Eating Animals

Eating Animals describes the brutal process by which animals are raised for consumption in the 21^st century:

• 99% of consumed land animals (450 billion per year!) are factory farmed … which means no movement or outdoor access, a drug-laced diet that intentionally produces deformities, and often death by torture (burning, mutilation, etc.) 

• ~80% of all purchased chicken meat (including organic) is infected with bacteria 

• ⅓ of the earth’s land is dedicated to raising animals whose poop routinely contaminates our water (for example, we’re talking enough leaked wastewater to fill ~132,000 Olympic-size pools)

I’m trying to figure out why this process hasn’t convinced me to avoid eating meat altogether. 

Some combination of believing but not seeing what I know is happening …

And a solid dose of laziness, given meat’s default status in restaurants, etc.

Which gets me thinking about how alternative meat brands could become cooler (and thus more widely adopted).

This recent blog describes why the best companies are cool: 

“You need a great product, of course; that’s table-stakes. But beyond that, savvy startups craft brands that become associated with status. This is even true in enterprise. [for example] Ramp took a boring category—corporate cards and spend management—and built the cool, sleek antithesis to American Express’s blandness. Good design and good branding are almost always worth paying up for. They help companies capture the cool factor and drive status for the customer.”

Here are some thoughts on how design and branding can lead to fewer animals being consumed:

• Real ingredients: RX Bar blew the lid off of its category by stating simply on its sleek packaging that a few real ingredients are what you need to be fit while on the go. Meati is a solid brand and should promote the fact that mushrooms are their primary ingredient (and it should also talk sh*t about heavily engineered ingredients, which won’t soon convince people to avoid meat)
  

• An experience so good that you can’t ignore it: Shopping, cooking, and dining should be memorable. For example:

  • I dream of a vegan butcher shop that mimics the deli or butcher section in the grocery, thus allowing me to spend less time in the frozen food section

  • How dope do these Mushroom Steaks look? 

  • Planta (ATL, MIA, NYC, etc.) has veered far away from the crunchy vegan restaurant vibe, instead offering unreal f&b and a great atmosphere

One day, it’ll be obvious that we’re taking too much from animals and nature. [Over an average lifetime, a human eats 21,000 animals!] 

I’m eager to switch it up, especially because I’m not someone for whom eating animals makes them feel the best. 

But eating fewer animals at scale must be the by-product of great alternatives that are as good or better than the meat equivalent.

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Addt’l quotes from the book that make me think

• “Meat came from an animal who, at best — and it’s precious few who get away with only this — was burned,  mutilated, and killed for the sake of a few minutes of human pleasure. Does the pleasure justify the means?”
  

• “Being vegetarian is a flexible framework, and I’ve left a mental state of constant personal decision making about eating animals (who could stay in such a place indefinitely?) for a steady commitment not to.” 

From RZA (Wu-Tang Clan)

• “The assumption was that the strongest source of protein is going to come from the animal. It has been propagated through culture, propagated through films. We didn’t know in the ’80s that there was another way.” Meat and beef and all these burgers are pleasure food, and we’d rather destroy our environment for our pleasure, and it’s foolish of us. We’ve got to snap out of our tendency to fulfill our immediate pleasure and sacrifice our long-term gains. Start with one day a week at least. Moderate yourself. I didn’t go cold turkey. It took me years to get to veganism. I started with giving up red meat. Then chicken, then fish, then eggs and cheese. You don’t have to rush yourself into that. Let your natural body speak for you. But if you’re thinking about helping all of us, helping the world, at least knock out a couple of days a week.