Talking about Wing Night reminded me that I don't like them

By Tariq Hossenbux  visit my page at www.tariqhossenbux.ca
Wing Night reminded me ......


Last night after my workout I had an interesting conversation with another guy in my class. We were talking about getting some people together to go out after class sometime, and when i mentioned it was wing night at a nearby pub, he said he didn't like them. I agreed and realized that for a different reason, I didn't like them either. He just didn't like the taste, but I don't like the factory farmed chicken industry. I am not a vegetarian but I do try to think about the source of my food and  avoid eating chicken most of the time in fact. When I was younger my family had chickens living on the property that became virtually pets and over time observed their behaviour and their relationship with other animals. One of our dogs gave in to his prey drive and killed one of the chickens. Nobody blamed the dog, he knew it was wrong. It was his natural behaviour as an animal and that can never be entirely surpressed. Another dog later on became friends with the chickens. But we saw the chickens becoming fearful of the dog afterwards and you realize that they do think. The factory farming industry wants us to be disconnected from the idea that our food was once a living, breathing and thinking creature. That's why words like  poultry, beef, and pork are used instead of chicken, cows, and pigs. My philosophy is that farming livestock is part of human heritage, but that we should respect the beauty of life. For me that means allowing animals raised for livestock to live out some part of their life in an enjoyable way. When i buy beef  I travel to a farm a little outside of town and I can see that the grass fed cows are being treated well. And the beef is healthier and tastes a lot better for it. Even the stewing beef is more tender than the factory farmed steak at expensive restaurants. Much easier on the conscience that way. Back to my conversation about Wing Night. I walked back to him to tell my friend that I think in my lifetime technology will find alternatives to meat. I related an article about how Bill Gates is backing companies that are trying to invent chicken and egg alternatives. Only someone with that kind of money has any chance of  taking on the livestock industry. And he just might be successful.

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