There is something I need to confess here. As an omnivore, I enjoy eating a wide variety of foodstuffs, including sushi, omelets, steaks, and lamb. Living with a vegetarian for 14 years, I've had my fair share of veggie meats and soy hot dogs and seitan steaks. However, several months ago I made a decision to change my diet and I've stuck by that change ever since. I no longer eat pork and haven't had any in over seven months. No pork chops, no pork loin, no ham sandwiches, and of course... no bacon. Yes, in the new culinary paradigm where every goddamn thing has bacon on it, I am no longer eating bacon. Embarrassingly enough, this change was instigated by watching a documentary.
Call the Cliche Police!
During my stint of unemployment earlier this year, I was heavily using the Netflix. As a longtime fan of This American Life and since I lack Showtime at home, I decided to watch their TV show. In the episode called "Pandora's Box", one segment dealt with pig farming and how it has changed with the advent of genetic modification. Here's a clip:
The episode went in depth as to how modern pigs are raised: they are kept in a concrete pen, they put on an obscene amount of muscle in order to produce more meat, and (because of all of the genetic modification), they can't go outside. The more I watched this, the more I was horrified as to how these pigs lived. The thing that really sent me over the edge dealt with reproduction. The sows are lined up in pens and then a male pig is led by them on a conveyor belt so they can pick up his pheremones. This makes them ovulate and then a guy with a bag squeezes pig semen into sow's hoo-ha. Speaks a lot about me, I guess, but that is what turned me off the most. If these poor things can't fuck, I thought, why should I eat them? And I haven't ever since.
Yes, I know that most modern livestock are treated this way. Yes, I know that there are free range pigs and pork products available. Yes I know I would probably be horrified if I saw how most chickens are handled. I get it. My husband is a vegetarian, so I understand the mentality of not wanting to eat any animals. Just watching that episode really hit home with me, and I made that decision right then and there that I won't eat pork.
This doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat pork either. I'm way more libertarian (for lack of a better word) when it comes to people's diets. You hit a certain age -- let's say 21 -- and you are responsible for what you shove down your piehole. You wanna eat pork? Knock yourself out. You wanna eat rattlesnake? I won't stop you. As an adult, you have access to a wider variety of options now than ever before to what you choose to eat and what you don't. I have the choice to not eat pork and that's the choice I'm making. I'm not making a stand, I'm not making a judgment, I'm not making a clarion call. This is what's going on with me and I know there is no way that my pork embargo is causing any big change in the grand scheme of things. And really, it shouldn't.
And for the record? I LOVE bacon. Loved. I loved bacon. I loved BLT sandwiches, I loved hot bacon vinagriette on spinach salads. I loved carmelized bacon as well. Trust me, when I smell bacon cooking, my mouth instantly waters and I get hungry. But now, instead of some applewood smoked bacon for breakfast, I'll get some turkey bacon. Think of it this way: with me not eating pork anymore, now there's more bacon for you. See? I really am a giver.
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