Are ‘Conscientious Carnivores’ An Ethical Failure?

Not a vegetarian, but sympathetic to the eat-less-meat movement? Stay away from mega-processed meat but enjoy locally-made sausage or humanely-raised beef? Food author James McWilliams has a problem with you.

McWilliams, the author of book Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, dismisses “the rationalization … that because factory farming is so horrifically brutal to animals, the conscientious carnivore can vote with his or her fork by purchasing meat from farmers who raise their animals in a more ‘humane’ manner; he dismisses those who think ‘free-range pork, grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs, and all that’ mean anything at all.

The reality…is that the so-called conscientious consumers who support these alternative systems are doing very little to challenge the essence of factory farming. In fact, they may be strengthening its very foundation.

This is just the kind of vegetarian moralizing I can’t stand, and I don’t think is effective. Let’s use my mother as a Midwestern cultural barometer: She could care less about the ethics of eating animals, but when you talk to her about why eating less meat can improve her health, or be good for the environment, she’s a lot more receptive. If we lived in some sort of vegetarian utopia, I might be a bit more sympathetic to McWilliams’ arguments. But we don’t, and chastising part-time meat-eaters for not being omnivore enough is the kind of thing that will be loved by those who already agree with you; annoy and insult the ‘conscientious carnivores’ or other flexitarian types; and not only fail to win over but perhaps actively turn off your average meat-eating American from the very idea of vegetarianism.

McWilliams asks, “…how do conscientious consumers reconcile their rationale for avoiding factory farming with their willingness to tolerate the slaughter of a sentient animal? Logically speaking, it makes no sense. Supporters of alternative meat base their advocacy on the belief that an animal should never be subjected to the pain and suffering endemic to a factory farm.” Except … not always; you could put aside animal ethics concerns all-together and still-be anti factory-farming because of it’s detrimental impact on the environment or food safety.

Photo: Grist