Meat

When I look into the eyes of a mammal I feel recognized and I recognize them so I can’t eat them. –Laurel Braitman in the opting out of a sacred and ancient relationship with eating meat.

When animals arrive at the slaughterhouse, they can smell the death before they get off the truck and they know why they are there. And some accept their fate and know its their end and they walk off the truck calmly with a lot of grace. And others fight and kick the whole way. Taking an animal to the processor is the hardest thing I do as a farmer.
–Jeff Dickinson

We sentimentalize wildlife which is the farthest from us and we sentimentalize our pets but farm animals which are in between are foggy to us.  None of us enter into these relationships (with farm animals) as innocent. It’s problematic; it’s not an innocent relationship. –Michael Mercil

A panel screening at the Wexner Center discussed our relationship to farm animals after screening Michael Mercil’s documentary Covenant, 2.7.12. I’m cleaning out my email inbox and these were notes I sent to myself. It’s not an innocent relationship.