Over forty-five million turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving each year. These animals live torturous lives and experience painful deaths. What an awful way to celebrate our thankfulness, by contributing to massive suffering. This Thanksgiving, as millions of people stand in line to purchase their mass-produced, drug-laden, sick, abused, inhumanely slaughtered turkeys, I will be thankful that …
Aug
02
S.O.S. Save Our Seas!
When we think about animal abuse and environmental destruction on factory farms, we think about cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys, but we often don’t think about fish. However, fish are abused just as awfully as land animals and fishing is destroying our planet just as quickly as factory farms are. Aquacultures (Fish Farms) Aquacultures are …
May
26
Cheese Addiction Rehab Program
It seems that many vegetarians (myself included*) struggle to make the leap to veganism because of one thing: cheese. I’ve found that most vegetarians agree that eggs are as easy to drop as the meat. And non-cheese dairy has plenty of not just adequate, but downright tasty subsitutes (butter, ice cream, yogurt, sour cream, cream …
Apr
26
What Are We Eating?
I loved this infographic from visualeconomics.com. And I’m completely floored by the amount of non-cheese dairy! What are people eating so much of that is making up this huge section? Ice cream? Yogurt? (Oh those poor cows.*) — * Mercy For Animals recently released undercover footage from a Texas farm that raises dairy cows. It is …
Feb
01
Movie Review: The Cove
I just watched The Cove, the Oscar award-winning documentary about the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. I’m not going to go into details about the film because this is a blog about American food issues, but I do just have a few quick thoughts: This movie left me feeling completely disgusted with humanity (as …
Jan
28
Quote Of The Day Friday #7
The lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery. Happiness is never better exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies, kittens, lambs, etc., when playing together, like our own children. The fact that the lower animals are excited by the same emotions as ourselves is so well established, that it …
Jan
25
This Just In: Fish Are Not Vegetables
I think the second-most frequently asked question I hear (immediately after the protein question) is, “Do you eat fish?” People, FISH ARE NOT VEGETABLES. I (semi-)understand some of the ambiguity – There are many “vegetarians” who eat fish. And these vegetarians are confusing the heck out of people! Ok, I don’t want to get into …
Jan
06
A Thought Experiment
Imagine yourself in a crowded elevator, an elevator so crowded that you cannot turn around without bumping into (and aggravating) your neighbor. This elevator is so crowded that you are often held aloft, which is kind of a blessing because the floor is made of wire that cuts your bare feet. You are stuck in …
Dec
17
Quote of the Day Friday #2
A veteran USDA meat inspector from Texas describes what he has seen: “Cattle dragged and choked… knocking ‘em four, five, ten times. Every now and then when they’re stunned they come back to life, and they’re up there agonizing. They’re supposed to be re-stunned but sometimes they aren’t and they’ll go through the skinning process …
Nov
16
The Absurdity Of The Presidential Turkey Pardon
Every Thanksgiving the President ceremoniously pardons one turkey. Then he joins the rest of America in devouring 46 million of them. (That’s just on Thanksgiving Day. Annually, 247 million turkeys are slaughtered.) What exactly is this ridiculous ritual supposed to symbolize? Does sparing one single turkey help us feel better about the millions we are …
