I liked the article, myself. I always find it kind of startling when people say they haven't killed an animal for food, but then again, I'm originally from a mostly rural area in Calif*rnia.

I also like the little monkeys flailing about in the comments, taking digital pot shots at each other over their lunchbox contents.

But then again, I'm easily amused.

Yeah, people standing up for their beliefs is pretty funny. Glad you're "amused"

oh Kerry, shouldn't you be picketing a hot dog cart about now?

Here's an idea, and I think you guys should use this. The mercury should do a point counterpoint battle/roundtable between the more notable vegan members of the community (owners Food Fight, that cool Pirate place, Herbivore mag, Veganpolis, the vegan tatt place) and Matt Davis and maybe some local meat-orientated chefs or however wanted to sit it and debate. Publish the thing as a transcipt. I think folks would really read it. Seriously. Go for it

do it!

I'd be for that.

Amy, come on over, I'll pop you some popcorn in home-rendered lard. It's the real deal, I'm tellin ya.

What's so shocking about Matt and Marjorie's article is how shocking it seems to be. The U.S., as a mainly meat eating society has become so detached from our food that this is seen as a shocking and unknown act when for most of our grandparent's generation this is how people procured their meat. In many parts of the world, this is still how it is done.

Perhaps there should be a whole new meat eating movement called the "if you can't kill it, you shouldn't eat it" sect of omnivores. I wonder how many people would become vegetarians if they had to slaughter their own meat? I wonder how many would become vegetarians if they toured a large industrial chicken farm or slaughterhouse?

Bonne Femme: I knew someone like that. He would only eat meat if he'd actually killed an animal itself. Which is to say: he'd killed a chicken, so he felt okay eating chicken. He'd gutted a few fish, so he felt okay eating fish.

It's not such an easy thing to kill a cow, though. Would watching it happen suffice?

^I would have to assume jumping in the kill game after a life of carefree meat eating would be a bit tough for many. It's one thing to grow up a accomplished butcher, and another to learn it at 28.

What puzzles me is that these so called "omnivores" don't, and actually can't even actually eat everything, as their name implies.In fact these hypocrites either can't, or choose not to eat the following (just to name a few);Draino, MP3 files, ambivilance, dreams, or electricity. I sincerely doubt they can even eat their own hypocracy.Yes.

Kerry, you moron, standing up for your beliefs is not eating meat. Yelling at people who eat meat is raving like a lunatic.

Where was there "yelling" in anything I wrote?

KERRY! There are gazillions of voiceless lips and assholes out there that need you to save them. Now stop wasting your time on Blogtown and get out there and make the believe! (that was yelling)

Good lord. Hard core vegans are just as bad as pro-lifers. You don't wanna eat meat or wear fur? Fine. Just don't roll your eyes at someone who has a more sophisticated palate or who just wants to eat something with a face. I dare you to explain your vegan/ vegetarianism to those starving in Sudan or Rwanda.

obviously the article was written to start some controversy wich is fine.slaughtering your own lamb is better than eating at mcdonalds. the one thing that bums me out is foie gras ( duck liver pate, which is made by mechanically force feeding a goose or duck). i have noticed restaurants that i used to go to , like l'astra having that on their menu. who can support businesses who support animal TORTURE? anyone agree or are animals not worth caring about?

I grew up hunting, I worked as a cowboy and a hunting guide. I am now vegan. Killing is not that easy, and I agree you should have to kill it if you want to eat it. Getting dead flesh in a neat clean little package is so far removed from realality it makes it seem like it was made some where and not part of a living being. I am more disturbed about the personal attacks I see here. Your god would not apporve. I am Buddhist and get inspiration from the monks imprisoned by the Chinese, and still found it with in them to not hate them. Disagreeing is good, bad feelings only hurt the person they came from.

"I dare you to explain your vegan/ vegetarianism to those starving in Sudan or Rwanda."

are you kidding? a vegan/vegetarian diet consumes far fewer resources than a meat based diet does. i dare you to explain to someone starving why you think it is better to turn 20 pounds of grain into 1 pound of meat for your "more sophisticated palate" as opposed to feeding yourself and a couple starving people with the grain.

Jesus Christ! I have never seen a town so obsessed with the politics of what other people eat. Just enjoy your food and give it a rest, already.

This is like a cat chasing its own tail. Or a piece of celery stalking itself. There's no end to this argument - and no clear-cut right or wrong here unless you happen to be vehement in either direction - in which case, yeah, you probably shouldn't be spending your time posting here but actually DO SOMETHING about it if that's your dedicated cause in life. The people who run vegan-based businesses that are tired of The Mercury have every right to do what they're doing - but you also don't see them posting here and reacting in a holier than thou attitude than their meat-eating counterparts. It's a choice. Did Matt's article make me want to run out and eat a hamburger? Hell no. It made me want to get a salad. Do I eat meat? Yep. Will I continue to do so? Yep. Is that article going to change my opinion one way or another? Not much - but I will say that it's going to make me consider where the meat came from a lot more than I ever cared to do previous to reading it - and in that sense, I'd almost say the piece is a WIN for vegans and an eye-opener for the carnivores amongst us. Think of all the people ditching their plans to go Atkins this New Year - this piece may just save a few sacrificial lambs, enlighten the argument about personal choices, and let those who REALLY care about these matters have a voice. Discourse is good, friends, much like a pot roast in the Crock Pot on a cold Sunday evening.

Does anyone else notice that it is a luxury to even be having a discussion involving the morality of one's food choices?

I'm just hoping that vegetarians & vegans don't use manure compost in their gardens. Can you just imagine?!?! Why that would be tacit AND financial support of the dairy and meat industry, which of course would be morally wrong. Hmmmm......you know, now that I think about it, that's really the only reason why I eat meat: so I can provide support to the meat industry so I can get the manure compost so I can grow my tasty vegetables.

I don't think anyone is questioning the Mercury's right to publish anything they want. And I don't see vegans ready to grab someone eating meat and shove their face in a plate of tofu...

BUT...I do think that no one should be surprised that when you print a really in-your-face article about how magazine workers joke (and support) casual animal slaughter there is back lash. It's not about JUST eating meat, it's about celebrating the act of killing as a trendy weekend event. Come on, you guys aren't living this 'rural' lifestyle, just trying to add it to the PDX hipster list.

And hey, if you don't care that you are losing valuable advertisers and (in my case) supporters...great. We'll all be fine without you.

Take care and good luck,

.: Chris

To Dan about manure fertilizer-

There are plenty of good organic materials out there that can add tilth to the soil, and also good non-animal-product fertilizers that add nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil. We don't need manures, and our garden grows great. But that really is a minor issue, compared to the horrid way that our factory farms treat their animals just to cut costs and make a buck. Eggs, milk, meat - these are all just commodities on our food market. The grower who can cut costs the greatest is the one who gets to sell their products to WalMart, Safeway, and the other grocery stores. Sure it is hell to pack six chickens in a tiny wire cage for their entire live where they can barely turn around, but it gives us cheap eggs, and that is exactly where most of the eggs in the United States come from - battery caged hens. So again, manures aren't needed for good crops, but that is really a minor issue.

Dear Native Americans,

We raped and murdered you. Stole your land. Starved the remainder of you. You know, all that good stuff.

And now that we have the luxury of actually bitching about what we eat, we do so gleefully and with little to no regard to the fact that foisting our views in this way and fabricating morality and sympathy for "lesser beings" does nothing to undo the fact that every where we step, we step in BLOOD.

Think of all your dead and dying brothers, we love that. Their long dead and vigorously plundered and eviscerated bodies feed our soy, our wheat, our corn.

Or, as you call it, maaaaaaaize.

Love,
Young socially-forward "liberal" America

Keep Portland Weird!