But I didn't miss the two-legged and four-legged types of meat that move on land. I fell in love with the chargrilled broccoli, roasted cauliflower, and juicy eggplant. Vegetables that play an active role when they take center stage.
I never felt the inescapable tractor beam of a meat dish deep in my DNA. A vegan friend confessed that he occasionally eats his meals from culled wild venison (a meat so unpopular that he feels he's doing nature a favor). Perhaps the scientists are half right?
What changed for me was moving to the countryside during the pandemic. I watched my neighbor Jose have a loving shouting match with some stubborn ewes. I learned how she brings the chilled lambs back to life in Aga's fireplace as she gives birth to them. I learned how strong the will is to be a shepherd. How humane.
I realized the absurdity of it all at a village barbecue, when my friends were stuffing themselves with local sausages (from the village's farmers) and I was eating incinerated vegetable sausages and hamburgers.
On the other hand, no animal has suffered as much from bad PR as cows. I found myself writing articles defending them. It's frustrating that British farming is lumped in with the hellish North and South American farming hells.
Having met British farmers who are restoring landscape and soil health through collective grazing, like Abbey Allen of Pipers Farm in Devon, I realized that unless we support those who are making a difference, We realized that there was a risk that we would be left with no models or options other than changing the environment. Intensive, soy-fed. Of course, being able to eat high-welfare, grass-fed, ethically sourced meat is a huge privilege. The “inferior but superior” argument may sound a lot like Marie Antoinette.
