Thanksgiving arrives every year with a heated debate over how to best cook that plump and juicy turkey. But the idea of a tofu turkey (also known as a “tofurkey”) has gone from a joke a couple years ago to a reality for many. While vegetarianism has been practiced for over a thousand years in some countries, it is a relatively new concept in the West. And so, with the question cropping up more and more often, should we eat meat?
Since the vast majority of grain grown in the U.S. is used for animal feed, eating meat not only contributes to the suffering and death of factory-farmed animals, but also to the majority of animals killed during grain harvesting.
It takes 4.5 pounds of grain to make a pound of chicken meat, 7.3 pounds of grain to produce a pound of pork, and up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of beef. About 1.4 billion people could be fed with the grain and soybeans fed to U.S. cattle alone.
A vegetarian diet is far less wasteful and more humane than a meat-based diet. More than 10 billion farmed animals are killed for food each year in the United States . Death is not the only harm that befalls these animals. Before they’re slaughtered, they are crammed in filthy sheds, crates, cages, and stalls. Most never feel the sun on their backs, breathe fresh air, or feel grass beneath their feet. They are debeaked, branded, dehorned, and/or castrated—all without pain killers. At the slaughterhouse, they are often dismembered while they’re still conscious.
The meat industry harms the environment and humans, as well; animal farms are among the top producers of groundwater pollution and greenhouse gases in the world, animal flesh and byproducts contributes to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other health problems, and slaughterhouse workers are routinely injured on the job.
No one can stop all the suffering in the world, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop what we can. A vegetarian diet is the best thing for animals, the environment, and our health. To order a free vegetarian starter kit, visit www.GoVeg.com.
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