The Meat Matter

I recently gave up eating meat, and by recently, I mean a few months ago. The main question I have been faced with ever since has been 'Oh my god, why?' followed closely by, 'but, what about bacon?'

And the truth is, I've wanted to give up meat for years, but I didn't really think my parents would respect my decision and because I'm still living with them, I didn't want to make mealtimes any more work for them than they already are. Its one of those things people always see as a 'phase' and never really take seriously, like that friend Jenny who goes on a complete juice detox for a month every now and then, you know she's going to give in at some point.

But for me, like everything else in the world of Holly Price, it really does have a deeper meaning. I could never shake the guilt off when I ate meat, I was always picturing a poor, helpless and innocent animal who was raised from birth for the sole purpose of slaughter. Some of you cynical realists out there will be shaking your head at me now, I know, you'll be saying 'well that's what happens in the real world, in the wild' and I'd just like you to stop right there - because it's not. You're telling me that Barney the lion just pops down to the butchers to grab himself a nice leg of antelope? or that Frieda the crocodile ventures down to McDonalds for her 20 chicken nuggets? No, in the wild, these animals are hunted, naturally, not raised in some harsh steel factory and overfed and then executed; because the human race is now too lazy and civilized to hunt, as well as too greedy to give anything up.

I know that what I am asking for is incredibly idealistic, and it wouldn't be entirely practical for suited up entrepreneurs in London to grab a spear and go chicken hunting, but it wouldn't hurt them to consider for a second where their food is actually from.

I am not some angry animal rights campaigner demanding you to give up meat this second - I am justifying my choice and expressing my love and compassion for all things with a beating heart. I'm not stupid or naïve, I know that me, just one person, giving up meat will not stop the entire industry, but it has made me happier than ever to pursue something I believe in, and maybe this will influence someone else who has been borderline pescatarian/veggie/vegan for years. I saw something today that triggered the need for this blog. A baby rabbit, in the centre of the road, taking it's last, shuddering breaths with it's insides spilling out over the concrete. I only saw the movement for a split second as my car passed over it, but I felt sick, I wanted to stop, pick it up and soothe it until it died. Again, an idealistic view, because I can't go stopping for every single roadkill victim I see because I'll end up one of them myself. My point is, I just don't agree with the unnecessary suffering of animals, and that's probably rooted within my childhood dream of being a vet, which was crushed when my mum revealed this job included putting animals to sleep - (not to mention the 7 years at university).

It's the same when I see people wearing fur or real leather. I can hear the squealing of that animal as it is skinned, or I can see a lifeless body, slumped and hairless, all for the sake of someone wearing a fucking coat or a hat or a scarf, and I think to myself, I'd like to see you skinned alive so that we can give out handbags to Minks. (I'm looking at YOU, Kim Kardashian.) I'm not trying to prevent people from wearing fur, but I do wonder why there is any need when there is incredibly realistic synthetic fur - I personally think that it's archaic, ugly and inhumane.

Also, what is really ironic about all of this, is that the animals were here first. This world was not ours to come and ruin, and take for ourselves, we have evolved from these species, and now we are killing them. Currently I still eat fish, but the effects of overfishing are ringing in my ears, and also I try to avoid using or eating palm oil where possible because of the devastating effects of deforestation - and my plans one day to work for a time at an orangutan centre. I feel so strongly about the natural world, animals, and what was here before us that I despair at almost everything about the industries of today. I can see how much we are destroying what is truly beautiful about this planet and I wish that I could do something to stop it, so this is my small, lifelong stand against that.

(I'd also just like to add that stopping eating meat has made me choose much nicer options on restaurant menus - go and be creative and brave and try something other than the burger or chicken wrapped in bacon.)