>I find it amazing that you can still continue to eat meat after knowing
>and comprehending all of this.
>
So do I. However, I never eat hot dogs, or any kind of pork; and I rarely
eat beef, only when it's fast food
or small amounts in soups or sauces. If I have a choice, I will choose the
meatless dish. But I have learned the hard way that it is extremely bad for
my health if I skip meals, so when I am compelled to eat meat I at least
have some cognizance of what has been done to the animal on my plate. If
it's a social situation, I usually bring up the subject in conversation. At
least that way other people can become aware. I am not perfect, but if I
wait to become perfect before starting to object to the system, then I would
be to old to do much, I'm sure.
>Actually there are literally tons of vegetarian cookbooks out there that
>contain both easy and tasteful recipies, and that are also fast to make
>(see for example Paulette Mitchell's "The 15-Minute Vegetarian Gourmet,"
>Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1987) It seems to
>me, though, that you are talking either about a _vegan_ (a diet without
>using any animal by-products such as dairy, etc.) or _macrobiotic_ diet (a
>diet based on whole grains). It is kind of hard to come by _good_ vegan
>and/or macrobiotic cookbooks, but with some effort you can even find
>those. Also, the vegan diet is becoming ever more popular because the
>awareness of the cruelty committed on corporate dairy farms, etc. is
>spreading fast among vegetarians and others. So, I'm sure we will see the
>amount of _good_ vegan cookbooks increase in the near future.
>
Yes, I prefer the macrobiotic diet. I even bake my own whole grain bread
(when I can find the time and the flour... very hard to come by
uncontaminated flour in a non-flour producing state). I have found places
where I can order my own grains from organic farms, and I am saving up for a
small grain mill. The trouble with cooking is not in finding recipes, but
in finding good ones which I can get all the ingredients for, and that won't
send my carnivorous husband running for pizza. (Anyone else having trouble
converting family members to healthy eating?)
As for dairy cruelty, that's news to me. But not a suprise. Are there
catalogs which allow order milk from "good" farmers? I can't bear the
thought of living without milk and cheese!
>
>Hold on for a minute. Is this the _ecofem-list_ or what? Are we promoting
>conformity, submission to, and perpetuation of the *anti-environmental*
>patriarchal capitalist system?????? Do we want to change things or
>not??
Yes it is. No we are not. Yes we do. My point, however, was to
acknowledge that, aside from the hard work of transforming our own lives, we
must transform the capitalist society upon which our very lives depend.
This is a nearly insurmountable task. One that, I feel, will not be
accomplished by direct action. The large industries in this country depend
on each other in a web-like fashion. Changing them will destroy the
economy, and will directly affect how all of us live. The challenge is in
finding a way to affect change withOUT destroying the lives of the people.
This means changes at the roots, at the foundations of the capitalist
powers. A difficult, devious long term approach.
As an environmentalist I feel that drastic change immediately would not be
too soon!! But as a feminist, I feel that human lives should not be
destroyed. Changing people, and changing their economic web is one of the
hardest tasks: for example, loggers. A logger destroys the forest at an
alarming rate. But why does he do it? From the top to the bottom of their
corporation, they all do it to support themselves or their families. Should
the lowly guy with the saw starve to save a tree? No. Should the forest
die because of him? NO! So our task is not to object to the logging and
nothing else.
Our task is to find another way to supply wood to people who need it (fake
forests? fake wood? I don't know!), AND to make sure that poor guy and all
those like him have other jobs to do (the corporate leader can easily start
a new business--he has the cash). So when we've save the forest and the
family, then we have succeeded. That is the challenge.
