Reply #36: Meat is not cheap, just prepaid

[jtuck004]

Our taxes pay very large subsidies for corn, (which is raised using a lot of petroleum imported from other countries, but that is another subject, kind of) which is then fed to cattle and chicken, (none of whom in their natural state eat corn as their first choice), in pens full of excrement and waste, then driven up a ramp, slaughtered, processed frozen and sold.

As if that wasn't enough, they then found it cheaper to grow cattle in Mexico and South America, (gets rid of a lot of that troublesome, expensive, and humane regulation), lowering the price even further.

Same goes for processed foods with sugar, foods which we eat a much larger proportion of than in any generation before. We supported slavery and sometimes out and out slashed and burned existing local economies to supporting the enslavement of native people to grow and harvest sugar cane - paying nearly nothing for the white stuff and bringing misery to a lot of people. (Some great history in the Google).

On the other hand vegetables are troublesome creatures, and the broccoli lobby has simply not been as effective. So while a salad looks like it costs more than a hamburger, we need to understand that you have already paid a price in jobs lost in the U.S., nutrition from the beef that is no longer grass-fed, and maybe even a spiritual cost in the way the animals are raised and treated.

Think about it while you chew...I do, and it has changed my diet.