Some random thoughts from a food-focused academic:
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Humane Vegecide
There has been a great deal of emphasis in recent years on humane slaughter of food animals, but the plight of vegetables and fruits that are eaten has been largely ignored. We apparently choose to forget that vegetables are alive when they are cut, picked, or torn from the ground. Some are still alive when they reach the kitchen, or even the table. Recognizing this, how can we possibly know that they feel no pain when they are skinned, sliced, shredded, boiled, or bitten into?
It does little good to have taken a potato's eyes out before it is flayed alive even if it can't see, it can feel. The cabbage head that is grated for coleslaw or shredded for sauerkraut would surely cry out against such treatment if it could. Or consider the artichoke that is boiled alive and then has its heart taken out and eaten. Clearly, something should be done to assuage the suffering of these plants that die so that we can live.
At the very least, vegetable edibles could be chilled to numb them before being boiled or mutilated. Gases such as ethylene are used to stimulate fruits; maybe other gases could be found that would put them to sleep. It seems clear that systemic anesthetic chemicals would be hard to clear with the Food and Drug Administration, but there should be no objection to the use of acupuncture to alleviate unnecessary suffering. Some research on this subject, presumably by horticulturists, is needed.
The "Golden Rule" must have its place here. It has been proposed that meat tastes better if the animal dies peacefully. Imagine how much tastier and perhaps even more nutritious vegetables would be if they were not abused in the process of becoming food. Considering all they have done for us, every week should be "Be Kind to Vegetables Week."
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Parting Thoughts for the "Foodborne Diseases" Class
Don't let all the information about risks and hazards scare you away from food. Not only is eating one of the most enjoyable things anyone can do it's one of the few things most people my age can still do as often as three times a day.
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Natural Causes
A newspaper story says that, officially, old age can no longer be considered a cause of death. Three or four generations ago, many people in the U.S. died of what were then called "natural causes." Diagnoses have become more specific, and many of the currently recognized causes of death have become rarer, so that now we tend to live many more years and to die of cancer or heart disease. Our government agencies tell us that if we would just eat more fiber and less fat, salt, and cholesterol we need not die of cancer or heart disease, either. This leaves us with the alternatives of once more dying due to natural causes, or not dying at all.
It seems clear that if natural causes become the leading killer, the U.S. government will be obliged to declare war on them, perhaps beginning by building a National Institute of Natural Causes (NINC). If people simply stop dying, or if the NINC succeeds in its work, we will need a National Institute of Immortality (NII) to deal with the impact of population growth and an increasingly elderly population.
This is truly an exciting time in which to be alive, but are we prepared to accept the consequences of "eating right"? I'm going to go on eating the many things I like, though hopefully not too much. Plenty of salt on my steak-and-eggs, please; and if you do outlive me, at least I'll never hear you say you told me so.
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"Healthy Foods" Tax
A recent newspaper report says that fast food sellers have been converting their frying operations to vegetable oils the article's banner was "Healthy Change." If the report is accurate, the food service industry (and those who have agitated for the "healthy change") should take responsibility for the possible impact of their actions.
Given the prodigious budget deficit in the U.S., it is clear that our government has no easy prospect of dealing with the plight of the elderly in this country. A few benefits are available for those who are desperately impoverished, but many other measures seem contrived to relegate to desperate poverty more people who are not yet in it.
With luck, the announced "healthy changes" will only make the food cost more or taste worse (providing a "hair shirt" for wear by those who felt guilty for enjoying eating). But if the changes really contribute to the longevity of the U.S. population, there ought to be a tax imposed immediately on those responsible, in order to provide care for the additional elderly who will result.
Even though there is no evidence that these dietary changes will prolong life, those who take these actions ought to be held accountable for the intended consequences of their actions.
