For me, having been a strict vegetarian since primary school, I’d have to consider the inverse question: As an EA, should I start eating meat?
Eating meat seems to involve a lot of hassle. I’d have to learn a lot about different types of meat, where to buy them, how to prepare them, figure out what I like and so on. Right now, I just don’t perceive meat as food, and the thought of eating it feels kind of gross because of the killing and mess involved.
I would lose a bit of status among my green friends, and people would perceive me as morally inconsistent.
On the other hand, I see a few benefits to eating meat. In other countries, even here in Europe, it’s very much the norm to eat meat, and much harder to eat vegetarian. Travelling there is always a bit of an extra hassle for me. There might be a health benefit, though I’m not really sure what to expect here.
I guess the synthesis here is that I should sometimes eat meat for convenience, e.g. when travelling, but be sure to label it as an exception, so I don’t lose my values.
Eating meat seems to involve a lot of hassle. I’d have to learn a lot about different types of meat, where to buy them, how to prepare them, figure out what I like and so on.
A lot of omnivores don’t know all these things! Many people eat meat at restaurants, or buy it pre-cooked, or are served it by friends and family, and basically only eat a very small number of types (e.g. chicken + beef). A simple rule like ‘cooked chicken is probably fine’ is likely to dramatically expand your culinary options..
This is not to say that the other arguments (ethical + personal) against might not be significant or even decisive. But I would be very surprised if the issue was sufficiently finely balanced that the knowledge required to eat meat ended up making the difference.
For me, having been a strict vegetarian since primary school, I’d have to consider the inverse question: As an EA, should I start eating meat?
Eating meat seems to involve a lot of hassle. I’d have to learn a lot about different types of meat, where to buy them, how to prepare them, figure out what I like and so on. Right now, I just don’t perceive meat as food, and the thought of eating it feels kind of gross because of the killing and mess involved.
I would lose a bit of status among my green friends, and people would perceive me as morally inconsistent.
On the other hand, I see a few benefits to eating meat. In other countries, even here in Europe, it’s very much the norm to eat meat, and much harder to eat vegetarian. Travelling there is always a bit of an extra hassle for me.
There might be a health benefit, though I’m not really sure what to expect here.
I guess the synthesis here is that I should sometimes eat meat for convenience, e.g. when travelling, but be sure to label it as an exception, so I don’t lose my values.
A lot of omnivores don’t know all these things! Many people eat meat at restaurants, or buy it pre-cooked, or are served it by friends and family, and basically only eat a very small number of types (e.g. chicken + beef). A simple rule like ‘cooked chicken is probably fine’ is likely to dramatically expand your culinary options..
This is not to say that the other arguments (ethical + personal) against might not be significant or even decisive. But I would be very surprised if the issue was sufficiently finely balanced that the knowledge required to eat meat ended up making the difference.