Food, what are we really eating?

Granted I may not be an expert in all areas of the food we consume but I wanted to write this about the animals that we’re consuming in hopes of shedding some light on a certain thing we call “veal”.

When I was pregnant and attending the American Nanny College, they taught us about different foods and what’s healthy for growing children; they taught us these things so that we can help provide proper nourishment to children. One of the things that downright traumatized me was a video they showed us about how they prepare veal and the manner in which it is “raised”.  Now I’ve always been a lover of animals and although I’m not a vegetarian I am beginning to venture that way because the older I get and the more I think about what we’re really eating, the more I realize how wrong it is to eat animals.

Veal for instance is considered a delicacy, something that many people love for being such a tender meat. Have you ever searched for the information to find out why it’s so tender? Well, allow me to shed some light for you on the subject. Veal is made from male baby cows who at a very young age are taken from their mothers’ and put into a very small, very slender cage made of steel bars. The cage is so slender that the calf cannot even sit or lay down, it is wedged into the cage so tightly that it cannot move at all except it’s head, up and down slightly. They do this so that the calf cannot develop any muscles and it limits it from growing very much at all, let alone put on any body fat. They then starve the calf, feeding it only occasionally, enough to stay alive but not enough to nourish itself. The calf doesn’t grow but a few inches or so due to the lack of space and lack of food, and then it becomes ill and barely hangs on to life. The calf can hear the other cows and cries all day and night (as much as it can with what little strength it can muster) out of pain and agony for its mother. The mother’s hear the calves crying and they too cry out, with the pain of a mother who knows her child is hurting and hungry but she can’t get to it. She has milk for it but cannot feed it, knows it’s in pain but can’t rescue it for they keep them separated far enough to stay away but close enough to hear their cries.

At the point the calf is ready to die from malnourishment, after weeks of torture the so-called farmers will finally release the calf, which is so weak it cannot stand and falls over from exhaustion and lack of nutrition. They load it onto a flatbed cart and cart it off to be slaughtered. All the while the mother is still crying because she can “feel” her child’s pain.

Granted this is just one example of how “our” food is raised and slaughtered but there are many others that are just as awful. Many people know about this type of abuse and torture but because they like veal so much, they don’t lift a finger to stop it.

Personally I never tried veal until I was tricked into eating it. There are chicken breast patties that a family member of mine used to buy and cook all the time for us. When I told her about the video I saw and came to her crying about the poor baby cows, she told me “yeah but it tastes so good!” “You should try it before you judge.” I expressed to her that “I don’t care how good it tastes I could never be a part of something so awful and cruel to animals.” So one night less than a few weeks later, dinner was on the stove, it appeared to be the same ol’ chicken patties, mashed potatoes and gravy and some corn. As I started to make my plate I noticed the patties looked darker than usual and she said she just cooked it too long and reassured me that yes it was the chicken patties, which I admit I had grown to really like. As I cut into it I saw that the meat was very dark and asked her again if she was sure it was chicken? It looked far too dark to be chicken… she again told me it was. I took one bite and immediately spit it out, deep down I knew that she tricked me and the bite confirmed it. She bought veal patties and tried to fool me into liking it so that I wouldn’t feel bad about the baby cows being tortured. Granted I was only 16 so I cried and yelled at her and from that moment on I lost all trust and respect in her. Knowing how I felt about the baby cows, knowing that I had cried seeing the video, knowing how tortured these poor baby animals were was so appalling to me and for her to partake in purchasing the meat, let alone trying to trick me into eating it, was more than I could bare.

If you’re a lover of animals, then I pray that you too will consider what’s being done in the breeding and raising processes of your food before you consume it. Are we really so selfish and greedy that we don’t care how tortured and abused the animals are that we’re consuming? Are we really so special that animals have to be tortured for our enjoyment? Or does being non-educated excuse us from the crimes they’re committing against animals? I think not.

I could go on about chicken too, but out of respect for the readers I’ll wait on that subject; I don’t want to upset the meat lovers too much! But if you really want to know, do a little research and I know you’ll be surprised and upset if you don’t already know what’s being done to them too.

Love & Light,
Shelle