Vegetarian's Dilemma

I’ve been a vegetarian for over two years. I cut meat out of my diet the day I learned about the treatment of animals on factory farms and never looked back. However, the problems with the meat industry in our country go far beyond cruelty to animals. From a health perspective, industrially produced meat is packed with antibiotics, hormones, and other harmful chemicals. Environmentally, avoiding industrial meat reduces energy consumption and greenhouse gas pollution.

My view on vegetarianism has always been that, in a society where people treated animals, human health, and the environment with respect, I would eat meat. After all, humans, by nature, are omnivores. If this is my view, shouldn’t that mean that I would eat meat if it was produced under these stipulations? I can’t give you a reason why I don’t eat this kind of meat, but it never used to concern me. It’s only recently that I’ve begun to see my vegetarianism as a bit hypocritical. Michael Pollan sums up the problem with vegetarianism in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and it’s gotten me thinking. Here’s a brief and nerdy summary of my newly forming thoughts on the issue:

The truth is that in a natural ecosystem, predator and prey balance each other out. Without prey for food, predators would die of starvation. Without predators, prey would become over-populated, run out of food, and thus, also die of starvation. If nature provides this perfect balance, it seems that the right thing to do, as human beings, is to fulfill our role as the predator. By eating local meat, we are also reducing the energy costs of importing protein that we need from other places.

I’ve been telling myself lately that, if given the opportunity to eat local, organic, and ethically produced meat, I would do it. I’ve been telling myself lies. Today, a CSA member and I got into a discussion about local meat. It just so happens that this CSA member buys lamb from a local organic farm and cooks it with mushrooms that he gathers himself, along with fresh veggies from the farm. It also just so happens that tomorrow night is the June potluck and that this member is planning to prepare this dish to bring along. Here is my chance.

The problem is that I know if I go to tomorrow’s potluck, I will avoid the lamb. When I think about lamb dinner, I can’t not picture a baby sheep. And when I picture a baby sheep, my natural omnivore instincts go out the window, because the last thing I want to do to that baby sheep is eat it. I can’t believe I just wrote that. When people ask me why I won’t eat lamb, I refuse to tell them it’s because I think lambs are cute. Michael Pollan would be ashamed.

How can it be that all of my sophisticated thoughts on meat-eating boil down to this?

Well, all I can say for myself is that at least those more complex thoughts exist. For now, that will have to be enough- and so will the vegetarian options at tomorrow’s potluck dinner.