"Respecting" animals while killing and eating them

I ran across this article today on a guy in Virginia who puts a lot of thought into raising his livestock in an ethical and environmentally responsible manner. (He'll be familiar to anyone who's read The Omnivore's Dilemma.) While I doubt he'll convince too many ethical vegetarians - after all, no matter how much he respects his animals, he's still killing and eating them - I found it an interesting piece. I'll be curious to hear what the rest of you have to say on it.

The article is here.

[Robin Garr]

I ran across this article today on a guy in Virginia who puts a lot of thought into raising his livestock in an ethical and environmentally responsible manner. (He'll be familiar to anyone who's read The Omnivore's Dilemma.) While I doubt he'll convince too many ethical vegetarians - after all, no matter how much he respects his animals, he's still killing and eating them - I found it an interesting piece. I'll be curious to hear what the rest of you have to say on it.

Without reading it first that's pretty much where Mary and I have come down. We like steaks, pork chops, bacon, chicken, duck, etc., far too much to give them up in spite of a growing ethical sense that animals do have consciousness and that there are real ethical issues about killing and eating them. But we have moved in the direction of limiting our meat intake to animals grown humanely and, preferably, by farmers we know, even if we have to pay a premium to do so; and it seems to make the tasty animal flesh a little easier to chomp down on.

Now I'll go read the article ...

I always liked the tale (apocryphal, I am certain) told by Chinese-American philosopher-poet Lin Yu Tang of the student who approached his Zen master:

"I know we should suffer built for the animals we kill to eat but why should we not feel guilt for the vegetables. They too have feelings"

The master pondered a bit and responded: "Yes but we are fortunate, for the vegetables do not scream as loudly when we kill them".

On a more fully serious note, I do accept Lin Yu Tang's notion that: "We should have great respect for the animals we kill in order to eat. They are, after all, about to become part of our bodies".

I wonder if it is possiby to humanely catch and kill fish? There was a PETA demontration here in Portsmouth the other day in defense of fish. One nicely shaped demontrator was dressed as a topless mermaid, and got a lot of attention.

Farming is one of those areas of the modern world where the consumer of the product has gone out of his way to be ignorant on the means of production. I cheer Salatin and those like him who encourage people to come to terms with the costs and sacrifices of the food they eat.

One nicely shaped demontrator was dressed as a topless mermaid, and got a lot of attention.

Another fond mammary for you to treasure, Carl!

Personally, I feel that those who respect the animal the most are the people who are willing to take on the responsibility of taking the life of the animal themselves that will grace their plates, not those who dress in ridiculous costumes as a publicity stunt in protest.

"Respect" = treating animals humanely while they are being raised, killing them as quickly and painlessly as possible. Another food thinker who has things to say about treating our food with respect while it's still on the hoof (foot, wing, fin, whatever) is Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. Here http://www.channel4.com/4food/on-tv/riv ... w-07-11-08 he has something to say about treating the fish we catch to eat with respect.

carl - topless in NH in March? wow. you have all the fun.
but seriously - if respect had anything to do with what we eat, and there are definitly some people we don't respect, should we eat them with a free conscience?

Personally, I feel that those who respect the animal the most are the people who are willing to take on the responsibility of taking the life of the animal themselves that will grace their plates, not those who dress in ridiculous costumes as a publicity stunt in protest.

Though not a hunter myself, RR, I agree with this sentiment 100%. I of course exempt from that statement the "trophy hunters" we get here who hunt bucks solely for the rack they can mount on their walls and leave the carcass behind. Yes, scavengers will likely get to the carcass, but in my book there is little respect for the animal being shown in that act. As a fisherman who has traditionally eaten his catch, I feel similarly about my own activities, but also acknowledge the new reality of catch and release in many locales.

As for whether one can fish humanely, that's a touch call. I suppose that spearfishing might usher the fish from this mortal coil without much trauma, but any other method most likely involves a rather unpleasant experience for the fish. Whether that amounts to a worse fate than being partly eaten by another creature in the water I leave for the moral philosophers amongst us.

Mark Lipton

Until my son was 7 years old I had him go inside or walk away when I killed our birds and animals. He then woulds return and help me "process" them. He learned their anatomies at an early age. At about age 7 I allowed him to be at my side and I explained exactly how I was slaughtering our meat source and why I was using that particular procedure. I taught him to do it a quick and definite manner.

When he began deer hunting at age 11 I told him that the tradition was that an experienced hunter in the party would field dress your deer the first time. After that he did it himself. Now since I have trouble kneeling (artificial knees) he comes over and does my as well as his wife's deer. We timed him. He has a deer all clean and field dressed in under 4 minutes! It also takes him about that long to do a bear.

As meat hunters we only take shots that are going to quickly and cleanly kill the animal with a minimum loss of meat, otherwise why shoot?

Thomas Keller writes in "The French Laundry" cookbook about his first experience in butchering a rabbit, it is a moving tale:

The Importance of Rabbits by Thomas Keller
“One day, I asked my rabbit purveyor to show me how to kill, skin and eviscerate a rabbit. I had never done this, and I figured if I was going to cook rabbit, I should know it from its live state through the slaughtering, skinning and butchering and then the cooking. The guy showed up with twelve live rabbits. He hit one over the head with a club, knocked it out, slit its throat, pinned it to a board, skinned it- the whole bit. Then he left.
I don’t know what else I expected, but there I was out in the grass behind the restaurant, just me and eleven cute bunnies, all of which were on the menu that week and had to find their way into a braising pan. I clutched the first rabbit. I had a hard time killing it. It screamed. Rabbits scream and this one screamed loudly. Then it broke its leg trying to get away. It was terrible.
The next ten rabbits didn’t scream and I was quick with the kill, but that first screaming rabbit not only gave me a lesson in butchering, it also taught me about waste. Because killing those rabbits had been such an awful experience, I would not squander them. I would use all my powers as a chef to ensure that those rabbits were beautiful. It’s very easy to go to a grocery store and buy meat, then accidentally overcook it and throw it away. A cook sautéing a rabbit loin, working the line on a Saturday night, a million pans going, plates going out the door, who took that loin a little too far, doesn’t hesitate, just dumps it in the garbage and fires another. Would that cook, I wonder, have let his attention stray from that loin had he killed the rabbit himself? No. Should a cook squander anything, ever?
It was a simple lesson.”

Thank you, Jacques, for the great story.