Chapter 17: The Ethics of Eating Animals
Precis:
For most of us killing humans is completely unacceptable but killing animals seems quite normal. However a less dominant group of people in our society feel as if humans and animals should be treated equally. Their ideas and opinions give the animals voices (theoretically) to attempt to shift the larger group of people into understanding the difference between a happy animal and one whose life has no joy. And until they understand this idea, animal after animal will continue to suffer during both life and the ending of their life.
Gems:
"We tolerate this schizophrenia because the life of the pig has been moved out of view; when's the last time you saw a pig in person? Meat comes from the grocery store, where it is cut and packaged to look as little like parts of an animal as possible." (Page 306)
"All the one all-important interest humans share with pigs, as with all sentient creatures, is interest in avoiding pain." (Page 308)
"Humans don't need to kill other creatures in order to survive; carnivorous animals do." (Page 310)
"Animals are treated as machines-"production units"-incapable of feeling pain. Since no thinking person can possibly believe this anymore, industrial animal agriculture depends on a suspension of disbelief on the part of the people who operate it and a willingness to avert one's eyes on the part of everyone else." (Page 317)
"Tail docking and sow crates and beak clipping would disappear overnight, and the days of slaughtering four hundred head of cattle an hour would promptly come to an end-for who could stand the sight? Yes, meat would get more expensive. We'd probably eat a lot less of it, too, but maybe when we did eat animals we'd eat them with the consciousness, ceremony, and respect they deserve." (Page 333)
Thoughts & Questions:
As I was reading this chapter I kept thinking about the movie: Daily Bread... animals are longer seen as living breathing beings but merely their purpose is to get fat enough to serve us. The quicker they get fat the better...
On one of the first days of school Andy asked us to define a number of words, one of these words was sacred, I remember not really knowing how to define it, I thought something that is special or appreciated. Now I understand how far we are from being sacred about our food. We treat it without second thought, three times a day we eat, two times a day we brush our teeth etc. There is nothing special to eating anymore it is just something we do.
Two summers ago I worked at Mount Sinai Hospital, basically I had to walk around and talk to the patients. They gave me a list of topics to discuss, the first one was food. Food is something we can all relate to because we all need to do it in order to survive. It is also a subject that some people have the fondest memories of doing. However I think today it isn't looked at as something so wonderful, our obesity rates are high not only because people are over eating... they are over eating for a reason: depression, anger etc. If you are eating alone of course you are going to eat more, based on your emotions and lack of judgement.
Chapter 18: Hunting - The Meat
Precis:
Hunting is a technique that no longer represents survival. Over time hunting has turned into more of a recreational activity. Today people would rather inject hormones, abuse the animals throughout their lives, make them so obese they can't move and then slaughter them as if it is nothing, because they find the act of hunting to be too gruesome...
Gems:
"Or it could be that hunting is one of those experiences that appear utterly different from inside than from the outside." (Page 337)
"Scientists still aren't certain what the evolutionary utility of such a system might be. Some researchers hypothesize that the cannabinoids, like the opiates, play a role in the brain's pain relief and reward system; others that they help regulate appetite, or emotion." (Page 342)
"Ortega believed that in hunting we returned to nature because "hunting is the generic way of being a man" and because the animal we are stalking summons the animal is still in us." (Page 343)
"The one emotion I expected to feel but did not, inexplicably, was remorse, or even ambivalence. All that would come later, but now, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, I felt absolutely terrific-unambiguously happy." (Page 353)
Thoughts & Questions:
During the summer time especially there are always bugs crawling around. People seem to get very aggravated by them hence we have created fly swappers, and the basic use of the bottom of our shoes. Why do we feel the need to kill these creatures that are so small compared to us. Is it the thrill we get after we have done the deed? Do we feel satisfied? Ahah killed the little sucker... forgetting or not even thinking about the reason why we did it in the first place...
What would people in New York City think if hunters started looking for birds and squirrels to kill? Would socially it be acceptable? Or would the general public find it disturbing? How likely would it be for all of those people to go out after they saw such a horrid scene and eat meat? Probably quite likely...
Chapter 19: Gathering - The Fungi
Precis:
The problem with scavenging for mushrooms is that although sometimes you may know exactly what it is, there may be other times where it is a complete mystery. Individuals who participate in this activity don't read a manuel, they use their internal senses to lead them to the "treasure."
Gems:
"But that is apparently how it goes with hunting mushrooms: You have to get your eyes on, as hunters will sometimes put it." (Page 368)
"Wild mushrooms in general throw throw that dilemma into a particularly sharp relief, since they confront us simultaneously with some of the edible world's greatest rewards and gravest risks. Arguably, mushroom eating poses the starkest case of the omnivore's dilemma, which could explain why people hold such strong feelings, pro or con, on the subject of wild mushrooms." (Page 371)
"(Mexicans call mushrooms carne de los muertos-"flesh of the dead.") The fact that mushrooms can themselves be direct agents of death doesn't exactly shine their reputation, either." (Page 376)
"Mushrooms are hinges in nature, now turning toward death, now toward new life." (Page 388)
Thoughts & Questions:
It seems like it might be very interesting hunting for mushrooms. I didn't realize how complicated it actually was. In Costa Rica I went to a forest, and the tour guide could find animals, birds, little bugs without even looking. The way that Angelo was described reminded me of that. They are so comfortable with the world around them and they notice little movements that lead them to finding incredible things.
I would like to hunt mushrooms, I have a feeling I would have an advantage after reading this chapter. Although I am sure it would be difficult at first I would be more likely to look out for sudden movements of leaves, and spot the camouflaged mysteries.
This sort of reminded me of growing sprouts. Even though we were searching for sprouts. Each day we saw progress gave a feeling of accomplishment. Furthermore since I had never grown my own food in a jar the whole idea of it was quite a mystery.
Chapter 20: The Perfect Meal
Precis:
Perfection is not any easy task to complete. Especially when it comes to creating "The Perfect Meal", there are many elements within a perfect meal that must be considered. Depending on the time of year, we must gather foods according to what is available to us. We must then cook these "gifts" with love and appreciation. This allows us to be one with what is around us, and one with the people who brought the food to life. Knowing how something started creates a sacred ending.
Gems:
"Perfect?! A dangerous boat, you must be thinking. And, in truth, there was much about my personally hunted, gathered, and grown meal that tended more toward the ridiculous than the sublime." (Page 391)
"No, little if anything about this meal was what anyone would call realistic." And yet no meal I've ever prepared or eaten has been more real." (Page 392)
"But as the conversation at the table unfurled like a sail amid the happy clatter of silver, tacking from stories of hunting to mother lodes of mushrooms to abalone adventures, I realized that in this particular case words of grace were unnecessary. Why? Because that's what the meal itself had become, for me certainly, but I suspect for some of the others, too: a wordless way of saying grace." (Page 407)
"Without such thing as fast food there would be no need for slow food, and the stories we tell at such meals would lose much of their interest. Food would be... well, what it always was, neither slow nor fast, just food: this particular plant or that particular animal, grown here or there, prepared this way or that. For countless generations eating was something that took place in the steadying context of family and culture..." (Page 411)
"For we would no longer need any reminding that however we choose to feed ourselves, we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we're eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world." (Page 411)
Thoughts & Questions:
By finishing the journey with a meal it ties in all of the factors Pollen learned throughout his experiences. From all of the things he observed he decides what is his best bet into a perfect meal. The simplicity of the meal lets the reader see how something that may seem so complicated is really just going back to original roots. We often assume that concepts that seem heavily complicated are actually underneath quite understandable. By exploring and discovering what lies beneath the surface we further our discoveries to something that could change us forever.
As I furthered my reading I became more aware of what I was eating. I questioned where my food came from, how the food was raised. I am almost unsure if I want to continue eating fish. I told my parents that I would like to begin shopping at the Farmer's Market in Union Square on a daily basis. I never want to eat McDonald's again, and I am pretty sure that I never want to go back to eating meat. When we started this unit I talked about my daily dinners, of sitting around and talking. Although it is a drag sometimes, I now realize how important those moments are. It isn't about the food, it is about who you are sharing the food with, and the company you are surrounded by. It seems as if the food is just the base or the root as to why we are sitting there, and instead of just going through the motions of eating, you are appreciating the aspects of the food from all different angles. Praising it meal by meal, day by day.
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