This Omnivore’s Dilemma

Years ago I became a vegetarian. Never one to crave meat anyway, it was no great sacrifice to eliminate it from my diet. My reasons for eating vegetables rather than meat are numerous: (1) a healthier diet (less fat, no antibiotics or growth hormones, no contamination from fecal matter that enters during slaughtering), (2) morals and ethics (the cruelty of industrial farms to animals and the misappropriation of copious amounts of land to grow meat for well-to-do people while the poor go hungry), and (3) environmental (the clearing of forests to grow beef, the contamination of water resources from industrial animal farm runoff, and the far greater energy required to grow meat than vegetables).

It can be a challenge to consume enough protein on a meatless diet, but we solved that years ago by creating dishes of various combinations of beans and grains. It also made things simpler and more affordable for us, because our vegetable garden could provide most of our dietary needs, supplemented by dairy and grains.

That vegetarian diet, however, put some distance between our rural neighbors and us. We already were a bit odd in their minds—with our lack of guns and farm machinery, our college educations, our intensive gardening technique (i.e., by hand), no TV, and our small-engined vehicles. So we were conscious of adding one more item to our outsider list: vegetarianism. Luckily our neighbors are nonjudgmental and accepting country folks, so we’ve managed to stay on pretty good terms with them, despite our weirdness.

From time to time we’d be gifted with a rabbit or chunk of venison from one of their hunting ventures. We permitted neighbors to hunt on our land (better them than wild city guys who roam the woods, shooting at most anything that catches their attention), so their offerings were a fair exchange in their minds. My spouse has always been more of a meat eater than I, so she warmly welcomed these gifts, while I dubiously went along and gingerly tasted a few bites. Hmmm, not bad, but I’d just as soon have some broccoli, thanks.

But in the last few years I’ve acquired quite a different perspective about meat in our diet. Michael Pollan’s books on the quandary that Americans face in locating healthy food have helped me make that shift. He led me to understand that the problem of finding nourishing food goes far beyond just avoiding meat. Pollan makes the point that humans are omnivores—that our success as a species has had a lot to do with our ability to eat a wide variety of plants and animals. We have evolved to dine on many kinds of foods; it’s natural for us. His books also made me aware of the many farmers who are sensibly and sustainably growing foods (both vegetable and animal) in the way that our grandparents did: without copious quantities of pesticides, antibiotics, and artificial techniques. These conscientious farmers raise animals in a natural and healthy manner and then kill them ethically—offering meat that one can safely and nutritiously eat.

It wasn’t hard to take the next step and come to an understanding that our neighbors—who’ve lived here for generations—have been consuming meat that is far more healthy than one can buy at the local supermarket. The venison they give us comes from deer who roam the local woods, eating nature’s wholesome plants, rather than being confined to crowded feed lots, forced to eat animal parts (not an evolutionary part of an herbivore’s diet) that are laced with antibiotics to ward off various nasty diseases. So I reintroduced meat back into my diet, although more as a condiment than a main item (I still prefer broccoli).

More next time on where meat eating led us next…