Processed Food...

Andy hit the nail on the head when he talks about being less reliant on "Processing" as it pertains to our diet. The vast majority of our food these days is processed to some degree, and most to a HUGE degree. I highly recommend buying locally and doing as much as possible to minimize the purchasing of goods that have been heavily processed.

I will reference the quote from Albert Schweitzer again (from previous postings) to answer his points about eating meat....

"From experiences like these (seeing animals suffer), which moved my heart and often made me feel ashamed, there slowly grew up in me an unshakeable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another creature unless there is some unavoidable necessity for it."

I agree that we are Animals; humans are NOT that different from the rest of the animal kingdom. What sets us apart is our cognition (some more than others...). However, I feel that this quote says it all for me. I agree that some people eat animals, but mainly I want to say that WE DO NOT HAVE TO anymore. Even without processed products like tofu and TVP, there are PLENTY of vegetable, fruit, nut, grain options for Protein and ALL vitamins. Therefore, sure we can eat animals, but we no longer HAVE to; so without a necessity, why do it? We have the intelligence to no longer kill for our food, so why not save Life? We can make a rational choice to stop whereas all other animals do it to survive.

So, to answer Andy......

Sure, Humans are Animals and have a ton of evolutionary and biological reasons for eating meat. We have evolved into a species that no longer has to do it. We should respect suffering in all its forms and CHOOSE to stop eating meat because we have the intellect. As for processing, Meat Eaters might find it harder to function without processing (all Deli meats, hot dogs, sausage, etc..) than a vegetarian as our main staples come straight from our own soil.

ps- I think that a human that eats meat should NOT be disgusted by the prospect of eating a human; cultural taboos aside. Meat is Meat. If I were stranded in the wilderness and needed to survive, you better believe it that I would eat whatever I had to......