Several times over the Christmas period I was asked why I was a vegetarian, as if not eating meat is the oddity and meat-eating is as natural as breathing.When I asked my questioners why they ate meat they were dumbfounded. They didn't think it needed any explanation, as if my query was crazy.
But it's a serious question, because actually meat-eating is contradictory in several ways.
Meat-eaters usually say they love animals - they may even have pet cats or dogs. Yet they happily eat animals which have been viciously slaughtered, and reared in the most appalling conditions.
They say they eat meat but in fact only eat 'acceptable' types of meat. They don't eat dogs, cats, horses, guinea pigs, ponies or donkeys. Why do some animals have exempted status?
They say they never eat vegetarian food because it's boring and fit only for namby-pamby wimps, yet they chomp their way through vegetarian staples like bread, cakes, biscuits, dips, peanut butter, cheese and eggs.
They say they're concerned about climate change and the environment, but eat animals which demand huge tracts of land and huge amounts of animal feed and produce huge quantities of greenhouse gases. Going vegetarian is one of the single most effective ways of cutting environmental damage.
Why am I a vegetarian? Because I don't believe in killing animals for food when there are plenty of food sources that don't involve severe pain and suffering for living creatures. What's so odd about that?
See also: On Being a Vegetarian
