Page 123 - Vegan Life - Issue 59 (February 2020)

director, Daniela Neumann, explained: However, confronting the brutal dietary middle ground between vegans
“We [will] confront some really timely truths does not necessarily lead to a more and hardcore meat-eaters.
themes of ethical eating in a unique and evolved reaction. Another friend loves Flexitarians reduce their tensions by
entertaining fashion.” alpacas. They are pretty, sot and friendly eating some meat and fish but mostly
“Why do we find it acceptable to eat to touch... and, he says, tasty on his plate. choosing a plant-based diet. Thus beliefs
a lamb but we wouldn’t eat our pet dog? A third said: “If you stop us eating and actions can co-exist, both in the
Could you go back to meat once you’ve farmed meat, we’ll just go out and shoot home and in restaurants.
put a name and face to a meal? This is a our own.” Those moving on to vegan or
series that will combine amazing research Where do you stand on these issues? vegetarian diets are adapting their
about animal intelligence with some Telling scientific evidence has linked actions to their beliefs. The dedicated
heart-warming moments.” meat-eating with cancers in humans, meat-eaters support their actions by
Actually, as a citizen of a number and meat production with gas emissions hardening their beliefs that they have
of countries, you might be happy to (ecowatch.com). the right to kill to live. How are you living
beat your dog to death and eat her. The tension between moral and with this moral dilemma? ■
This emerged as I investigated the health beliefs on one side, and taste and
Thailand dog meat trade and fronted a habit on the other, may account for the For more from John Keeble, head to
TV documentary about it, Shadow Trade, rapidly rising number of flexitarians, the johnkeeble.net
which you can watch on Amazon Prime.
As a lifelong vegetarian and vegan,
I'm not sure how many four-letter words
I can find to describe Meat the Family and
everyone associated with it. However
the words the filmmakers conjure up
are: good, kind ... oh, ****, I need more
letters for their views of the programme...
clever... humane... enlightened...
The history and histrionics of reality
shows probably indicate that the people
involved in Meat the Family are not any of
those things per se.
But the outcome of the ghastly
business probably will be good — except
for the poor animals — in getting viewers
to feel rather than just know the moral
price of their meat. It will engage the
emotions and hopefully make the
millions of viewers consider what they are
doing when they pick up a lump of dead
flesh in the supermarket.
Many people have already caught
up with the appalling cruelty of animal
food production, with about three billion
animals and fish slaughtered every day,
and the damage it does to our planet and
every living creature on it.
For others, personally evolving from
loving cuddly animals to deciding not to
eat them is a jump too far at the moment.
Over recent years, there has been a
tidal wave of evidence about the cruelty
and damage of the meat, dairy and fish
industries — you would have to be a
human ostrich to miss it.
How are people coping with the
tension of understanding what is involved
in animal industries, knowing it is morally
wrong, and yet still consuming animals?
One of my meat-eating friends told
me: “I saw a video about the animals.
It was not just their deaths that were
terrible — it was their lives, too.”

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