Monday, November 26, 2007

The Rub

Welcome back from Thanksgiving break everybody. I am told my readers are getting quite restless without new material. I am sorry for keeping you in suspense, especially since this is the most interesting point in the experiment in some ways. Yes, Devin and I are eating meat again. It is stranger to write about here than to actually do, but nevertheless, strange is how I feel.

I did quite a bit of traveling to get to my first meat meal over the long weekend. But in the first half hour of my time on the road, I heard yet another timely radio broadcast. The senior political analyst for Michigan Public Radio was covering a place called Sasha Farm (www.sashafarm.org) where Turkeys and other animals go for refuge. Actually, the animals are usually brought there by people. It was an interesting piece for a political segment of a radio program. The host gave the basic info about how and why the farm operates, caring for animals who escape slaughterhouses or get captured by the police after running around the city causing trouble or fail to win the big race and almost get turned into glue. He discussed with one woman how she is a vegetarian and will be feeding turkeys on thanksgiving rather than feeding ON them. She eats a tofu loaf instead. After the basic facts were covered and interview was done, the monologue began. The tone shifted. Apparently it has been a fairly moving experience to see all those animals living happily for their own sake, never to be eaten. He went into the PETA-style factory farm lament for a bit and made an interesting observation. He said that in the modern world we human so rarely have to "meet our meat." Now that is both true, and suspiciously similar to our blog's address. I don't want say we thought of the obvious pun first, but we beat him to it by at least three weeks. He makes a good point thought. We don't even realize we eat animals anymore if we are honest. Chicken is breaded in the wild for all we know. It would be interesting to visit a place where animals that were once destined to be food are cared for and treated with extra care. Check out the farmers' blog at www.sashafarm.org/blog. You can also find the radio program there.

Then again, I am not jealous of that woman's tofu loaf. I enjoyed my turkey, and all the meat I have eaten since. So here is the scoop: I ate a modest helping of turkey for thanksgiving. It was quite uneventful. It was a lot like...well, like eating meat...not very different at all. Felt quite routine and normal. Even after all this time avoiding meat and talking about it at great length, I put it in my mouth and didn't feel strange. It also tasted as good or bad as ever. I was hoping meat would be amazing after being denied it for so long, but it was the same. My thoughts on meat remain changed by the last weeks, and my cupboards still have my vegetarian fare in them, but the physical process of eating meat is not dramatic in any way. What IS a little surprising, is how much meat I managed to eat since Thursday. Not an obscene amount, but easily about twice a day without even trying. Being on the road, in airports and generally on vacation made my diet abnormal, but still, meat found me quite quickly and I am glad I did not have to fight it. That gives me pause. I almost feel guilty for not fighting it. I am glad that I remain aware of the fact that I ate meat daily since Thanksgiving day. I would not have noticed before. But I feel like I should have done more. Sure, I got the veggie soup and salad for lunch on friday and ate Quorn chik'n nuggets for dinner last night, but still, shouldn't I be more hesitant to welcome meat back into my life rather than having it twice a day?

I am being too hard on myself, probably just because I am talking to you guys. I need to be careful though. My regained freedom needs to be responsibly restrained if this whole deal is going to stick. I am doing alright so far. No shame yet. No meat by obligation was a small, fun challenge. Less meat by choice will be a whole new game. And therein lies the rub.

1 comment:

Tyler said...

I'm glad that you saved the tyler-inspired title for the very last, most important post. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, even if not intended.