Hey Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates as of recent. The lovely fella arrived on Monday night so we’ve been hanging out!
Yesterday we went to La Brea Tar Pits because we’re big nerds he had never been.
Getting out of tar would be hard...
Today we he attempted to fix the treadmill in my parent’s house so I can work on my fitness this month (I much prefer treadmills to running outside). Then started shopping for supplies for Christmas dinner. This brings me to the title of this post “Cooking for Non-Vegetarians.” My brother and I are the only vegetarians in the family. The rest are meat-eating latinos. Latinos eat A LOT of meat.
My mom hates cooking so my sister and I usually make large holiday meals. This year I didn’t really want to make meat but I knew I had to because I don’t want to force my lifestyle on anyone else and I don’t want to ruin anyone’s holiday.
So today as we were shopping for a turkey (one of my sister’s friends who is coming doesn’t eat pork so we need a turkey as well), I decided to get a free range turkey. Yes, it’s a little pricey at about $1.99/lb. I called my sister asking her what size turkey to get and mentioned that I was getting a free range turkey and she asked “it doesn’t matter, you’re not going to eat it.”
It does matter, doesn’t it?
I feel better cooking a free range turkey, even if I don’t eat it. This got me thinking about the term free-range. What does it actually mean? Was it worth the extra few cents per pound?
My reasons for being vegetarian are environmental and human food security based, not necessarily for animal rights reasons. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about the fair treatment of animals. I think overall I’m glad I bought a free range turkey. I think one of the best ways we can cause a change is by changing demand.
If you’re a vegetarian, do you cook meat for others? If you’re not vegetarian, what are your thoughts on free-range/cage-free raising? Should I have bought the cheaper Butterball or Foster Farms Turkey?
Foodologie 
I don’t usually cook non-vegetarian dishes. Even though I am veg, free-range/cage-free is such a loosely defined term, that it makes me feel not entirely comfortable rethinking my decision to STAY veg for so long. “Free-range” means that animals are allowed, “access to land.” This is an extremely vague term. Animals could still never see the outdoors, but still be marketed as though they have been allowed to roam. “Cage-free” is definitely a step up from the horrendous conditions that chickens are normally forced to live in, but again it doesn’t guarantee that they have been allowed to live any sort of life. I would recommend that you read, “The Ethics of What We Eat” by Singer and Mason. Excellent book, and addresses this topic among a lot of others.
That’s for the book recommendation! I’ll put it on my list of books to read!
I like to think that cage free means something and always pay more for cage free eggs, but I have read that there really aren’t strict guidelines on it 😦
*Check out my Heart Thrive cookie giveaway @ monicaonthego.com*
I’ve been a vegetarian for more than 8 years and never cooked meat during that time. For some reasons fish is ok even though I haven’t cooked that in ages either. I’m also the only vegetarian in my family but my parents and sister don’t eat a lot of meat either so it’s easy to cook for them.
I think that free-range is definitely an improvement even though the term is indeed very vague…
I absolutely believe in buying free-range chickens – if they truly are what WE consider free range. I’ve read some stuff about what conditions farmers must meet to be able to put this label on their food, and free range could simply mean that the room where the chickens were kept simply had a door leading to outside, with no regard for whether or not they actually went out in the their lives. Scary.
That’s exactly what my concern is! I have a similar apprehension with organic labeling. I am willing to pay for organic/free-range if it actually is free range/organic but I don’t want to support companies that falsely advertise.
YUM!!!!!!!!!! I’m pretty sure I will fly to where ever you are just to eat those!! YUMMY!!