This Thanksgiving Day, consider meat alternatives
Thanksgiving and Christmas are two holidays that are highly celebrated, and we are therefore inundated with advertisements about all the food items available. Sadly, there are billions of animals who are brutally slaughtered so humans can have a special holiday meal. Of course, this is also done every day throughout every year. Factory farming is the industry that provides and enables this.
There are important facts of which many people are not aware: The U.S. Department of Agriculture allows the term “cage-free” to be used when the chickens are out of the cage for an hour a day! Their beaks are cut off (no anesthetic used) so they don’t injure the other chickens because if injured, then they couldn’t be sold for human consumption.
Approximately 48 million turkeys are slaughtered every year specifically for Thanksgiving. Pork, ham, baby-back ribs and spare ribs are the body parts of pigs and piglets. Many, if not most, people are not aware that pigs are smart and have significant emotional capacity.
With regard to other holiday (as well as everyday) food such as veal, lamb and beef, it is important that humans know the horrific reality: veal is a very young calf who was taken away from his or her mother. As for dairy, the cows are artificially inseminated so they can continue to produce milk, and then their child is torn away from them. Lamb is the small child of a sheep. Steak, brisket, beef and hamburgers were once placid cows.
I am personally aware of the intelligence and sentience of “farm” animals. I volunteered at a local farm sanctuary, home to rescued horses, cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and turkeys. It was always extremely apparent that each and every one has his or her own unique personality, awareness, intelligence and emotional capacity.
There are many, many vegan alternatives that are delicious, and most of them taste like what you might refer to as “the real thing.” Certainly, here in Boulder, it is easy to find vegan products.
Think about how Jesus would like us to celebrate Him: show love, kindness, compassion and empathy to all of
God’s creatures.
— Suzanne Westgaard, Boulder