Last Sunday, as we were walking back after a nice Mother's Day brunch at El Vez (Mmm, Mexican food before noon!), this ad truck drove by, touting the fact that both the Pope and the Dalai Lama eat veal. I wasn't able to get my camera out of my bag fast enough to get the picture I would have liked (the blurry woman on the right edge is my cousin Sabrina), but I found it curious enough to go online and learn more.
The "Guess who is eating veal?" campaign is sponsored by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a non-profit organization funded by both companies and consumers. Their goal is to promote "the right of adults and parents to choose how they live their lives, what they eat and drink, how they manage their finances, and how they enjoy themselves." Interesting, huh? I also find it fascinating that they've chosen to use two religious figures in a campaign to promote veal consumption.
As is often the case with me, I see both sides of this issue. On the one hand, I do firmly believe that animals should be raised humanely. Market forces and the desire to make money frequently push humanity to the side and so I believe that government needs to step in at time to ensure that animals are being treated with care. However, I also believe that if someone wants to eat veal (or foie gras), they should be allowed to do so without the law getting in the way. The question becomes, where's the balance?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-15-2008 @ 2:22PM
R. P. McMurphy said...
Ah, but do they eat Fois Gras.....is the question haha.
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5-15-2008 @ 2:54PM
boulder guy said...
Before you give any credence to the "Center for Consumer Freedom," read this:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom
which calls it "a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries."
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5-15-2008 @ 3:53PM
meghan said...
I thought since the Dalai Lama was Buddhist he didn't eat meat at all?
Weird.
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5-15-2008 @ 4:39PM
Ed said...
Yeah. I'd be a little surprised if the Dalai Lama was eating that stuff too. I hope he sues them for trademark infringement or something. Sounds like some shill group.
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5-15-2008 @ 4:49PM
Robin said...
To those confused, while the Dalai Lama was originally a vegetarian according to the tenets of his faith, he has liver problems that require him to eat meat to stay healthy.
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5-16-2008 @ 4:34AM
Alex said...
I don't know about America, but in the UK the use of veal crates was legislated against ages ago and so the veal produced is just (as it should be) young cow and is no more humanely (or inhumanely) produced than beef.
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5-16-2008 @ 12:48PM
Mark said...
I'm sorry, is the government saying that you can't eat veal? Did I miss that? The "don't eat veal" message does exactly what this phony "Center for Consumer Freedom"supposedly wants: to let "adults and parents choose how they live their lives, what they eat and drink."
I think the government has every right to insure that animals are treated (and even killed) humanely. If they can produce foie gras humanely, than fine, but they don't seem to be able to.
This whole "the government shouldn't tell you what you can eat" thing is a little ridiculous. There are social norms (like not torturing farm animals) that supersede culinary freedoms. You can't eat horse and we can't eat dog, and no one seems to have a problem with that.
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