When we gave up the credit cards a few weeks ago and became a cash-only kinda family, I suffered a mild case of shock at the grocery store check-out; "I have to PAY for this food? What the what?!" I seemed to have deluded myself into believing that some benevolent and magical entity (yes, that is how I refer to the Government of Canada) was responsible for my family's food needs. There is something seriously crazy with that. If I could be so deeply deluded about my finances, could I not be similarly confunded about other aspects of my life? My food for example?
Yes. Yes I could.
When I took a bite of that guilty McDonald's cheeseburger last night (yes I am disgusting, but at least I'm honest : ), I'm almost sure my conscience was painting the cartoon cow pictured above to prevent me from connecting my burger to the actual cow it came from. That's not right. It isn't okay to be so oblivious of the choices I'm making.
This isn't an animal rights issue for me. I have no qualms about slaughtering for food. I grew up around cattle: my Dad and Uncle raised Maine-Anjou when I was a little girl, and we maintained a small pasture of Charolais when I was older. I loved the cows (Windy, Sky, Rain, etc) and then I ate them; no big deal.
The issue is my irresponsible mindlessness - I am purposely avoiding reality. If I replaced the cartoon cow in my mind with a true history of that beef, I know I'd be a hell of a lot quicker to spend my money on grass-fed organic steak (or skip the beef if I couldn't afford it), then to cheap out on "100% pure beef" ground from grain-fed cattle raised in feedlots. Honestly. It would just taste better.
This post was inspired by the trailer for Food, Inc. I strongly believe in the message of this film and I look forward to seeing it.
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