- 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>