Food I
Ate
I
always start off my day with some type of cereal for breakfast. I never have really given much thought about where my
cereal comes from or if it produced by companies that could potentially exploit
animals or their employees. This is not to say I am ignorant that these things
do happen. I just never really think it is ME who is buying into this
exploitation.
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| Aldi Granola |
I am not very loyal to one brand so when a friend
gave me a bag of granola cereal she did not like I decided to try it. It is
from a store called Aldi which from doing some research produces a lot of their
own products. This really means they put their name on the packaging. There was
not a lot of information I could find on this product. The packaging claims to
be recycles and the product gluten-free. What I did notice is one of the
ingredients on the back was cane sugar. While this is not directly related to
animals, I did find that there is a lot of exploitation with cane harvesters
and their profession leads to a lot of health problems like kidney disease. Most
cane sugar harvesters are in someway infected with this disease and half of
them do end up dying from it. Aldi also claims on their website that they are
trying to be green by making everything they do on a smaller scale from
recycled bags and cartons to not using plastics bags saving customers up to 50%
on.
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| Salad to the bottom left is what I ate for lunch. Contained lettuce, strawberries, apples, avocado, cheese, eggs (which they claimed to be from a local chicken houses), cheese, and herbs. |
For lunch I had a salad at a restaurant in D.C. which
consisted of lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, avocado, eggs and cheese to name
the main ingredients. It did not contain any meat products but it did have
dairy. After watching the video last class on the dairy farms I was a little
more “self-aware” about the cheese on my meal. I did not know how cruel that
industry was and it really saddened me. I did not know my meal came with cheese
as I do not consume any type of dairy products as they make me sick. In a way I
am a little relieved my body rejects dairy after seeing the suffering mother
cows go through as they are being exploited for their milk. What really hit me
was the way they are brutally separated from their calf’s immediately after
birth. I did some research on cows and learned that they form bonds with other
cows and are even known to have “friends”. I feel like I will never look at a
milk jug or cheese on the shelf again after being introduced to this industry. It
has made me reflect deeply on bonds I hold with my loved ones and how I would
feel if they were taken from me for someone elses use. If they had absolutely
no say in what the outcome of what their life was going to become. It really
made me reflect about a reading we had in class where it spoke on inferiority
and how we value animals less for having a “handicap”. In this case it would be
the inability to speak. I thought about how as humans we think of people as
less who might have difficulty speaking or
maybe even speak a different
language than us and use it to our advantage and even exploit them.
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| "Dolphin Safe" Tuna |
For dinner I had a tuna salad, as I do not really eat
meat but I do eat fish. The first thing I noticed was that the packaging said
“Dolphin Safe” tuna. This means that they fish in a way that complies with
policies and laws that are there to help minimize dolphin fatalities during
fishing. According to the research I did, this policy originated in the United
States. Depending on the country the laws and policies might be followed more
strictly or loosely. I did have previous knowledge on the effects that fishing
is causing the ocean. I know that we are fishing more than can be produced back
into our oceans and that we are also destroying habitats which in return are
essential to keeping our oceans alive. Without the ocean we would all die as
our Earth depends on it. This is why 95% of the time I try to buy fish that is
sustainably caught. I do know that this comes with great controversy as life
the “Dolphin Safe” label many companies lie or manipulate what they consider
sustainable. Digging in a little deeper, I found that there really is no
guarantee that dolphins are not being harmed. Companies do face what the U.S.
government calls “strict” charges but some activation groups say it is not
enough. I cannot say I will completely cut fish out of my diet but I still
think I will continue to try and be more conscious of where I am buying my
food.
Reflecting on my food diary, I did not have a “bad”
day of eating to my opinion. To a vegan or vegetarian I might still be
considered a “bad” person or a hypocrite for deciding to eat fish but not meat.
What I got from recording my food diary today is that I do need to ask question
from where my food comes from. I might not even bat an eye to where my fish is
coming from but the place my fish came from could have been the reason a
thousand year old coral reef habitat could have been completely destroyed.
Causing an entire species and those who depended on that coral to survive to
know suffer. I even was able to put myself in the shoes of cows and realize
that what really separated them and me is the power of “voice”. The ONE thing is
keeping them from liberation, as some activists would say.
