As I read through the book My Year of Meats I have been thinking about meat more and more as one might think from the title. My main question is what is meat since so many people seem to have so many different answers. Catholics seem to think that meat is from animals that walk on the ground, not swim. Then there are the people who claim to be vegetarians because they don't eat "red" meat. So what makes up meat? According to Webster's Dictionary meat is: a solid food as distinguished from drink, animal and especially animal flesh considered as food, and the edible part inside a covering (as a shell or a rind). Since a mammal is a warm-blooded vertabrate and a fish is a cold-blooded vertebrate I guess the Catholics who eat fish during their meatless Fridays are correct. Fish however, seems to be the only animal that can legitimately qualify as a meat so people who call themselves vegetarians for not eating "red" meat are big fat liars!
Obviously the scientists who determined what is a mammal and thus a meat have had much more training than I have ever had but I must admit my disagreement with these choices. I personally think that any animal should be considered meat but I must go with the rest of the world and live with people who eat fish when they don't eat "meat."
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Thanks! I have heard and read many things about how meat gets from the farm to our tables and everything, including these videos, have really made me think about the meat that I eat. Though I continue to eat meat, I am much more thoughtful of where the meat that I eat comes from and is local and prepared safely and humanely.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Free Range video on The Meatrix. We have a complicated relationship to animals and it's interesting to consider how we set the standards for humane treatment. I think mindfulness is the key, as you point out.
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