Thank you, chicken. Thank you, cow.

[bodlon]

Some of you who've known me for a while know that I've been various shades of vegetarian (usually lacto-ovo or pescetarian) off and on since around 1996. I've been back on the pesce train for a while now, and overall I usually feel really good about that choice.

And then, about two months ago, I started craving meat.

Not in a "bacon smells nice" kind of way, or a "pepperoni is a red vegetable" kind of way, or even a "what do you mean chicken parmigiana isn't vegan?" kind of way. This was a waking up in the middle of the night kind of way, and a noticing my pets' musculature kind of way. I hit the drive-thru for two small, plain hamburgers more or less in secret, uncertain whether it would soothe the beast or inspire me to some kind of crazed bloodlust. What actually happened was that I got a free order of fries, and that I remembered this excellent blog post from 2009 about an article in the New York Times outlining the problems in how mass commercial beef production is kind of scary. Those two wee burgers likely contained meat from a couple hundred cattle.

Not the most delicious tidbit of information, but we make do.

As, it seems, I'm going to have to make do with a bit more meat in my diet. What my body was telling me has been confirmed by my doctor: I'm anemic. As my semi-annual metabolic blood panel indicates that my organs are all working, the next best guess is a dietary issue. Or vampires. Either way, the body is crying out for hemoglobin. While I could take B-12 and iron supplements, more pills is less interesting to me than the occasional bit of flesh. I'm not entirely sure how this will look in practice, but I'm experimenting. I specifically don't want to go back to the "bad" meats, like frequent fast food, cold cuts, etc. Still, today's free barbecue at work included a thank you from me to Comrades Chicken and Cow.

And hey, it's not like I haven't been joking about raising food rabbits, and I suppose this counts as a Rooster Contingency Plan for when I increase the size of my layer flock in two years. Plus, shwarma.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com

Comments

[contrarywise]

I've gotten some leadings recently around making similar dietary adjustments, or at least allowing for special occasion exceptions to my general pescetarian rule. Luckily, there's a nice local-ish farm that sells pastured meat and eggs at our farmer's market. I'm also thinking that the 4-H lambs at the MA Sheep & Wool Fest might not be forever off the menu, considering that they were raised with care and not with industrial factory farming procedures.

Also, thanks to this post, I'm now earwormed with a filked version of Cat Stevens' "Peace Train". ("Beef Train holy roller, everyone jump on the Beef Train!...") Thanks, shinyshiny brain. *facepalm*

[bodlon]

LOL. Beef Train!

I think it kind of depends on the whys of one's chosen diet. Certainly for me the ethical component is there, but here in the Midwest it's hard to justify a pescetarian diet when so much of the fish around here has to travel long distances, and many of the seafoods available aren't necessarily gathered ethically.

For me, it's a collection of things that has me concerned, but hey. Life is complicated and some things are delicious. SO.