On Vegetarianism

In 2021 concluded one year that I have stopped eating meat. It has been a very

interesting experience, bringing along nice reflections.

At my family, meat was always really significative and present. To most people,

having meat at the table is directly attached to the idea of having food,

"having something to eat". This idea is introjected unto our lives way before

we born, and specially living at the South of Brazil, is expected that the act

of eating meat as something daily. Actually, I didn't actually see much of

point in *not eating meat*. When that idea started to enter my mind, and I

slowly started to get more familiar with the idea of vegetarianism, I started

with the more simple act possible, I join the "Meatless Monday" movement, which

I failed miserably. Still couldn't drop the idea of eating meat, couldn't

barely think about other meals which didn't have meat, or at least I always had

this feeling that it "wasn't the same thing".

My turnaround, was in fact pretty curious, at a monday evening I decided to

order a cheeseburguer from a unfamiliar place and it was enough. I spent the

whole week with food poisoning. That not being enough for me, on that same

Friday I went to a barbecue and for some reason I thought that "well, I'm

feeling better already, it has been a week almost". Needless to say that I went

to the hospital that morning, from mixing beer and LOTS of meat. The doctor

that attended me said, short and straight: _"until you finish taking these

meds, no meat and no heavy stuff_. That friday was the last time I ate meat.

The transition, If I can call it so, was in fact pretty seamless. Today, a year

later, there have been few times I actually craved something with meat after

feeling the smeel from some neighbour cooking, I think most are rememberances

from afective memories. The greatest and most effective point I think that

helped through this trasition was that I saw the opportunity to *not only stop

eating meat, but to rethink my eating as a whole.

I had some debates with some colleagues and friends of mine, and one of the

things that seems pretty pointless to me, is seeking for foods that bear

ressemblance with meat. Sometimes made out of plants, filled with chemicals,

industrialized and canned food or even "hamburguers" made in labs, or worse

yet, search experiences "like eating meat". That math don't check to me. Stop

eating meat, at least to me, is way beyond that. It's look at chains of supply

and production, it's think on agroecology, in organic food at a fair and

reasonable price for both the consumer and the producer. It's thinking about

the crossing chain to that food to reach your pan. It's think about food

politic as a whole, in eating things different and differently. Eating more

typical, local food, food from the current season, and so on and so forth.

Explore other foods and other way to eat. Being part of the Bem da Terra gives

me the opportunity to see those things happen in practice and debate to

construct alternatives.

Sobre o Bem da Terra (post on the Web)

I'm getting ready to do a more complex and profound transition, at least to me,

that is remove my consume from animal products as a whole. I consider that

harder, so it needs a better organization and a more thoughtful work. It has

been a lot easier following the work and discussions from some inspiring

people, notably: Ruan Félix, Vitor, the blog and podcast of Juliana Gomes

(Health Food for Everyone), the feed of Luciele Santos, Ju Couto, Carla

Candace, Vegano Periférico (Periferic Vegan), Movimento Afro Vegano (Afro-Vegan

Movement) and the União Vegana de Ativismo (Vegan Activism Union) it's some of

the indications I leave for to the reader, specially to think about within

different approaches and backgrounds, althought keeping a common sense of

veganism for a more local, accessible, inclusive form of political activism.

--

The post "On Vegetarianism" was published in March 18, 2021.

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