Working on a food product development
magazine, I’m slightly amused when people learn where our food, specifically
meat, originates. In our highly sanitized society, it’s almost easy to forget
it involves an animal. Having toured many food plants, especially in Latin
America, I have seen all stages of meat/poultry processing. While I do
appreciate and consume meat, I also understand why some become vegetarians.
I spent my childhood summers in Peru. Our first trip was striking for me on
many levels: the political instability, the disparity between the haves and
have-nots, the unfairness of our cousins being better-educated than us, but
lacking opportunities. Most of our family, at that time, still visited the open
air markets that characterize much of the region: they picked up bread,
vegetables and fruits, and some chicken...a chicken that was still living. This
was no problem, as the vendor would just twist its neck, throw it in a bag and
off we’d go. “You also want some beef?” the vendor would ask. “My brother, in
the other stand, just killed a cow this morning, and he’s butchering it as we
speak.”