Give Us Meat!
Rev. Paul Sprecher
Second Parish in Hingham, www.secondparish.org
September 27, 2009
Readings: Numbers 11:4-34
Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, from the Introduction
When our son Sean was seven or eight, we were visiting my parents and my mother told him the story of the Children of Israel and their forty-year journey through the desert on the way to the Promised Land. He asked, “Didn’t their sandals wear out?” and my mother explained that God miraculously preserved their sandals until they got to the end of their journey. That specific miracle is not recorded in the accounts of the journey in the Bible, but it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. After all, the Israelites had been freed by Pharaoh after the ten plagues, the Red Sea had parted in front of them as they marched through and then returned to its normal state and drowned Pharaoh’s army, and soon after that God had appeared on Mt. Sinai with thunder, lighting, and clouds, and handed down the Ten Commandments. Even this early in their journey, of course, they were just a little rebellious, building a Golden Calf at the very time Moses was receiving the commandment forbidding the making of any idols whatsoever. There was water in the desert from a rock when they were thirsty, and there was manna from heaven when they were hungry. This manna was a miraculous gift, given the number of people who needed to be fed, and there was a miracle beyond that: anyone who tried to hoard extra found that it spoiled after the first day, except that on the sixth day of the week they would gather twice their daily needs, and no manna appeared on the Sabbath.
So their basic needs for sustenance were taken care of, it’s just that when they came weeping for meat, they were bored with nothing but manna, day after day after day. If you were writing a Broadway musical about this journey, you could do worse than to borrow a song from Oliver! - "Food Glorious Food" – for this segment of the journey. Like the boys in the workhouse, they say that: “[Numbers 11] 5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." Of course, as slaves in Egypt, they probably had very little access to those delicacies. But imagination is a wonderful thing. “Food, Glorious Food. Leaks, onions and garlic. While we’re in the mood; so tired of this manna.” It is their craving for meat which finally enrages both Moses and God, and in the event God does provide meat – overwhelming quantities of meat, in fact – but then punishes them for their rebelliousness.
Human beings have always craved meat, it seems, and one consequence is that our sacred traditions all contain rituals for ensuring that animals are killed and prepared in appropriate ways. The Bible suggests that the first people remembered by the Children of Israel were vegetarians from the time of the Garden of Eden until after Noah’s flood, after which they were allowed to eat meet, but given instructions to slaughter the animals to allow all of the blood to flow from the body before preparing the meat, “because the blood is the life.” Later, Moses hands down a broad range of instructions indicating which animals are fit to eat and which are not, so that beef maybe eaten but not pork, for example. These rules were later codified as what we know today as kosher laws. Recently, in response to the scandal of worker exploitation at Agriprocessors of Postville, Iowa, the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the country, a group of Conservative rabbis has proposed to broaden the understanding of what makes meat preparation worthy of kosher certification by providing standards covering “treatment of employees, animal welfare, consumer issues, corporate integrity and environmental impact. Among the specific rules laid out in the draft is one stipulating that a company would have to pay its lowest paid employee at least 115% of the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 an hour) and provide the same employee with health and other benefits that amount to at least 35% of his or her wages.”[1]
Of course, most of our traditions also call for a blessing to be said over our food, something we practice by saying grace before meals. We also have the tradition of certain sacred meals, such as the Passover Seder which remembers the Exodus from Egypt or the Lord’s Supper, held in commemoration of the last supper shared by Jesus and his disciples.
“The Little Deer, Awi Usdi,” a Cherokee legend, tells how their hunters must behave when killing animals:
Back when the world was young, the humans and the animal people could speak to each other. At first they lived in peace. The humans hunted the animals only when they needed food or skins to make clothing. Then the humans discovered the bow and arrow. With this weapon they could kill many animals quickly and with great ease. They began to kill animals when they did not need them for food or clothing. It seemed as if all the animals in the world would soon be exterminated. So the various animals met in council....
The last group to meet was the deer. Awi Usdi, Little Deer, was their leader. When all were gathered together, he spoke. "I see what we must do," he said. "'We cannot stop the humans from hunting animals. That is the way it was meant to be. However, the humans are not doing things in the right way. If they do not respect us and hunt us only when there is real need, they may kill us all. I shall go now and tell the hunters what they must do. Whenever they wish to kill a deer, they must prepare in a ceremonial way. They must ask me for permission to kill one of us. Then, after they kill a deer, they must show respect to its spirit and ask for pardon. If the hunters do not do this, then I shall track them down. With my magic I will make their limbs crippled. Then they will no longer be able to walk or shoot a bow and arrow." ….
So it is that the animals have survived to this day. Because of Awi Usdi, Little Deer, the Indian people show respect. To this day, even though the animals and people no longer can speak to each other as in the old days, the people still show respect and give thanks to the animals they must hunt.[2]
For most Americans, on the other hand, meat might almost as well fall from the sky like the quails fell for the Israelites. I remember acutely one of the days when my grandmother slaughtered a chicken in our yard. I don’t think it happened too often, but there was a chopping block in the yard, so that’s how we got our chicken. I will say that I much preferred gathering eggs from under the hens to seeing one of them slaughtered. Today, I could have chicken every day and never know where it came from or what was involved in raising it or slaughtering it – not to mention plucking it. I don’t have to know anything about where the meat came from – I just have to pay for it. Like the Cherokee hunters who discovered the bow and arrow, my money insulates me from the immediacy of the killing of the animals I eat, and I lose any stake in how it is done, and then it is very easy to forget the sacredness of the web of life from which I sustain my own life and to reduce it to yet another commercial transaction. Michael Pollan argues that such distance from the sources of what we eat also eliminates much of the pleasure of eating and leaves us prone to food fads as well as an epidemic of obesity.
These considerations are among the reasons behind the adoption by the 2008 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association of the Congregational Study Action Issue entitled “Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice.” The issue under consideration is framed this way:
Religious organizations throughout the world have discussed the production, distribution, and use of food. Some people enjoy many food choices while others remain hungry. The food industry produces wealth, but small farmers and farm workers are often poor. Food production and transportation contribute to many environmental problems.
Unitarian Universalists have a vision of environmental justice. One of our principles acknowledges "the interdependent web." Others affirm the importance of human rights. Together our principles form one holistic statement that helps to define liberal religion.[3]
Here are some possible actions congregations might undertake:
Support sustainable agriculture and farmers' markets. Encourage organic community gardening.
Volunteer in support of community food pantries, Meals on Wheels programs, and similar projects that address the problem of hunger.
Become an advocate for social and economic justice. Support labor unions, farmers' cooperatives, "fair trade" associations, and other organizations that help the farmers and other workers who produce and distribute food in the global market.[4]
I remember when this was adopted that one of the key debates was over whether the issue should be framed to insist that only vegetarian diets could be ethical. Meat eaters, naturally, insisted that with such a provision they would be unable to vote for the resolution in good conscience, while vegetarians – somewhat self-righteously, I thought – insisted that only their more earth-conscious diet could be acceptable. As a non-practicing vegetarian – I believe vegetarianism is a preferable way of eating, but I lack the willpower to practice it consistently: that craving for meat again! – as a non-practicing vegetarian, I was pleased when one of the youth delegates offered compromise language which acknowledged that we have different expectations about what we eat, but that we all need to become more aware of where our food comes from and how that affects other people, the interdependent web (including animals), and the future of human life on earth.
There are obviously many issues to consider here, some of which we as a congregation have already addressed, but there are five aspects of our industrial food production system – much of which supports the provision of meat – which I find of particular concern:
· Global Warming: While estimates vary, there is no argument among scientists that food production and distribution contribute dramatically to greenhouse gases.... Industrialized animal farms also contribute dramatically to levels of nitrous oxide (another greenhouse gas) in two ways: the animal waste itself and the ever-increasing use of fertilizer to grow food for animals.
· Pollution: Industrial farming releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, including nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and volatile organic compounds. The current techniques of industrial agriculture depend on vast amounts of energy inputs from fossil fuel.... It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat, and about 20 percent of the world’s population could be fed with the grain and soybeans fed to U.S. cattle alone.
· Destruction of Ecosystems: Vast amounts of manure and urine from confined animal feeding operations leak from lagoons into groundwater and streams, suffocating aquatic life and devastating ecosystems. A substantial amount of animal waste, fertilizer and pesticide from the central US makes its way into the Gulf of Mexico, where it has created a “dead zone” where bottom dwelling sea life cannot live.... In healthier ocean areas, overfishing further contributes to species disruption and endangerment....
· Degradation of the Fresh Water Supply: Industrial agriculture’s contributions to climate change as well as its high consumption of fresh water have contributed significantly to the growing clean water crisis worldwide. Changes in weather and flood-drought patterns threaten crop production globally. The United States’ centralized, industrial agricultural crop irrigation systems create enormously high water displacement from natural watersheds demand in many regions. Farm animals alone consume 2.3 billion gallons of water daily....
· Degradation of Arable Land: Arable land ... is a finite resource …. Current industrial practices such as monoculture farming and intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers have led to dramatic erosion of topsoil. Even if we set about restoring the majority of the US’s eroded soil now, it would take decades for it to return to its natural state, nutrient balance, and capacity to absorb rainwater like a sponge (thus preventing further erosion).
I have to be a little careful what I preach about. I was on a panel at Linden Ponds last Wednesday and in front of each panelist the hosts had placed a lovely 8-ounce bottle of water. After preaching against the evils of bottled water two weeks ago, I could hardly be seen by some of you to casually use the bottled water anyway. Then, at lunch, I found nothing but cans of soda and – naturally – bottles of water. I thought about going into the kitchen to demand some of our fine Hingham tap water, but I decided the better part of valor was just not to drink anything. So I’m not proposing particular vows for myself or you in response to the issues I’ve raised this morning. However, it seems to me that we as a congregation and as individuals already have some awareness of some of these issues. The Interfaith Food Pantry we have been hosting for about twenty years now is a concrete commitment to ensuring that our neighbors don’t have to go hungry. Our Community Garden embodies a commitment to eating locally and organically, and to sharing the fruits of those labors with the Food Pantry. More of us could volunteer at the Food Pantry and make it even more a part of what we do as a faith community.
We could also do some other things:
· Be conscious of getting foods that are grown locally when possible;
· Provide vegetarian alternatives which are not just an afterthought to the main course when we eat together, for example at this Saturday’s Pot Luck;
· Bless the food when we eat together to remind ourselves of the sacredness of the web of life which sustains us;
· Expand our awareness of the sources of our food and adopt little vows to remind ourselves on a regular basis; perhaps something like meatless Fridays or simple forms of eating kosher.
· Pay attention to issues affecting our food, and lend our ears and voices where changes and reforms are needed.
Michael Pollan ends his introduction to The Omnivore’s Dilemma this way:
“Eating is an agricultural act,” as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. [And, as we have said today, it is also a religious act.] Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world—and what is to become of it. To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life afford quite as much satisfaction.
By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting. Many people today seem perfectly content eating at the end of an industrial food chain, without a thought in the world …. But in the end … the pleasures of eating … are only deepened by knowing.[5]
May we find pleasure in increasing our responsible use of the resources of this sacred web of all existence from which we draw the means to maintain our very lives.
Amen.
[1] Nathaniel Popper, “New Kosher Food Certification May Be Most Detailed In the Industry: Magen Tzedek’s Ethical Standards Apply Even to Workers’ Wages,” Forward, September 18, 2009, p. 1.
[2] "The Little Deer, Awi Usdi," A Cherokee Legend, Native American Legends, http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/The-Little-Deer-Awi-Usdi-Cherokee.html
[3] ETHICAL EATING: FOOD & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 2008-2012 RESOURCE GUIDE, http://www.uua.org/documents/washingtonoffice/ethicaleating/studyguide.pdf, p. 6.
[4] ETHICAL EATING, pp. 22-23.
[5] Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, New York: Penguin Press, 2006, p. 11, http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore_excerpt.pdf