- Site: Interconnected, a blog by Matt Webb
- By:
- Date published: 2019-06-06
- Date read: [[2024-09-17]]
- [Read Original](https://interconnected.org/home/2019/06/06/grativore)
- [Read on Omnivore](https://omnivore.app/me/meat-and-gratitude-interconnected-191f1966a39)
- Tags: #Ethics #Food #Vegetarianism_
- Notes:
**Note:** Below is the text from the article, with any ==highlights== done by me. None of the writing below is by me.
# Article text
<DIV id="readability-content"><DIV data-omnivore-anchor-idx="1" class="page" id="readability-page-1"><div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="2">
<article data-omnivore-anchor-idx="3" id="post">
<h5 data-omnivore-anchor-idx="4">
07.30, Thursday 6 Jun 2019
<span data-omnivore-anchor-idx="5">
<a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="6" href="https://interconnected.org/home/2019/06/06/grativore" id="permalink">Link to this post</a>
</span>
</h5>
<div data-omnivore-anchor-idx="7" id="social-select-root" data-highlights="">
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="8">There’s a bunch of fuss about Beyond Burger rn regarding</p>
<ul data-omnivore-anchor-idx="9">
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="10"><a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="11" href="https://twitter.com/jwmares/status/1133449746792767488">ingredients</a> - I’d mentally filed Beyond as “healthy plant-based” whereas it’s a ton of bad-for-you vegetable oil and really should be sceptically thought of as “heavily processed”</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="12"><a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="13" href="http://css.umich.edu/publication/beyond-meats-beyond-burger-life-cycle-assessment-detailed-comparison-between-plant-based">carbon footprint</a> - beef is bad</li>
</ul>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="14">I’m excited about these new vegan burgers because</p>
<ul data-omnivore-anchor-idx="15">
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="16">“artificial” does not necessarily equal “bad” so I’m in principle ok with the heavily-processed thing (though I’m concerned in how this is being obfuscated)</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="17">the meat and dairy industry sucks</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="18">yes, carbon footprint: as a society, we need to wean ourselves off things that are killing our planet</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="19">new flavours, good stuff</li>
</ul>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="20">BUT: thought experiment:</p>
<ul data-omnivore-anchor-idx="21">
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="22">Would I prefer <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="23">not</em> to eat heavily processed foods? Yes</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="24">If the carbon footprint of meat could be reduced to something closer to plant-based burgers, using a combination of reduced frequency of consumption and <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="25">hand-wavey magic,</em> would that reduce my discomfort? Yes</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="26">In that situation, would I still eat meat, assuming it came from a source that wasn’t unnecessarily cruel? <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="27">Yes.</em></li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="28">The big question: would I still feel uncomfortable about it? <strong data-omnivore-anchor-idx="29">Yes.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="30">Why my remaining discomfort? Because animals are, well, animals. They’re people too. I’ve known a bunch of animals, and we’re all people in different ways. That fact is hard to reconcile with eating them.</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="31">For me, I do continue to eat meat (although less than I used). But I think a lot of my discomfort around it - environmentally, the agro-industry, health - is <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="32">displacement</em> from the hard-to-digest fact that, when I’ve met a cow, they’re super nice to hang out with, and I could see us being friends. And that feeling isn’t going to go away.</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="33">I have a hunch that our inability to deal with the immensity of this <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="34">gift</em> - this animal-person who has been killed so I can have my dinner - means that, either deep down or out loud, we end up denying there’s a gift or any kind of trade-off at all, hence the tribalism, and lack of sensible discussion, around the adjacent topics of health, carbon, and so on.</p>
<h3 data-omnivore-anchor-idx="35">Or, to put it another way</h3>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="36">The slip-sliding and dissembling around health benefits/carbon/etc makes me think that a bigger issue is being psychologically avoided. And for me, maybe that issue is <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="37">“meat tastes great”</em> vs <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="38">“holy shit animals are people too”</em> which is so hard to reconcile that it gets repressed, and repressed feelings come out in weird ways.</p>
<h3 data-omnivore-anchor-idx="39">So here’s my solution, because without addressing the core matter of co-personhood, nothing else will work</h3>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="40">I like that being vegan is a movement, in a way that being vegetarian was a movement in the 1980s, or Atkins in the early 2000s. These are lifestyle choices that bring alignment with the body and the planet by promoting practice changes and introducing a new kind of mindfulness.</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="41">Could there be a similar movement that embraces some of the logic behind the Beyond Burger, but <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="42">also</em> includes meat?</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="43">Here’s my suggestion:</p>
<ul data-omnivore-anchor-idx="44">
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="45">a selective diet that is vegetarian <em data-omnivore-anchor-idx="46">except</em> it allows meat when that meat is from a known local source, farmed with care, and not consumed with great frequency</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="47">when such meat is eaten, <strong data-omnivore-anchor-idx="48">a prayer of gratitude is said to the animal</strong></li>
</ul>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="49">I am <a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="50" href="http://interconnected.org/home/2017/08/25/gratitude">a big believer in vocalised gratitude</a> as a means towards mindfulness, but mainly towards being able to accept the weight, meaning, obligation, and reciprocity of a gift.</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="51">Once gratitude is internalised and the gift of sacrifice is accepted, I’ve a feeling that the rest will fall into place. In short: a more balanced relationship between the food we need to live as individuals, and the planet we need to live together.</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="52">Ok so this is just saying grace. But oriented towards the animal.</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="53">I wonder if there could be a single phrase which expresses gratitude for the gift?</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="54">And something, unlike the traditional and passive <q data-omnivore-anchor-idx="55">For what we are about to receive…</q>, that acknowledges my actions and choices that have brought about this meal of meat and all that it required? Said out loud, it would promote discussion and maybe even spread…</p>
<p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="56">Grativore!</p>
</div>
</article>
<hr data-omnivore-anchor-idx="57">
<h5 data-omnivore-anchor-idx="58">
More posts tagged:
</h5>
<ul data-omnivore-anchor-idx="59">
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="60">
<a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="61" href="https://interconnected.org/home/tagged/food-and-so-on">food-and-so-on</a>
(12 posts)
</li>
</ul>
<h5 data-omnivore-anchor-idx="62">
Follow-up posts:
</h5>
<ul data-omnivore-anchor-idx="63">
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="64">
<a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="65" href="https://interconnected.org/home/2021/01/25/microrituals">Rituals for kings, stem cells, and Zoom calls</a>
(25 Jan 2021)
</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="66">
<a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="67" href="https://interconnected.org/home/2021/06/11/archives">Previously: Bridges, meat, diamonds (w/e 11 June)</a>
(11 Jun 2021)
</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="68">
<a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="69" href="https://interconnected.org/home/2023/01/09/act">Is AI sentient and is it even useful to ask?</a>
(9 Jan 2023)
</li>
<li data-omnivore-anchor-idx="70">
<a data-omnivore-anchor-idx="71" href="https://interconnected.org/home/2024/09/13/mustard">The mustard second coming as predicted by C-wave theory</a>
(13 Sep 2024)
</li>
</ul>
</div></DIV></DIV>