The one thing everyone is talking about these days....

Most of my job involves interacting with tourists. I am responsible for some accounting as well as all of the bookings for our guesthouses, but a large part of my job also involves spending a lot of time hanging out with guests. This results in me having many of the same conversations again and again. I have learned that most travelers seem to really hate Delhi but love Hampi and the entire state of Kerala. Politically it seems that almost every traveler is concerned about Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and most people will back down on criticizing Canada for the seal hunt as soon as I get defensive.
However, by far the most common conversation I have had with tourists revolves around one thing. Meat. Whether the tourists are vegetarian, vegan, or devoted carnivore like me, they all want to talk about meat. People are obsessed with it. The vegetarians want to know if I have seen the error in my ways and have sworn off meat forever. The carnivores want to know what type of meat I miss the most (obviously beef). Two nights ago President Obama was elected as the first African American President in history, and I ended up talking about the one time the Rainforest Retreat’s cook served pork even though the only guests were Israeli. Last night I discussed the fact that in India mutton is actually goat as opposed to sheep. I have no idea what animal mutton is in Canada, but I acted surprised because this seemed like the right thing to do.

It is far easier to be vegetarian in India than it is in Canada. Part of the reason I hate vegetarian restaurants in Toronto is that everything seems to be a vegetarian version of a meat product. A veggie-burger is inevitably going to disappoint because I associate a hamburger with a juicy piece of beef nestled gloriously between two buns. In India however, the vegetarian dishes are not pretending to be anything they are not. They are vegetables mixed with spices and at the Rainforest Retreat they can often divine. Therefore, most meals are not spent thinking about how much better what I am eating would be if it was beef.

All of this meat-talk began to make me think about whether I myself cold actually convert to vegetarianism. The inhumane aspects of meat processing are nothing new to me. I have no problem spending an extra dollar or two on a free range chicken and frankly, this is as far as I am willing to go. I happen to think meat is delicious (and easy to cook), and if it weren’t for pork chops my university diet would have consisted mostly of pasta and mayonnaise. From a political perspective I think there are other issues that my time would be better spent being outraged at. I read a book recently about chocolate production and I think trying to help out the child-slaves responsible for chocolate production in Cote D’Ivoire is more important than a bunch of cows. Not that I am actively helping these children at all, but I do try and avoid chocolate whenever possible.

Given how much of my life is now spent discussing meat, I feel as if this would be a good time to look into some of the issues surrounding meat production and consumption worldwide. With the global food crisis in full effect, what we eat and how it is produced is becoming more and more important. Beginning tomorrow, this blog will be devoted to a three-part series investigating various issues involving meat production I have been exposed to while in India. So if you are in to that sort of thing, please check it out.