BY MAYNARD LEON

The lion may not lie down with veggies just yet.  The king of the forest still prefers lamb chops.  Only 3% of humans in America self identify as vegans of vegetarians.  Here in New Hampshire the moose is iconic. The tradition of hunting is deeply embedded.  There is the hot dog at the ball park and the Thanksgiving Turkey.

Still, the sight of the gallows sharpens the mind, and 114 years after the federal Pure Food and Drug Act, amid the worst pandemic in 100 years — we take stock, we stress eat, and we think about food.

Covid is resulting in shortages at stores. Smithfield Ham and Tyson Chicken plants in South Dakota and Iowa were serious hot spots.  Sick workers lead to plant closings, no matter who orders them back to work.  That created an animal backlog that left farmers euthanizing so many animals Senator Grassley was seeking mental health resources for hog farmers.

Is meat that vital to us?  Set aside it’s comforting aspects, the habit we have made of it, and even the King of the Forest might put down the steak. Consider the impact factory farming has on lands, communities, animals, human health and planetary health. Animal agriculture is a leading cause of  global warming.  If cows were a nation this would be the world’s third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The romantic idea of the frontiersman out with his musket hunting to feed his family is far from reality as the notion of the family farm in an era of  an agriculture industry, He’ll bent on total automation. Sentiment is exploited by this industry but we have fewer family farms than during the Civil War. Ask a real family farmer, if you can find one, what they think of factory farming?

Here is the reality: Chickens are genetically modified to an extreme that would warm Dr. Mengele’s heart. Mother cows evidence great distress as calves are torn from them before weaning, and they didn’t even violate are immigration laws. Turkeys are bred to be so obese they can’t reproduce absent artificial insemination. Human Consumers of the fruits of this industry have the same problem.  We see them lumbering through the mall.

The Center for Disease Control says 75% of new or emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic— traceable to broken and naturally unharmonious interactions between humans and animals.  Ponder that while self quarantined.

But don’t we need lots of animal proteins?  No we don’t, actually. Most Americans take in double the daily recommended amount. For vegetarians the figure is 75% more than needed. The harvest of this is more stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and kidney failure.

These concerns are shared by more than latte sippers and cartoon vegetarian lions. A plant based diet cost $750 less a year than a meat based one. Slaughterhouse workers, put at risk to sate our meat habit, are disproportionately poor and minority. Normal market forces, without the government subsidies, would have closed this industry down long ago.  This industry has shown only a rhetorical interest in working with others to develop better food systems, and how could it be otherwise?  Shaw said “anyone who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.”

The meat industry just doesn’t dig the way we groove. But there is hope.  Despite the the low percentage of vegetarians notes at the beginnings of this piece, 25% of Americans aged 25 to 35 years old self identify as vegetarians.  You can get veggie burgers at Five Guys now, not just Whole Foods. Put down that steak!