Decisions We Make |
 |
Dear friend,
Food choices can be a very personal matter. It's your body, and you decide what you eat.
It's clear as well that our food preferences and decisions are shaped by all sorts of external factors. Travel the world, or take a look at ethnic communities within the United States, and you'll find an endless array of foods prepared in distinctive ways.
The great variety of cultural food preferences reflects a basic truth—that food selections, at some level, are conditioned choices.
I grew up in an ethnic household—with a Greek mother and an Italian father. Like many second or third generation ethnic families, we were not orthodox in eating only Greek and Italian fare. We sampled many foods—Asian, Mexican, and, most of all, what might be described as traditional American cuisine.
We ate what was common in supermarkets and restaurants. We ate what was advertised. We ate what was affordable—and what the "experts" said we should.
|
"We are creatures of conscience, and each one of us has the power to turn away from the cruelties of today’s factory farm." | |
|
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) believes that food choices should be significantly influenced by an ethical concern for animals. In the United States alone, 10 billion domesticated animals are reared and slaughtered for food each year—most of them raised in harsh, sunless, intensive confinement.
With the rise of industrialized farming and the many miseries it inflicts, the decisions we make two or three times a day—when we sit down to eat—have vast implications for animals. We are deciding, in effect, whether or not we will add our own weight to the immense burdens placed upon factory-farmed animals.
As an animal protection organization, The HSUS is constituted to prod lawmakers, corporations, and individuals to do better when it comes to our food policies and choices.
The HSUS Guide to Vegetarian Eating is published for the benefit of our members and other Americans who, for reasons of conscience and health, want to reduce their consumption of animal products or replace them entirely.
Choosing vegetarian foods does not subtract from the total amount of enjoyment we derive from eating. Rather, it can add to the pleasure of a good meal by opening up a new world of foods. More importantly, though, it marks an acceptance of personal responsibility. We human beings, after all, are not just consumers, answering to our appetites or to supply and demand. We are creatures of conscience, and each one of us has the power to turn away from the cruelties of today's factory farm.
Animals raised for food are not just objects or commodities—they are fellow individuals, with the same spark of life that we have, the same desire to live and enjoy their time on Earth. By making better food choices, we carry a message of compassion into the world, and our own lives are richer for it.
For the animals,
Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States
Contents | Next Page
