Humane food production

Today I had an interesting conversation over a sushi lunch with one of my coworkers. We got to talking about how Big Agriculture is responsible for inhumane treatment of livestock, exploitative treatment of food industry workers, and exploitative treatment of farmers.

I must admit, neither I nor my coworker is vegetarian. Just look at my posting from the other day. See? (I hope I never find out how Romanian makes their sausages.) But we consume our animal protein with some amount of guilt. Because agriculture is more cruel than it needs to be.

When I got home from work, I opened up the Tribune. On the front page is a story that noted chef Charlie Trotter has decided to take foie gras off the menu because of the way ducks are mistreated. Now, that kind of cuisine is a bit beyond my means, so Trotter's decision won't affect me directly. But still, good for Charlie! The article offered the differing opinion of another chef, Rick Tramonto, who was quoted as saying, with respect to the raising of veal calves, "Yes, there are certain farms that are going to treat those veal better than others, but still at the end of the day, it's killing thoes babies, right?"

Hmm... I guess it doesn't matter if anyone mistreats me, since, at the end of the day, I'll end up in the grave anyway. Right?