(this is the 4th post in my systematic living series)

See all that grass behind me? That's how I roll...

See all that grass behind me? That's how I roll...

In the Fall of 2008 my eating started to change pretty dramatically.  Mostly it was due to some wakeup calls by all the clichely referenced authors of my generation (Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, Eric Schlosser, Mark Bittman, et al) where I realized that, as Jamie Oliver puts it:  “We demand the best of everything from our beer selection to our running shoes, but we’ll put just about anything in our mouths”.  We have such high standards for things that don’t matter, yet we never think about what we’re putting in our bodies to be our fuel and, literally, our biological makeup.  So, one day last Autumn…I started paying attention.

Now, when I talk about “paying attention” I, of course, mean paying attention to the quality of food that I’m eating, the amount of processing that happened before it went down my gullet, and the actual ingredients that went into making what I was eating (as a side note, it’s it strange that foods we buy have “ingredients”?  That tells you how little we prepare our own foods anymore.  Ingredients means you’re trusting someone else to prepare your food for you….ok, tangent over)

However, thinking about what made up the food I ate wasn’t limited to the ingredients.  Every single food item we purchase has massive political, social, ethical, and even religious implications. (Do you think I’m overstating it?  If so, spend some weeks reading Omnivore’s Dilemma, Fast Food Nation, or go see Food Inc. and then let’s talk.) It’s not all about the food…it’s also about the way the food was made, who made it, how they were treated and compensated..and it’s also about how the FOOD was treated before it became food.

I’m no bleeding heart…but I do have a responsible conscience.  I also have a faith that presides over all of these decisions, which is why, to all outsiders, it looks like I’m a vegetarian.

Years ago when I was having some tattoo work done, the artist and I spent lots of time talking.  He was a vegan and I was a Christian and we were both interested in each other’s views on the world.  One question he asked that stuck with me to this day was “Why aren’t there more Christian vegetarians? Afterall, that’s the way your Bible says God originally  made us, before original sin”.  Bam. There it was.  My first exposure to faith and food issues intersecting.

Years later, this question still haunts me.  Not just because this is “the way it was in the beginning”, but for a more pressing reason:  This is God’s planet…people are God’s people…animals are God’s animals and, to put it bluntly, our food system (and therefore us, as consumers) treat all of them like shit.

I can’t possibly describe the conditions that the laborers experience in animal processing industry, but I can assure you:  It’s degrading, neglectful, and very, very dangerous.  These are God’s people and when I support the company that treats them like this, I’m responsible. Then, there’s the animals.  They are packed into areas where they stand knee high in their own crap for months on end.  They aren’t allowed to move so they get fatter quicker.  They get sick because of how they’re treated and fed and then we shoot them up with drugs so they’ll last just long enough so we can kill them in a pretty inhumane way.  These are God’s animals and when I support the company that treats them like this, I’m responsible. At the risk of sounding like a hippie, I’ll also point out that our industrial food system is destroying the planet with it’s monoculture, massive amounts of fertilizer, and total neglect for soil health.  And yes, if I buy from those companies, I’m responsbile for that too.

So how does all this lead to my title-question?  People see how I eat and they assume I’m a vegetarian. When they ask why I eat this way, they don’t really want the full answer because it makes them feel like I’m judging them (which, truly, I’m not…not everyone should be expected to come to the same conclusions just because I have).  So I respond with the easy answer:  I simply tell them “Yes, I’m a vegetarian.”  But it’s not true.

I’m not someone who thinks meat is bad for us.  On the contrary, I think it’s healthy.  I think God made animals for our use…But, the kicker here is that I think that 99% of the meat available to us is irresponsible (and an insult to God and his creation) and I won’t eat it or support companies who make it.  The ‘easy’ answer, the ’systematic’ answer is to become a raving judgmental and political vegetarian. But I refuse.  That’s just buying into a different system..one that is equally unthiking and indiscriminate.

So, what’s the answer?  It’s harder, but I believe it’s correct:  You must think about every piece of food you put into your body. How was THIS food grown?  How was THIS animal raised?  What does it mean for my faith?  What does it mean for my politics?  If you think through this every time you put something in your mouth I can almost assure you that, in a short time, you’ll also find that the only option is to eat very differently than most of us do now.  We might all look a whole lot more like vegetarians.

In practice, here’s what I’ve come to.  I don’t think it’s systematic and I think it’s in line with the principals of my faith:

  • I eat no  factory produced meat (which is literally all meat you get anywhere except directly from a local farm)
  • I eat as little processed food as possible. (anything in a box, bag, wrapper, or bottle is going to be processed)
  • Generally (although not a hard and fast rule) I eat local meats only once a week. This is more of a personal preference since I actually enjoy eating mostly vegetarian.
  • If I buy meat, I talk to the farmer face to face first.  I ask about their farm, their animals, and I listen to their passion and love of their work.  If they don’t love their animals and have a commitment to raising food how it was intended, I won’t buy it.
  • When talking with the farmer, I try to build them up and encourage them.  Imagine how hard it must be to be a small farmer fighting the enormous system that says you should be raising your animals feedlot style.

So, am I a vegetarian?  Not really.  Do I eat like one?  Most of the time, I do.  So, next time we have a discussion about this and you ask about my eating habits, don’t ask unless you really want to know the full story.  If you want a short version that just writes me off as crazy so you don’t have to think about changing, don’t expect the truth.  My answer to you will simply be:  Yes.  I’m a vegetarian.