Essay about Beef...and Why It Shouldn't Be What's for Dinner

“Against Meat” by Jonathon Safran Foer (2009, New York Times Magazine) is intended to educate current non-vegetarians on what vegetarianism is, the benefits of it in terms of health and animal rights, and also the struggles of consistently being a vegetarian. Although Foer does not specifically express what a vegetarian is we can assume he is going off the generally known definition of a person who does not consume the meat of an animal, as oppose to a vegan who does not consume any animal products at all. According to an article about vegetarian Americans, 5% or 16 million Americans classify themselves as vegetarian in 2015, compared to the 1% back in 2009, making vegetarianism a growing trend throughout the US (Raw Food World). Foer proves his opinion on vegetarianism by backing it up with facts from the USDA and his own personal experiences with his babysitter, growing up struggling with being a vegetarian that loves meat, and the decision to marry and raise his child vegetarian. Foer does, however, have a few gaps in his argument about nutrition, the costs associated with vegetarianism, and the lack of a definition of vegetarian.

Vegetarianism has important philosophical grounds related to murdering animals and the fact that all life on earth should be respected and protected. Unlike extreme ideas about animal rights that go as far as forbid people to ride mules for their benefit, advocates of vegetarianism proceed from one simple principle - that killing is wrong and animals have the same right to live. In theory, such a position means that a person is striving to live in harmony with the outer world, a feature that in itself can promote healthier lifestyle. However, there more matter-of-fact arguments in favor of vegetarianism, and these arguments hinge on the nutritional benefits of a veggie diet.

A person that consumes vegetarian foods is protecting the planet from harm. According to the article “Eating Green,” it is estimated that a vegetarian diet reduces pollution, greenhouse gasses, and fossil fuels which are harming the planet.

Brought up in the southern of China, I often heard about that people from there “eat anything with four limbs except tables, anything that flies except aero planes, and anything that swims except ships”. Nevertheless, I eat more fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains but less meat to make careful choices for environmental protection. Similarly, Kathy Freston argues that animal agriculture is one of the top contributors to global warming. In her Huffington Post selection “Vegetarian Is the New Prius,” Freston lists how many emissions of greenhouse gases people make when they eat meat and illustrates the consumption of tree in animal agriculture. She effectively convinces her audiences that the livestock results in the most serious environmental problems and encourages people to lead a greener diet to protect our environment. However, ardent craving, poor health, and perpetual hassle and cost prevent all Americans from being vegetarian.

I’ve experienced confusion and anxiety over messages about food since I decided to become a vegetarian almost eight years ago. Contradicting information from scientific studies, social pressures, and irresolvable questions of ethics have played tug-of-war with my opinions, and those of most other Americans, throughout our lives. Pollan argues that this distress of being required to make choices among so much conflicting and biased information has turned America into a food-obsessed society, one that is eternally focused on but paradoxically distracted by the seemingly simple issue of what to eat.

Jonathan Safran Foer provides a compelling argument for being a vegetarian in Against Meat. Foer doesn’t persuade us by telling us simply not to eat meat; rather he just gives us personal stories for why he and his family chose not to eat meat. “Against meat” is an article of Foer’s morals on whether or not to eat meat from the stories of his grandmother’s cooking and his childhood. Jonathan Safran Foer starts off the article with a story about his grandmother in order to connect on a personal level with the audience. Foer is passionate about food because of his grandmother.

As a meat eater, has anyone ever asked the question, “How can you eat meat?” The controversy of being a meat eater or vegetarian has been around for decades. David Foster Wallace wrote a thorough article, Consider the Lobster, in which he brings up popular topics of concern over eating meat. Is it morally wrong to eat the meat of an animal, or creature, who suffered for one's own hunger? Why should one have the right to decide the standards of pain? Questions included in Wallace’s article have had many in a whirlwind of emotions and opinions. As a vegetarian, one will know the full truth concerning health, recognize false advertisements, understand how animal pain relates to human hunger, and acknowledge the treatment of animals up until their deaths.

“Meats, Dairies, and Eggs, Oh Why” (2014) is an argumentative essay written by Rebecca Dent that explains the benefits of eating a plant-based diet and advocates for the better treatment of the animals affected by the meat industry. Dent supports her assertions by discussing the negative health effects of an omnivorous diet, addressing reasons some might be hesitant to convert to a plant-based diet, describing the advantages of substituting meat for vegetables for both the consumers and the animals, and finally, by including expert opinions and statistical facts. Dent’s purpose for this essay is to highlight the benefits of vegetarianism in order to convince readers to convert to a plant-based diet. The intended audience for this argument is those who currently eat an omnivorous diet so that they would assess and change their eating habits.

In his essay, “Against Meat”, found in the They say/I say readings, author Jonathon Safron Foer analyzes how he became a vegetarian and how it affected his future lifestyle. Foer delves into his childhood and explains what caused him to become vegetarian, as well as the people that influenced his decision. He also discusses the importance of what pursuing this type of lifestyle can do for those that decide to follow his footsteps. Although meat may contain types of protein and other favorable aspects, Foer and others argue that, in the long run, abstaining from meat provides to be more beneficial for your health.

Vegetarianism always seems to be a contentious issue. Vegetarians think that there are a lot of advantages of vegetarianism. They may have good health since they can keep their weight down, live longer and avoid toxic chemicals. Also, they push more waste out of their bodies and, thus, feel more energetic. More importantly, to some extent, they spare animals and save more lives.

In the Ethics of What We Eat, Peter Singer, expert in Applied Philosophy and Bioethics, addresses controversy head-on by unraveling public misconception about meat consumption, bringing critical attention to how the animals are treated before they are killed, as conscious beings that share the planet with us. He points to the grocery store and the meat aisle where animal meats are purchased that give imagery of spacious ranches and animals grazing on grass peacefully in lush pastures. In fact, this is not the case at all. The lives the animals lead prior to being butchered are brutal, tortured existences, of unimaginable grief, that no living being capable of conscious thought on any level, great or small, should ever endure. Singer illustrates, that meat manufacturers don’t want the public to know this is the case, spending more than 11 billion dollars per year in deceptive advertisement, to convince the public otherwise, obscuring the horrible truth. This selfish, greedy advertising leads Americans to follow the Standard American Diet (SAD), characterized by high consumption of animal-based products, like meat, eggs, and dairy, high in fat and excess protein, consumed in larger than needed portions, more often than needed, paving the way to heart disease, high blood pressure, low energy, and unhealthy living, while meat producers rake in revenue. Singer asks his audience to reconsider the foods they eat, providing valuable insight into why they eat these foods, and

Most people eat meat and consume animal products in daily life. The ethicality of meat eating and animal production is always up for debate. One of the world's most influential philosophers, Peter Singer challenges our meat eating behavior in his essay “Equality of Animals?” and argues that eating meat is unethical because he thinks our eating behavior makes animals’ life miserable and violates animals’ rights. Many other people object to our meat eating practice as Singer does, and they criticize the practice because it causes animals’ suffering and it damages the environment. However, the points they make about the unethicality of eating practice in fact is not the animal eating behavior itself, but the potential problems caused by how the

An intense, aggressive moral scrutiny has sparked interest in the meat eating community. Eating is an activity that we as humans do frequently, and the variety of food is immense. We decide what we are about to eat and how it will affect our bodies. In different societies, controversy has arisen over the morality of eating meat from animals. However, the moral and ethical arguments of eating meat is not a new debate. Roger Scruton’s essay, “A Carnivore’s Credo”, addresses both carnivores and vegetarians by using an appeal to pathos and ethos to persuade people of the need to “remoralize” eating meat, and extrapolating that to mean that human beings have the conscious ability to choose and stand up for moral right and wrong.

As we can now observe, vegetarianism has become something fashionable, and the number of people who reject eating meat is constantly increasing. In Britain, for instance, over 5 million people have done it so far. It is obviously connected with the recent animal diseases, but this tendency is likely to spread on the other regions of the world. However, it is not only a fashion or fear of illnesses. I myself became a vegetarian about 2 years ago, and I can see a number of reasons why people should stop eating meat. They are mainly of ethic, economic and health type. Those who think in an ecological way should also be aware of how this meat consumption ruins our environment. I don’t have an intention

As different crazes and fads are appearing each day, we have come to expect them to simply fade away as the hype passes. However, veganism has stood the test of time in our fad society and is still increasing in popularity. Originally only thought to be a religious lifestyle, many people from different walks of life are becoming vegans. However, this poses many questions and sparks heated debates, mainly from omnivorous people who believe that veganism is against life’s natural order. Vegans, then, argue against an omnivorous lifestyle by bringing up facts about humans’ biological makeup and how humans are, contrary to popular belief, herbivorous by nature, not omnivorous. While both sides present good arguments to some, the veganism lifestyle contains more benefits and less harmful cons than an omnivorous lifestyle.