everything else, I treat as food. And I never feel great guilt over eating, cooking and slauthering what used to be living things. If I ever buy “ethically slaughtered” or free range, organic produce and meat, it’s because either they taste better or they’re healthier (lesser fat or little to no preservatives and without antibiotics).

I think of it as a cycle of life (enter Lion King soundtrack). Yes, I eat meat and seafood but later on when I’m pushing up daisies and wild grass, I will eventually be eaten by the same things I ate.

Marketman himself implied in his post that he did not know much about industrial (i. e., “milk-fed”) veal production. The link he provided is to an industry FAQ page that provides descriptions that are…let’s just say, VERY carefully worded in order to give a good impression. I myself once ate milk-fed veal before I knew any better.

The reality is that “milk-fed veal” is meat from male calves individually confined in such a way that they can lie down but not turn around, which impedes muscle development and the normal formation of myoglobim (hence the very pale color of the meat). Each calf is tethered (the industry web page claims, “reducing the risk of calves harming themselves and each other”) and therefore unable to turn around or even groom itself past its shoulder, much less play or exhibit any NORMAL calf social behaviour. (Note that isolated/tethered veal production is already banned or in the process of being phased out as a legal requirement in EU countries, but not in the US…yet. Female heifer calves are housed in group pens, free to move about and interact much more normally with each other.) The veal calves are fed an artificial formula and routinely administered SUB-therapeutic levels of antibiotics, because these calves are NOT healthy. The administration of sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics is a practise that has led to antibiotic resistance in many parts of the world, and this is a practise now also banned in many countries.

If the “milk-fed” veal practises do not disturb the intelligent consumer, I’m not sure what will. One of the reasons for discussion groups like this is informational. Similar “awareness” discussions are what helped the organic movement grow. You can no longer buy white veal (milk-fed) in England, for example, because British law forbids the type of animal husbandry needed to produce white veal. Pink veal is the acceptable alternative, but consumers must be educated about this for the market for pink veal to grow.

Generally speaking, it is ENTIRELY within one’s control (most certainly within the control of those posting on this blog) to choose what foods to spend their money on. And I don’t buy into the “but humanely raised meat is more expensive” excuse. If the humanely raised meat cost, say, 50% again as much as the factory-farmed meat, well, it is an easy thing to choose to purchase LESS meat but meat that is of better quality. Eat smaller portions or meat, or eat it less frequently, and appreciate what you have on your plate.

I’m not advocating an abstentious lifestyle…good food has been my hobby for decades. I enjoy cooking, and hosting small dinner parties and wine tastings. The pleasure of eating good food, to me, includes an appreciation of what it took to grow/raise/catch that food, as well as its preparation and presentation. Try getting a bit more personally involved on the grow/raise/catch aspect of putting a good meal on the table, and I think you can’t help but feel the same way.