The flame grilled scent fills the air around your local take away store. Fried spicy gourmet attracts lunch goers to wherever the Rand can satisfy their hunger. A Sunday lunch allures the family, gathering to idolise the roasted delight. How about an age-old South African braai cooking up a storm of meaty goodness? At second glance these daily pleasures may just cause more harm than we know.
Food is an important symbol of our cultural and social heritage. Many will support this notion and look past the source of all that we enjoy in our culinary activities. It seems as if beef, chicken, fish and mutton are all staple ingredients in our diet, almost forgetting that a living creature once was the source of meat products on our plates. A deeper look into what we take for granted has led me towards two very passionate and intellectual individuals.
A sense of intelligence coupled with hybrid thoughts was my immediate perception for these two anonymous vegetarians as they answered two easy questions; when did you become a vegetarian and what are your beliefs thereof? I received much of what would be expected in vegetarian belief as well as some noteworthy social aspects to this often ridiculed concept. Just how justifiable is the taboo placed on vegetarianism? Much of the existing vegetarian ideologies are based on animal cruelty and human conduct towards Earths biology. It was the idea of one of my informants that “cultural blindfolds” have left an evidently ignorant majority selfish in their plights to satisfy a basic and somewhat primitive desire. According to both of these individuals, the entire industry feeding our meat supply contributes quite substantially to green house gas emissions and ultimately the harmful effects on nature. This led me to the idea that we are placed in life according to “natural order”; a hierarchy like food chain dominated by evolution, intelligence and power.
Why then did I headline this piece using “Natural Order” as a focus? Arguably of course, it could be said that our very intelligence and power has boxed us into a “comfort bubble” of ignorance. I have heard arguments from both sides of the spectrum: “I eat meat because that is what animals are meant for”, “God gave us animals to eat”, “A cow is the best way to turn grass into a steak”. Clearly, a lack of knowledge is what we find our comfort in and we stick to what we know best, but what if we were a step down on the food chain? What if for some reason a life form, more intelligent and powerful than humans found an interest in turning our flesh into cuisine? A scary thought yes, but obviously something to think about; guilt is overshadowed by the concept of natural order, leading to the reassurance that meat arrives on our plates as if by default.
Brutal or not, we clearly need to broaden our horizons and perspectives on the way we live. Beautifully summed up by one of my trusted vegetarian confidantes; “being humane is the first step to being in harmony with Mother Nature”. Surely then our moral and ethical values need some spiritual and social amendment.
Read more on my blog http://8for8debate.blogspot.com.
Comments welcome, arguments encouraged!
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