vegansaurus!
04/21/2010
» More rabbit-eating, because life is a series of slaps in the face
The author here does make one good point, which is: why are some animals “too cute to eat,” while others aren’t? To us, that point is moot, but maybe the rest of the world, which eats meat, might want to consider it?
You know your Vegansaurus cares a whole fucking lot about not eating rabbits, not least because one of our (ir)regular columnists has a bunny sidekick. Also, not just because they’re “cute.” We care about all animals, however aesthetically pleasing we may find them. The point is, obviously, they’re animals, and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, not fucking eaten.
Apparently author Michael Procopio wasn’t prepared for readers to share our outrage, because in response to the upset comments his article garnered, he linked to this little gem from HuffPo by Craig Goldwyn, which demands that whenever we “strident” veg bastards see a link to an article about meat, we ignore it, because our “meat is murder” opinions are not welcome. In fact, by “preaching…proselytizing…[and] moralizing” in the comments section, we are “only undermining [our] own cause” [italics his]. You know, FYI. Just keep out of their clubhouse, OK; they don’t want our kind there.
You know what? They’re right. We are basically “yell[ing] ‘Jesus Saves!’…in a Jewish Synagogue,” and expecting everyone in there to immediately convert, and it has to stop. From now on, whenever anyone has anything positive to say about eating meat, or farming animals, or wearing fur, or breeding animals and selling them as pets, I will not read the story. I will turn down the radio, I will change the channel on the TV, I will close the tab in my browser. Ignoring something I—and many, many others—view as a massive, multi-level, global problem will make it go away, right? Just like wishing really hard attained women’s suffrage in the U.S.! And complaining to each other at dinner established the Department of Veterans Affairs. When serious business gets you down, handwrite it in your diary, put it under your bed, and don’t talk about it, because making a fuss never changed anything ever.
[thanks to reader Virag for the link!]
∞ posted at 14:37 by time-for-naps 
03/04/2010
Rabbit, delicious rabbit »
Welcome to our national nightmare: killing really cute animals, for the environment! What? Yes, and also to expand our narrow palates, which are so embarrassingly American (everything tastes like chicken!). If only we were as sophisticated as the French, while as self-reliant as migrant workers in a Dorothea Lange photograph (only less dusty because ugh)! Plus, the environment needs saving, and also Slow Food and eating locally and getting your food blog nominated for internet awards, plus being a total badass (read: getting a feature in Meatpaper magazine)—how can one person do it all? It is most perplexing.
Thank goodness The New York Times knows: kill, butcher, and eat your own rabbits! No, not even kidding a little bit; this is THE answer to all of the “problems” of wealthy, conscience-plagued omnivores with time on their hands and bloodlust in their hearts. It’s not evil, though, because the rabbits are raised on small farms, and the babies are left with their mothers for eight of the 12 weeks they live on those farms before they’re killed. It’s so humane! Serious Eats actually made a video of John Fazio’s rabbit farm, in which you can see some baby bunnies in a nest their mother made of her own fur. It’s super-great to see how “happy” the rabbits look in their tiny wire-floor cages! Honestly, I could not watch this video past 1:23, where Fazio reaches into such a nest to pet some of the babies; it was too depressing. You all are welcome to finish it, though, and report back on how it ends. This farm also features in the Times article; apparently his signature is selling rabbit carcasses with their heads still attached. Delightful.
Adorably, the Times Dining section photo editor also popped by to write a little post about all the different photos that Jennifer May took of the rabbits on Fazio’s farm. And with so many pictures, how to find the one that “carefully illustrate[s] this sensitive topic”—i.e., doesn’t make you rise up with pitchforks against everyone involved in the article? Turns out the ideal image is “the one that says ‘deal with it.’” HAR HAR, Dining section Photo Editor Tiina Loite! You are the wittiest! Just cold putting it out there, all that hard truth.
I think the best part of the pro-eating-rabbit argument is how it’s supposed to be all economic and awesome, but the “how to murder, cut up and cook bunnies” class cost $100 per person and some of its participants had to fly cross-country to attend. That is super-environmentally friendly, for sure. Beware the photos from this event—some of them are quite nasty. The Pasternaks, who run a rabbit farm in Marin County, actually “travel regularly to Haiti to teach families to raise rabbits on foraged food.” Clever! Of course, rabbits’ and humans’ diets do not differ so significantly, meaning that the food a rabbit is eating could be food for a human; “[a] seven-pound live rabbit might weigh four pounds cleaned;” and [i]n the kitchen, rabbit can be a challenge,” but YES, let’s teach poor people to raise rabbits for food. That is definitely a smart idea.
Whatever. Murder rabbits for fun and profit and patriotism and the economy and the environment and individualism and liberty and every other excuse you need to invent to get yourself through it. You know it’s disgusting. We know it’s disgusting. At least we can sleep at night, knowing our efforts to be better citizens of the world and eat lots of exciting foods don’t involve the slaughter of innocents.
∞ posted at 14:03 by time-for-naps
