Pandora's Box

I haven't eaten meat for over fifteen years. I don't have a problem with people eating meat - it's just something that I choose for myself. I know quite a few people who have been vegetarians and have gone back to eating meat after a length of time. I don't think that I will ever do that and as time goes by my conviction grows stronger. I still cook meat for Chris or guests and I have occasionally questioned this - particularly at key moments such as when your hand is inside a chicken and your fingers are gradually separating skin from flesh in order that the stuffing can go in.

I will still make a point of watching documentaries about animal slaughter and this is what sparked me off today - last night's television programme Could You Eat An Elephant? in which two chefs travelled the world sampling meat which in this country would be taboo. I have always maintained that if you are happy to eat cows or chickens there is some hypocrisy in refusing to eat cats or monkeys. The chefs in question ate snake's heart - still beating at the bottom of a glass of vodka, cheese which had been extra matured by maggots and the living maggots remained in the cheese and were part of the delicacy and dog amongst other meats - although they weren't particularly happy about meeting the dog livestock which were caged up in very tight confines. They refused to eat monkey, likening it to looking like a butchered baby, elephant and sewer rat - although free range rat as they termed the ones from fields did not disgust them to the same extent.

Another television programme that fascinates me is Kill it, Cook it, Eat it. in which - as the name suggests - animals are slaughtered then cooked and then served to the people who watched the slaughter. Until recently I had never seen the slaughter of turkeys or geese and it was bizarre to say the least - once the bird had been put in a cone and its head electrocuted its wings slowly and spookily rose up in the air behind its back as if still alive.

It was a documentary that finally convinced me to stop eating meat. It was called Pandora's Box and it was an expose on British abattoirs. It highlighted some of the malpractice that occurred in badly run slaughter houses in the UK. Included were cows that were not stunned sufficiently and were still conscious whilst being tethered up by their back legs and bled to death. Chickens which were still alive and badly mutilated in the head area whilst being dipped in boiling water in order that their feathers could be plucked more easily and then, still alive, having their feet chopped off. After seeing this documentary I knew that I couldn't be sure that the animals that I was eating had been treated correctly and processed humanely and therefore I couldn't eat them any more.