It started when I was 13 when out to dinner my “well done” steak came to the table and leaked red liquid. That was the first time I had entertained the thought of just how did my food end up on my plate. I didn’t eat the steak and never had another one.
The next year in science class we dissected a chicken wing. Never again could I touch, much less eat, a chicken wing. I never learned how to cook chicken because I could never touch it raw. When I rarely ate meat, it was always cooked out of sight by someone else.
Then I started to research how “the animal becomes food” process and I was mortified. I was so naive thinking Old McDonald’s farm animals magically and painlessly ended up in the stomachs of millions. No E-I, E-I, O there! Factory farming and inhumane methods are painfully involved. PETA is sometimes a bit overdramatic but there is no hiding how the mass meat industry is running. And no, you oh-so-funny meatatarians, PETA does not stand for “People Eating Tasty Animals.”
I gave up all meat once and for all three years ago. Sean and I were visiting Atlanta and went to the Yellow River Game Ranch (an AWESOME place!) Feeding the animals is what you do there but the little baby chickens that ran up to me for food changed the way I would eat from then on. It all started with animal welfare but today I’m just plain ol’ disgusted at the thought of eating carcass. I’ve also switched to organic dairy, too.
I’ve continued my research and have discovered how the world has a sneaky way of using animal byproducts in many meatless foods. I’m no longer safe by just eating something without meat. My biggest discovery that really angers me is gelatin.
Gelatin (or gelatine) is a translucent, colorless, brittle (when dry), flavorless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals’ skin and bones.
Nothing glamorous about that! It’s in a ton of stuff besides jello. The jello shots many think are just so fabulous are really just down right disgusting. Did you know it’s also in many types of yogurt? How about marshmallows, skittles, and Altoids? Even one of my Smart Ones frozen dinners had it listed as an ingredient. Gross!
