The word of the day from my daily word email is "vegan," and so I thought I'd spout off a little on vegetarianism. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against it at all! And I respect people who are vegetarians for health and/or religious reasons. And goodness knows I respect people who are vegetarians by default, just because animal products are costly.
And maybe all the others are right, that animals are mistreated. I read a great book a few years ago that spoke on the subject to some extent in a fictional way: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.
I don't know anything about meat production in the U.S. But I wish people wouldn't use the word "inhumane" because these are, after all, animals, not humans. I'm not saying we should go out and abuse all animals. But I think Americans often take things to extremes regarding animal rights activism.
But I digress. My real point is that these animal rights activists would look pretty silly in this part of the world. Animals here are treated like...well, like animals. But we don't get meat from huge meat farms, either. All our animals here--and yes, there's an exception to every generalisation--are raised for food. But they're almost all raised naturally--free range--whatever you want to call it. It's pretty organic. So I could never complain (even if I did worry about animal treatment) about the animals not being raised properly. And meat is a rare treat for many Nigerians, who can only afford to eat it at holiday time. I can't even imagine how most people would respond to a vegetarian, especially as a guest. It would be just like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding: "He don't eat meat? He don't eat meat?? That's okay. I make lamb."
But in any case, I can't afford to be vegan. I have a baby to nurse. I need protein especially, and calcium from dairy products (or animal bones if milk is unavailable). I can't get tofu here, and if I eat beans, poor Timothy will suffer.
So bring on the meat!!
No comments:
Post a Comment