The Decision
Sixteen years ago, I awakened one April morning and decided the previous night's grilled steak was my last. I had been considering becoming a vegetarian for several years and it was time to get serious. For years I had been listening to my sister and brother tell me why I shouldn't eat meat or wear animal hides. My sister Jan was an early vegetarian in our midwestern city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Jan was not confrontational about her choice but would make efforts to educate her four siblings and suggest alternative meal choices whenever the opportunity arose. I will never forget the difficulty she had ordering food in restaurants and even getting her family members to remember and respect her choice. One time I, unthinking, served a dip that had deviled ham as an ingredient--my poor unsuspecting sister ate it, asked what it was made of and immediately became physically ill upon learning of the meat it contained.
My brother Dave, co-founder and executive director of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, was the next vegetarian in our family. Dave, our brother, Bruce, and I had all worked at a slaughterhouse in Cedar Rapids in the late 1970s. I hired my two younger brothers to work there. Bruce was lucky. He worked on the loading dock and saw none of the atrocities that Dave and I witnessed. I was hired initially in a human resources position that meant I had to walk through the slaughterhouse on occasion. The first time I appeared on the "kill" floor, an employee threw a cow's tongue at me as I stared horrified at the cows being stunned and then shot through the forehead with a slug. Nothing prepared me for the sight of those huge beautiful animals slumping in immediate death. Equally upsetting was seeing hogs break away and running wildly, trying to escape the conveyor belt that carried them up one floor to their death. Their screaming is a sound I will never forget.
Shortly after being killed, the animal's heads were severed from their bodies. Hundreds of bodiless heads were attached to hooks on a conveyor belt and moved through the plant like so many widgets. But they weren't widgets. These were animals that had been alive only minutes before.
The bodies of pigs were dipped to remove their hair. Cows were skinned and their hides were taken to the hide cellar: a cold, damp basement where the hides were laid out and treated to prepare them for manufacturing leather clothing and other items.
It was amazing how quickly the work to dissemble the animal's bodies occurred. It seemed a race to remove any semblance to a living being.
No wonder many of the employees who worked on the "kill" spent their breaks and lunch hour at a nearby bar trying to forget the morning and numb themselves for their afternoon's work.
I have seen "downers". These are the animals that have been injured and cannot walk to their death. These cows and pigs would be left in the yard in all kinds of weather, oftentimes all day. They were then killed or their already dead bodies were dragged off to the rendering area of the plant. This is the area where the otherwise unused animal body parts were cooked and dried to make products like blood meal. The clothing I wore on visits to this area was thrown away when I left the slaughterhouse for good. The stench could not be washed away.
After he left "The Pack" (employer and employees called this a meat packing plant rather than slaughterhouse), Dave converted to vegetarianism. He is now a vegan. Dave was and remains diligent about converting others. Dave's conversion had a great impact on me--largely because he and I shared the slaughterhouse experience. I was the third and last sibling of our siblings to convert. Although none of us quit eating meat for health reasons, we have reaped health benefits. My two non-vegetarian siblings struggle with high cholesterol, weight and other health issues.
The Reactions
Converting to vegetarianism was the easy part. I have been amazed by the range of reactions by others to me and my decision. Fortunately, through my animal work and social contacts, I have met some like-minded people who have been vegetarians for years--some for health reasons and some for humane reasons. Some of my friends have recently reduced or eliminated meat consumption. Others ask why I don't eat meat and seem genuinely interested in the reasons. Some people refuse to respect the choice and serve meat dominated dishes at parties and social functions. These folks still think a raw vegetable platter and chips are an acceptable buffet meal for vegetarians. Others seem threatened and are confrontational. I find that people who are confrontational about the meat/animal exploitation issue have a general disregard for animals and animal lives. Some examples follow.
Negative Reactions
Shortly after converting, I read during a flight to Atlanta, the horrors that produce veal. That night I had dinner with my boss and his wife and several other people. I was appalled when my boss's wife said she was going to order veal. Still new to this and fairly naive, I told her about veal calves being separated from their mothers at birth, kept in small crates in the dark so they wouldn't be able to move or develop muscles, and having chronic diarrhea from being fed only milk. I thought she would change her mind. Not only did she order veal, she told me she didn't care about the calves. And, as though I had just thrown down a glove, her husband, laughing, shared the story of how they had neutered their cat themselves one night while drunk.
Another adamant meat eater will loudly announce that he wants veal or lamb if I am nearby. I think he thinks he's being funny. He won't order these items if I am at the same table, though he and others are likely to order a hamburger. His wife was incredulous upon learning last year that I rescued a litter of kittens from a woodpile. She reported that her family used to drown farm kittens.
Recently my husband and I hosted a gourmet dinner for three other couples. The dinner had been purchased at a fund raising auction. The donor chefs were two couples who are well traveled and love to eat at fine restaurants. They consider themselves to be connoisseurs of fine foods and wines. I reminded the chefs on several occasions prior to the date (one has known me for 15 years) that I don't eat meat and asked them to please plan the meal accordingly. We arrived at the beautiful home of one of the chefs and were immediately offered wine and appetizers. There were two wonderful non-meat choices. I was hopeful! Although I am not a large woman, I do love to eat and had been looking forward to this evening for some time. I had eaten only a small breakfast and lunch. We were soon seated at an interesting custom-designed table. The first course salad was served atop prosciuto (an Italian bacon). I felt I could forgive this as my salad was delivered minus the prosciuto. I wrongly assumed they had decided to serve just this one meat item. The main course was brought out on individual plates. My friend's plates contained some sort of beef roast stuffed with more prosciuto, and potatoes and green beans. When it arrived, my plate contained one slice of eggplant (which I loathe), potatoes and green beans. I figured I was still okay. I could eat the potatoes and green beans and feel satisfied. Imagine my surprise when I put my fork into the potatoes and found them layered with onion and more bacon! All of us were shocked by the meal. Even the meat eaters felt they had eaten too much meat! Meanwhile, our hosts and chefs were dining contentedly on this same food in the kitchen. These same couples have told stories of purchasing live lobsters and having lobster races and other "games" before boiling them to death.
Positive Reactions
Over the years, I have tempered what I volunteer in social situations about eating animals. I find that most people do not want to know the conditions under which animals live and die for human consumption. On rare occasion I am asked for details, but mostly people want to discuss vegetarianism from the standpoint of health benefits. Occasionally, when new information about animals or animal products is made public, I am asked for details. Since the goal is to end the consumption of meat and other animal products, I believe any reason is a good one!
Several friends have changed their diets recently. One dear friend has reduced her meat consumption after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She believes that food choices had a role in causing her disease and will be a major factor in her recovery. Another friend changed his diet drastically after being diagnosed with diabetes. Yet another friend changed after having a high cholesterol reading. Another friend has been reading about milk and other animal products. She is asking for healthy choices for her five children.
My husband has greatly changed his eating habits. Education and respect for my beliefs were key to his decision to reduce his meat consumption. He was raised in a "meat for every meal" rural Iowa family. He still eats meat occasionally when we are out. His reasons for reduced meat consumption are both health and humanely motivated. He believes that those who don't exploit animals are the wave of the future.
Victory
I suspect one of the gourmet dinner chefs mentioned above was responsible for duck foie gras appearing on the New Years Eve menu at a local club. The menu was announced in early December, 2000. I immediately contacted a friend (Lisa Lange) at PETA and requested materials. When the written materials and video arrived, I called the club manager and requested a meeting. I told him I had some information about foie gras that I hoped he would look at or let me explain. He asked me to go ahead and tell him about it. I explained that foie gras is produced by force feeding ducks and geese large amounts of grain through a metal tube, that their livers are horribly enlarged from being fed unnaturally large amounts of food all at once, that their throats are damaged so they are unable to eat normally and that workers receive a bonus if they kill "only" 50 birds a month. I requested that foie gras be removed from the New Year's Eve menu. He seemed shocked by what I told him. He told me he had no idea this was how foie gras was produced and asked if this was how geese foie gras was also produced. I told him it is. I delivered the materials to him later that same day. The following evening, I saw the manager at dinner. He came to our table and told me they had removed the foie gras from the New Years Eve menu! This meant 300 servings of duck foie gras were not purchased!
The Future
As I learn more about how animal derived products are produced, I continue to eliminate animal products from my diet. Friends are more open to vegetarian and vegan diets as they face health issues brought on by age and lifestyle choices. I believe the trend will be to reduce consumption of animals and the products derived from their exploitation.
Note: Laurie is grateful to her mother Peggy for her support of vegetarian beliefs and her willingness to prepare vegetarian/vegan choices for her vegetarian children and grandchildren.
Copyright © Laurie
Crawford Stone, 2010.
All Rights Reserved.
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