So, today was Day 20 of the 30 Day Veg and it’s still going brilliantly. I’m loving it and today, in the grocery store, my daughter even said, “Hmm, lets try some new and interesting fruits today!” She decided on a cantaloupe.
When I first started this 30 Day Veg I was tricked into ordering some propaganda from PETA via goveg.org. I promptly recieved my brochure of empty headed celebrities saying stupid things, like “and stuff”. The next several pages were pictures and horror stories of how animals are processed for food. Now, I’m not the animal loving type and none of these torture stories surprised or shocked me in the least. Because I grew up in mid-Southern Missouri, I’ve just never really seen farm animals as anything other than food. I’m not like the little daughter of a friend of mine who was eating dinner one day and said “Heeeyyy, this is called ‘chicken’ and chickens are called ‘chicken’!” Everyone in the room held their breath, but it either didn’t click, or didn’t bother her. She just giggled and chowwed down. For me, when I see a pig, it’s a porkchop and that field full of cattle, well that’s some Kansas City Steak right there. What do you expect from a girl who’s favorite steak joint had a larger than life Hereford cattle as its sign? It was no secret to us what was for dinner.
The most interesting and impressive thing I’ve learned about vegetarianism and being vegan was on the back pages of that brochure. Through all of this, it isn’t all the awesome food out there (although I can’t get enough of it) or even the way I feel (which is WONDERFUL), but it’s the impact that vegetarianism, particularly veganism has on the environment. The facts are fascinating and endless. The single biggest thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint is to become a vegan! I was shocked.
So, even if you really don’t care that your dinner was once part of a living, breathing creature, don’t shut all the herbivores down. We’re not all protesting the hunting of Bambi.
