It is at this point that the consequences of speciesism intrude directly into our lives, and we are forced to attest personally to the sincerity of our concern for nonhuman animals. Here we have an opportunity to do something, instead of merely talking and wishing the politicians would do something. It is easy to take a stand about a remote issue, but the speciesist, like the racist, reveals his true nature when the issue comes nearer home. To protest about bull-fighting in Spain or the slaughter of hahy seals in Canada while continuing to eat chickens that have spent their lives crammed into cages, or veal from calves that have been deprived of their mothers, their proper diet, and the freedom to lie do with their legs extended, is like denouncing apartheid South Africa while asking your neighbors not to sell the houses to blacks. Vegetarianism brings with it a new relationship to food, plants, and nature.
Flesh taints our meals.
Disguise it as we may, the fact remains that the centerpiece of our dinner has come to us from the slaughterhouse, dripping blood Untreated and unrefrigerated, it soon begins to putrefy and stink. When we eat it, it sits heavily in our stomachs blocking our digestive processes until, days later, we struggle to excrete it. When we eat plants, food takes on a different quality We take from the earth food that is ready for us and does not fight against us as we take it. Without meat to deaden the palate there is an extra delight in fresh vegetables taken straight from the ground. Personally, I found the idea of picking my own dinner so satisfying that shortly after becoiming a vegetarian I began digging up part of our backyard and growing some of my own vegetables - something that I had never thought of doing previously, but which several of my vegetarian friends were also doing.