Comments on: Foodie Central: Three Books Reviewed http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1618 BTC News: News, politics, opinion and satire Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:52:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Keifus http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1618/comment-page-1#comment-264574 Keifus Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:25:44 +0000 http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/?p=1618#comment-264574 Hi Joe, I didn't get the impression Pollan was being unpleasant to vegetarians. It was more like he was trying to convince himself that eating animals was ethical despite the obvious "speciesist" arguments that it is not. But he was arguing from a general sense as opposed to a pragmatic one. As far as symbiosis goes, he means that some species we eat would not exist at all if we did not eat them. It might be a stretch to call breeding efforts evolution though. Sorry about the poor wording. Keifus Hi Joe, I didn’t get the impression Pollan was being unpleasant to vegetarians. It was more like he was trying to convince himself that eating animals was ethical despite the obvious “speciesist” arguments that it is not. But he was arguing from a general sense as opposed to a pragmatic one.

As far as symbiosis goes, he means that some species we eat would not exist at all if we did not eat them. It might be a stretch to call breeding efforts evolution though.

Sorry about the poor wording.

Keifus

]]> By: Joe http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1618/comment-page-1#comment-263919 Joe Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:43:17 +0000 http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/?p=1618#comment-263919 "He avoids the traps of anthropomorphosis of animals, and paints a reasonable-sounding ethical dodge for eating animals as part of a certain evolutionary symbiosis." I'm not sure if factory farming is "evolutionary symbiosis" at its most basic. I know he was not too nice to vegetarians, seeing them as naive, but given modern realities, where animals are more machine than living thing in this country, I don't buy that reference. “He avoids the traps of anthropomorphosis of animals, and paints a reasonable-sounding ethical dodge for eating animals as part of a certain evolutionary symbiosis.”

I’m not sure if factory farming is “evolutionary symbiosis” at its most basic. I know he was not too nice to vegetarians, seeing them as naive, but given modern realities, where animals are more machine than living thing in this country, I don’t buy that reference.

]]> By: Keifus http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1618/comment-page-1#comment-260827 Keifus Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:40:09 +0000 http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/?p=1618#comment-260827 Hey don't get me wrong, sometimes unhealthy and processed is just the thing, especially when it's dripping with cheese (or even cheez). (And if I were totally dogmatic about locality, I'd be eating salted beef all winter: blech.) But there are always matters of habits and sustainability and moderation and so forth. I'd rather be eating <i>mostly</i> well. (I didn't read From Here to Eternity. One more for the pile, I guess.) K Hey don’t get me wrong, sometimes unhealthy and processed is just the thing, especially when it’s dripping with cheese (or even cheez). (And if I were totally dogmatic about locality, I’d be eating salted beef all winter: blech.)

But there are always matters of habits and sustainability and moderation and so forth. I’d rather be eating mostly well.

(I didn’t read From Here to Eternity. One more for the pile, I guess.)

K

]]> By: JackD http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1618/comment-page-1#comment-260447 JackD Thu, 22 Mar 2007 03:13:19 +0000 http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/?p=1618#comment-260447 Keifus, You need to go back and re-read (I'm sure you've read it already) "From Here to Eternity" and look for the scene in which Prewitt is on guard duty and stops into the cook shack for a break. The cook, an NCO in charge of the mess hall, in addition to providing steaming hot coffee, makes him a grilled spam (first fried) and cheese sandwich. The description will make you drool and I can attest that, artery disease concerns to one side, it is a delicious meal. Keifus,
You need to go back and re-read (I’m sure you’ve read it already) “From Here to Eternity” and look for the scene in which Prewitt is on guard duty and stops into the cook shack for a break. The cook, an NCO in charge of the mess hall, in addition to providing steaming hot coffee, makes him a grilled spam (first fried) and cheese sandwich. The description will make you drool and I can attest that, artery disease concerns to one side, it is a delicious meal.

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