I’m a carnivore. Well, an omnivore. Really? I usually could care less what people choose to eat or not eat. I only have to be concerned when preparing a meal or picking a place to have dinner with people who have food allergies or who are on special diets, for whatever reason.
People who choose to be vegetarians, or vegans, don’t particularly bother me. There are plenty of ways to get protein in your diet without eating animal flesh. As a healthcare provider, I do advise that eating eggs still be a part of your diet, because eggs are a terrific source of essential fatty acids and amino acids that are hard to duplicate with a vegetarian diet. However, if you don’t want to do that, have your albumin level checked yearly if you’re in good health, and more often if you find that you are having trouble healing cuts and bruises.
Now, if you say you’re a vegetarian because of how animals in large scale meat processing facilities are treated, I’m right with you. Yet, there are other sources of meat. Wichita has several small butchers that can tell you where they get their meat, if the animals are free-range/organically fed, and the quality of what you’ll get will blow you away. There is a bison ranch near Salina that sells free range bison, and those animals are treated humanely. You can go up and tour the facilities. If you’re going, let me know: I want you to bring me back a bundle of bison steaks and ground. I’ll arrange the cooler and dry ice! Heck, I’ll even share with you (if you’re an omnivore, too).
I think the best way to stick it to the large scale butchers, those that are cruel and disgusting, is to buy locally. That helps small family farms with only a few head of livestock stay in business, and keeps them producing the quality meat that you can find at a local butcher. It DOES cost more than the prepackaged, already cut into single servings, frozen and in a bag meat at Dillons and WalMart. For our large family, it’s cost-prohibitive. We offset it by raising our own chicken, by eating meat-less meal more often, and by buying in bulk whenever we can.
Personally, I’ve shopped at:
YB Meats, 651-5554. 6458 E. Central (Central and Woodlawn)
Kline’s Meats, 440-2529 106 N Maize Road (Maple and Maize, SW corner strip mall)
The Butcher Block in Maize- 5201 N Maize Road. Actually in the strip mall just south of the intersection of 53rd and Maize. 722-0200
If you’re up for a little drive, and you want to sight see or hunt for antiques or baked goods…
H & H Meats, 102 S Weaver, Hesston Ks 67062 620-327-4823
And the website for the bison place near Salina? http://www.bisonfarm.com/
Reblogging so I don’t forget about these places when buying meat because… um… I’m eating meat again. Not like tons and tons of animal flesh, but the occasional piece of bacon or, say, turkey sandwich.
That bison farm? Yeah, that’s happening. I’m also interested in buying part of a cow, but I think I need a bunch of friends to go in on that with me, so if you’re up for buying a locally (and humanely) raised cow, let me know.
Oh and Stephanie, if your chickens are laying eggs and you ever want to, ya know, pass some of them on to this vegetarian failure, please let me know.
Reblogged from The Unquiet Mind.
