India answers the question: what if vegetarian was the law.

An actual picture I took in actual India, of an actual pair of cows.

Well, not completely vegetarian – but according to the Guardian ‘Maharashtra, India’s second most populous state, extended a ban on the slaughter of cattle this month and other [Bharatiya Janata Party]-led states such as Jharkhand and Haryana have also tightened restrictions on trading beef.’

This effort to further protect cows is very likely well supported by Hindus (80% of the population), but as the article suggested ‘discriminate against Muslims, Christians and lower-caste Hindus, who rely on the cheap meat for protein, and fear they could pave the way to a nationwide ban that would threaten thousands of jobs.’

If the last few months have taught me anything it’s that cutting one thing out typically means a spike in something else. I’ve cut out dairy and meat, but probably upped my refined sugar intake. Switching to soy milk may help loosen the dairy lobbyist’s stronghold, but is it worth potentially devastating our last remaining forests to make room for soy agriculture?

And so it goes in India where they are noticing an increase in Buffalo meat since unfortunately, they are not considered sacred.

I was talking with someone about my year-long project who was literally on the edge of his seat waiting for me to tell him that we should abolish the meat industry. When I told him I was equally concerned about the unreasonable pressures and exploitation of contract farmers, he seems almost disappointed.  The problem isn’t that we want to eat meat, it’s that we seem to have this insatiable need to feed meat to millions, which forces us to rely on unnatural means to cultivate animal protein before their natural cycle.

While I am wholeheartedly against factory farming, and the conditions within for both beast and man, I am not entirely convinced that livestock farming should be eradicated*. One reason is because history shows us that the prohibition of anything only results in a pushing it into the black market (think prohibition, abortions, the booming drug trade). You think conditions are bad now…

A second reason is that I honestly don’t believe that the raising and slaughtering of animals should be kept hidden from public consciousness. I think we should be talking about it, and making educated decisions as a society about what is acceptable treatment. This is so difficult to accomplish now because it’s too easy to walk into the grocery store and pick up neatly butchered ambiguous meat chunks and walk away without thinking about anything more than potential wine pairings. I have more respect for someone who can discuss how the sausage is made (without relish) than someone who winces at the idea of dissecting a fetal pig in biology but orders a burger at lunch. It’s a question of ownership.

*This is why I will never be a level 5 vegan.