Happy Meal

If you had to choose a chief candidate for a happiness battleground - what we put in our mouth would have to be right up there. Tastes, like music or photographs, can link almost directly to memories of happy times. Food is a part of our identity. Our favourite dishes are friends. When we are sad - there is the buddy we turn to. To celebrate, we might have a favourite restaurant that we go to as a reward for a job well done. It can also be the glue that holds relationships together. A meal your mother made you. Somewhere you and your friends love meeting. Perhaps a memory of when you fell in love with someone. Cooking may be where you find your sense of flow.  It can be central to a national cultural identity, e.g. the braai.

It is also one of the biggest disconnects between what we rationally know we should eat, and what we want to eat. Beyond the simple question of eating healthily, there are now more questions being raised about the sustainability and ethics of how we generate our food. In 2008 I had an epic series of blog post debates with Stuart Torr (@muttface) on Vegetarianism with myself arguing for the meat eaters. In theory, I was trying to understand his decision not to eat meat, but in truth I was defending myself. We didn't resolve much other than I agreed:

1. Meat makes up too large a proportion of most wealthy people's diets.

2. The practises in factory farming are very concerning and there is persistent animal cruelty.

I subsequently started getting into Yoga, in which Vegetarianism is a very central part of the philosophy. Diet has not been one of the areas that I have focused on. This is in part laziness, in part not having enough time, and in part a deep emotional connection to the food I eat.

The amount of self-control required to not eat meat in a culture where there are only a few vegetarian options on most menus is huge. ORDER ENVY. I am not just fond of some meat meals, I have had a lifelong love affair with them. My brothers would argue that Trev and Spaghetti Bolognaise are synonyms. Then there is ignorance. I don't know how to prepare tasty vegetarian meals and to ensure that I am getting all the elements I need to stay healthy. None of these things were a problem on the two month long yoga courses I went on, and I felt awesome.

A very happy Trev. A very tasty meat free meal.

For the more militant activists out there, the ones who believe that our current culture of meat eating is perpetrating a holocaust (thus breaking Godwin's law), I think addressing some of the cultural and emotional attachments may be a better approach than a direct attack using moral philosophy. Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt) talks of being intellectually convinced after reading Peter Singer's (@petersinger) work but that it didn't affect his behaviour. It just added a layer of guilt. A video of a slaughter house stopped him eating meat for a while because it induced disgust, but that faded and the meat eating habit returned. I have a fair amount of self discipline and yet struggle when it comes to food. Reducing how much meat we eat and so helping to reduce the demand that leads to undeniably cruel practices within factory farms is going to have to rely on some very serious Elephant Training. What we eat and logic are only acquaintances. What we eat and our emotional engines are lovers.