yogurt and use butter so I am not vegan myself. What I don’t do is eat meat, chicken, fish, or anything that was once alive.
My manager and I got on the subject of me not eating meat because where I work, they give out turkeys to all the employees for Thanksgiving every year (ugh). And she asked me if I didn’t eat animals for political reasons. I laughed because I thought it was such an odd reason for anyone to not eat animals but it also opened my eyes to the fact that there are many reasons people come up with for not eating meat. Mine has always been out of concern for the animals first. I’ve enjoyed the clear conscious and added environmental benefits that come along with it but I adore sentient beings and know they have a soul and if nothing else it’s been proven that they have feelings. So, if I can get full from a delicious meal and not kill anything in the process of doing it why wouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t I?

Most of the time it is the spices people add to meat that they enjoy. There are so many delicious meat alternatives, even local ones that are incredible like Herbivorous Butcher. Our teeth are made for grinding food not tearing flesh. There are numerous health benefits that are too long for me to even list when reducing meat intake. I guess the bottom line for me is, you don’t have to give up meat entirely if you don’t want to just enjoy it as a ‘treat’ for special occasions maybe not at every single meal.