Every day we get closer to an epidemic that cannot be stopped.
April 28, 2009 9:17 PM   Subscribe

The Meatrix: parts I, II: Revolting, and II 1/2.
posted by parudox (51 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is going to lecture at me, isn't it?
posted by hippybear at 9:29 PM on April 28, 2009


As a vegan, I really don't give a shit what you do, just don't give me shit for what I do. I've lived on both sides of the fence, and I will tell you, vegans get a hell of a lot more shit from people who eat meat, than meat eaters get from vegans.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 9:30 PM on April 28, 2009 [10 favorites]


See also Grocery Store Wars (posted here). I didn't think the Meatrix had been posted before apart from comments, but there does appear to be a post from 2003.
posted by parudox at 9:33 PM on April 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


Well, it's not what I thought it was going to be, which is refreshing. Shame flash animators can't see fit to put things like volume controls and such on their cartoons.

I think it's a good thing to point out to people that there are alternative sources for their meats than factory farms. Warehousing animals for food production leads to fairly disgusting places, in my experiences. I feel fortunate to live someplace with several excellent butchers who sell at the farmer's market in the city, and there are a lot of custom butcherhouses around, too.

Still, cutesy animated anthropomorphic animals telling me how to find more humane circumstances in which to find food for slaughter? Since my early childhood memories of Charlie Tuna, that has always struck me as one of the sickest selling ploys, ever. It isn't made any less disturbing in this context.
posted by hippybear at 9:38 PM on April 28, 2009


Oh, and I've always preferred the Meatrix videos to any of that shock crap that Peta puts out.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 9:42 PM on April 28, 2009


I guess I don't care what vegetarians do, but it's a bit combative to start off discussion with an anticipatory rant on whatever behavior you expect from the carnivorous. Probably a self-fulfulling prophecy, in fact.
posted by boo_radley at 9:51 PM on April 28, 2009


This is years old, surely this must be a repost.
posted by Krrrlson at 9:52 PM on April 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


Waiting for the pile on from all the meat eaters...

Plenty of us respect your refusal eat meat and would prefer that you not make the very first comment in a Metafilter thread be, essentially, omg everybody duck here comes the shitstorm from the meat eaters/breeders/vaccinators/formula feeders/whatever, because it's not good for the site and potentially makes more work for the mods.

I understand that you catch shit for not eating meat. Please understand that the vast majority of those of us who do don't give a fuck, which is why you only hear from a small but admittedly vocal minority of fuckheads who do, and whose comments can be conveniently flagged.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:52 PM on April 28, 2009 [8 favorites]


I should clarify that we don't give a fuck about your dietary habits, not that we don't give a fuck about whether douchebags give you shit about it.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:54 PM on April 28, 2009


I heard that if you don't eat enough meat you turn into a terrorist.
posted by XMLicious at 9:55 PM on April 28, 2009


Point taken, I'm just a little on the defense tonight I guess. Had a long day, finished off by the fact that someone at work felt that they needed to point out that I was vegan followed by the other person having a condescending/negative reaction.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 9:57 PM on April 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


Metafilter: We don't give a fuck about your dietary habits.
posted by verb at 9:58 PM on April 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


Fair enough, I've had plenty of such days myself. For what it's worth, the only thing I've killed in the last couple of hours is two glasses of bourbon and a ton of hummus. Let's hug it out.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:59 PM on April 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


I will admit, I do miss the fuck outta some bacon...god damn.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 10:02 PM on April 28, 2009


Mmm bacon.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:24 PM on April 28, 2009


I'm a vegetarian because it's better for the environment, animals and my health; however, I sure do miss baby-back ribs. I look forward to cloned/grown meat that doesn't hurt the animal and, hopefully, is better for the environment and health (since perhaps it wouldn't need to be injected with antibiotics, growth hormones, etc.).
posted by whatgorilla at 10:25 PM on April 28, 2009


I look forward to cloned/grown meat that ... hopefully, is better for the environment ...

Really? "Meat" grown in petri dishes would very likely require heavily processed inputs that would not be good for the environment at all. On the other hand, beef can certainly be raised sustainably just on grass and hay, and without antibiotics or growth hormone (or cruelty).
posted by parudox at 10:35 PM on April 28, 2009 [1 favorite]


which is why you only hear from a small but admittedly vocal minority of fuckheads who do

You know, all the large, quiet majorities should really put their heads together and come up with some up with some better strategies to deal with these small vocal minorities (and I'm not just talking about barbecue enthusiasts). Because frankly, they're kind of fucking things up for the rest of us.
posted by nanojath at 10:44 PM on April 28, 2009


(or cruelty)

I dunno how it's possible to kill an animal without some amount of cruelty. I've seen some killing, it's not always nice. Man pigs are the worst with all their thrashing.

So, anyway, count me on the list of folks waiting impatiently for vat grown (or 3d printed, or whatever) meat stuff.

And a rocket belt...
And jacking in...
And...

posted by The Monkey at 1:18 AM on April 29, 2009


I've been a veggie for almost 18 years, and damn, if I don't really want some fried chicken sometimes. On bad days it's all I can do to drive past a KFC without having to roll the windows up and hitting the gas pedal. I think they pump that smell out on purpose.
posted by willmize at 2:04 AM on April 29, 2009


I dunno how it's possible to kill an animal without some amount of cruelty. I've seen some killing, it's not always nice. Man pigs are the worst with all their thrashing.

I believe there are ways to slaughter without cruelty. I visited some stockyards once and witnessed a cow being slaughtered (Yes, a cow; not a steer. I was told some cheaper forms of hamburger is a sort of blend of cow and steer.). A man stood on a scaffolding over a stall. A cow was led in. The man loaded a .22 calibre bullet into this pipe-looking thing. My cow telepathy is a little rusty, but she seemed to be pretty calm, blithely chewing her cud. The man leaned forward, touched the end of the pipe to her forehead and BAM she fell like a sack of potatoes. There was kicking and thrashing, as you mentioned with the pigs, but that thrashing is actually involuntary - decapitated chickens will run around the yard for a while before they drop, still twitching. I think part of remedying this with cows was what the man did next - jump down into the stall and run a long, thin plastic tube about two yards long into the hole he'd made in her skull. Her kicking stopped very shortly after he get the entire length in there. I'm guessing because you can't have an animal that big thrashing about when people are trying to cut it up into steaks. Or in this case, hamburger patties.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:02 AM on April 29, 2009


I'm not a strict vegetarian, but I try to be as vegan as possible, while avoiding processed anything, cooking oils, sugar, etc.

I don't do it based on any moral or ethical reason, but because the facts are out there that it is, in the long run, a much healthier diet for you... and ultimately, I'd like to reverse a lot of the damage I've done over the years and live a longer, healthier life.

Most research shows that our evolutionary ancestors probably had only 3-5% of calories from meat, with much of that being high omega-3 sources such as shellfish, termites, grubs, snails, fish, etc. Those foods, combined with raw, unrefined carbohydrate sources, nuts, fruits, and greens, make up the diet we are evolutionarily most in sync with.

How do we know this? Well, we know some of the key elements of what a diet should be based on observation of those diets which promote the longest lifespan. The diet of the Okinawan people is linked to the greatest lifespan... and is made up of a relatively small amount of fish (less than half a serving per day), somewhat more in the way of soy and other legumes (6% of total caloric intake), less grain than the Japanese diet, and more emphasis on food like sweet potatoes. Almost no meat, eggs, or dairy products are consumed.

Even in the U.S., it's clear that those living longest are Seventh Day Adventists, whose lifespans are nearly a decade longer than most Americans... and it's pretty clear why they live that long, unless you believe that God is doing it.

It's also worth pointing out that , too much animal protein is strongly linked to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

I love barbeque, bacon, and a good steak, but facts is facts... vegan diets are literally changing lives. It's a miracle for those suffering from diabetes... both type II *AND* type I, which is supposedly untreatable.

Even Halle Berry, who isn't a vegan, reports that she was able to control her type 1 diabetes through a low fat diet that emphasized vegetables, but cut out sugar, processed carbohydrates, and red meat, and cut back substantially on fruit.

That means, effectively, that if you're getting more than 8 oz. of meat a week, you're having way too much... especially if that meat isn't high in omega-3s. And if you do eat meat such as beef or chicken, you should make it grass-fed/free range, because their omega-3 levels are much higher.

So no, you don't need any kind of dogma to motivate you towards a more unprocessed, vegan diet. Indeed, you don't even have to be vegan. You just need to have your own self-interest at heart, and the desire to be one of those miracles -- ideally in a pre-emptive way -- rather than yet another casualty of the American diet.
posted by markkraft at 3:16 AM on April 29, 2009 [4 favorites]


Allow me to retort:

Pork chops stuffed with goose liver paté.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:31 AM on April 29, 2009 [3 favorites]


Mmmm!
posted by markkraft at 3:35 AM on April 29, 2009


Yeah, they used to show us diseased lung pictures in middle school, too. Didn't stop us from smoking.

Seriously, though. Good deitary advice there. A whole lot I didn't know. Now all I need is the willpower.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:39 AM on April 29, 2009


I do miss the fuck outta some bacon...

I eat bacon and the occasional pepperoni or deli sandwich. But the real reason I can't go vegetarian is tacos. I can give up even bacon, but no way I can give up tacos. I've tried TVP and it just wasn't the same. Seitan is completely unavailable in a 300 mile radius centered on my house, apparently.
posted by DU at 4:50 AM on April 29, 2009


"Good dietary advice there. A whole lot I didn't know. Now all I need is the willpower."

*nods*

It can be hard, and you will have splurges and relapses along the way... and that's fine. Food is addictive. But after your lapse, you'll also probably notice that you don't like the feeling of what you had afterwards quite as much, or that you were feeling better, losing a few extra pounds, and generally happy with what you were eating before lapsing, too.

That's why I advise not thinking in terms of "you MUST be vegan", which leads to feeling like a failure when you're not... but more in terms of emphasizing the things that are good for you, and trying not to have the others around you all the time. I do most of my shopping at a local veggie stand, for instance, which automatically helps me make better choices. They're fairly inexpensive, and have the healthiest stuff. Your local farmer's market is probably a good bet too.

It also helps to concentrate on those things you *DO* like.

I love artichokes, avocados, and roasted yams, which are plenty sweet by themselves...

I like well-made salads with fresh sprouts, a good mix of things, and fresh dressings. I like using good basalmic vinegar with fresh fruit / fruit juice, a little mustard, and seasonings, pepper, salt, for example. Add a little olive oil, if you want.

When I eat dairy -- which I try to keep down to a cup or two a week -- it's usually non-fat, unsweetened yogurt -- the good kind, with active cultures and no gelatin -- either artificially sweetened and/or served with fresh berries and the like. It takes near-zero time to do this instead of pre-sweetened yogurt, and tastes significantly better. (If you want a real sweetener, use honey... *SO* much better with fresh yogurt than the corn syrup generally used.)

I like dipping vegetables in homemade hummus, which takes maybe a minute or two to make in the blender. You can buy 6 oz. of hummus for $3, or take a minute to blend up a can of garbanzos with your favorite flavors and herbs, and save a couple bucks. I love spinach dip and guacamole, too... or if I feel lazy, I just add dip mix to yogurt.

I also like snacking on edamame, really good pickles, kim chee, or pepperincini.

I love making soups, such as miso, posole, soon dubu, borscht, thai coconut soup, etc., which can easily be made vegetarian or nearly so. (I use fairly good broth or powdered broth concentrates for my soups, and don't sweat it so much whether the broth is entirely vegetarian or not, because the amount of meat and fat is minuscule... though the vegetarian broth powders that they sell nowadays are really quite good.) There are also plenty of vegetarian soups out there, premade.

I use very little oil for cooking, but when I do have it, it's usually things packed in olive oil, such as dolmas, or a little sesame oil for flavor. I use lots of fresh herbs, but also use lots of great pre-mixed flavors in my cooking, such as Joe's Stuff (from the New Orleans School of Cooking. Great for Italian food, but with a bit of paprika and just a dusting of cayenne, it makes awesome cajun cuisine!), herbs de provence (awesome for veggies), dill, ginger... and I also use lemon in cooking (I have a friend with a lemon tree).

Of course, your choices will be different, because you like different things... but the thing is, it doesn't have to be hard and time-consuming to prepare, and can be amazingly fresh and tasty. Most of what makes food taste good are the added flavors... and those generally don't come from meat.

Really, it's not so much about saying no to food you love. It's about letting all those foods you love which are actually good for you into your life, with abundance... and then treating them and yourself well.

Develop healthy relationships with what's good for you, and you'll find there's less room -- and less desire -- in your life with all that dysfunctional food out there.
posted by markkraft at 5:21 AM on April 29, 2009 [5 favorites]


"Seitan is completely unavailable in a 300 mile radius centered on my house, apparently."

Order it online?!
posted by markkraft at 5:24 AM on April 29, 2009


I eat bacon and the occasional pepperoni or deli sandwich. But the real reason I can't go vegetarian is tacos. I can give up even bacon, but no way I can give up tacos. I've tried TVP and it just wasn't the same. Seitan is completely unavailable in a 300 mile radius centered on my house, apparently.

TVP tacos are hard to do unless you season it just right. I eat tacos once a week but use this stuff which can be found at any grocery store, usually in then natural food section. I think it tastes a lot like Taco Bell taco filling. I always liked Taco Bell so the similarity is a good thing to me.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 5:25 AM on April 29, 2009


Well yes, I could order seitan online. But what with shipping and the costs thereof, I'm doing nothing for either my wallet or the environment.

I didn't think to look for a prepackaged taco filling thing. I doubt my regular grocery store has it, but one of the many, many I checked looking for seitan might.
posted by DU at 5:36 AM on April 29, 2009


I confess to occasionally teasing vegetarians (and only ones I know pretty well), but I save my bemused contempt for squeamish meat eaters. I mean, I don't particularly like tripe (if I wanted to eat a bicycle tire, I could do that), but it's not "grosser" than other animal innards. And tofu will not make you a vegetarian, either, meat eater. It's OK.

Also, since I started cooking for vegetarians and vegans, I have come to prefer non-meat versions of formerly meat-based dishes-- I "seitan-ized" a vindaloo recipe about a decade ago, and it just doesn't seem right with meat anymore. Also, SmartGround and related products make a better consistency meat pie than many meats and hold together without egg as a binder (depending on what else is in the pie), which is nice.

I have been hankering to make me some seitan at home, mostly because it sounds like fun, and also because it's often way more expensive than it needs to be. Here are two recipes that look promising. The first one looks better to me, but it is non-traditionally baked, and there is a probably NSFcommenter image....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:52 AM on April 29, 2009


This is a really clever video, especially the opening sequence in The Meatrix II with the sly nod to swine/avian/human flu, although really they should have put the buxom farm hand in a red dress.
posted by doobiedoo at 5:59 AM on April 29, 2009


I just refry beans for tacos. Seasoning is right + tomatoes + sour cream makes is just as delicious. As a southern boy, I do miss mom's fried chicken on sunday. Damn.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:24 AM on April 29, 2009


I seem to be becoming a weekend carnivore - I don't have time to cook much during the week, so only eat meat when cooking for my SO. I don't have a compelling reason, personally, to go vegetarian, though, so pepperoni, steak and bramley apple sausages win out :)
posted by mippy at 6:25 AM on April 29, 2009


Man, you guys are slow this morning! When *I* am able to call a double, I mean, with how lazy I am..

Double -- from 2003, FOREVER MIGUEL!!!!
posted by cavalier at 6:25 AM on April 29, 2009


Most research shows that our evolutionary ancestors probably had only 3-5% of calories from meat

This is why I eat meat, to force humans to evolve to eat meat all the time.

Seriously though, question for those who switched to being vegheads: How do you manage to replace meat? I've tried, several times to do it, and I can never last more than a day before I get extremely cranky and am starving. and I LOVE vegetables (except eggplant, that shit needs to become extinct). Sure I've cut down with beans and edamae, but man nothing seems to hit the spot like meat.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:42 AM on April 29, 2009


I can never last more than a day before I get extremely cranky and am starving.

Good lord, just how much meat are you eating?
posted by DU at 6:48 AM on April 29, 2009


Please leave aubergines alone and extinctify the banana instead. Little yellow bastards.
posted by mippy at 7:25 AM on April 29, 2009


Ha, good point DU.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:46 AM on April 29, 2009


From the Seventh Day Adventist link posted above by markkraft:

Fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts are often less expensive than meat.

Where the hell do these SDA's shop??
posted by spicynuts at 8:07 AM on April 29, 2009


Where the hell do these SDA's shop??

You really don't know what that's talking about? In the U.S. where I live canned meats are just about the cheapest form of meat, sometimes with the exceptions of bulk frozen meats, but even many fresh vegetables are far cheaper pound-for-pound. Not to mention if you get hard core and go all dried legumes on the motherfucker.

But I loves me my canned and bulk frozen meats. And according to what I've read, many kinds of canned fish, Alaskan salmon for example, have almost no mercury and pollutants in them, whereas fresh fish so often gets those "women of child bearing age must not consume this" levels.
posted by XMLicious at 9:21 AM on April 29, 2009


I can give up even bacon, but no way I can give up tacos. I've tried TVP and it just wasn't the same.

Y'all need to get your hands on some Soyrizo. Cook it until it's dry and a little crispy. Killer stuff.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:52 AM on April 29, 2009 [2 favorites]


"Fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts are often less expensive than meat."


Where the hell do these SDA's shop??


Most Seventh Day Adventists live outside the US, but those who are in the US live disproportionately in California... especially Southern California, which has lower produce prices, on average, than the rest of the country.

I get my produce in Northern California from a local vegetable market, and routinely get nearly all my vegetables for under a dollar a pound, rice at about $1 / lb., lentils at about $1.70/lb. avocados for 80 cents, medium artichokes at about 75 cents to $1.25 each, peanuts at about $1.25, almonds in bulk for about $2.50... all of which are oftentimes less expensive than meat.

The trick, really, is to not get your produce in Safeway, Luckys, etc. I like my local veggie stand, but specialty markets oftentimes have better prices on highly in-demand items. Asian markets, for example, usually have great prices on items like rice, bean sprouts, shitake and other Asian varieties of mushrooms, cabbage, green onions, etc. Arabic markets have low prices on basmati rice, lentils, almonds, garbanzos, etc. Farmer's markets usually have a nice combination of high quality and reasonable prices, while our local flea market offers produce for perhaps the lowest I've seen, overall. Costco is quite good for some things too.

I find the Safeway prices for produce are really revolting -- an absolutely evil ripoff, especially when they offer up pre-prepared empty food composed entirely of simple carbs, sugars, and fats at about $1 for a couple lbs. It's really, really bad for people and does some irreparable harm, and yet can't buy the healthy raw materials that it was made from for those kind of prices.
posted by markkraft at 9:59 AM on April 29, 2009


(Oh, and Soyrizo is also available to buy online, if you can't find it local. Maybe you should invest in a tortilla press and some masa, while you're at it. MexGrocer is good for all that, and quite reasonable.)

Fresh tortillas are the bomb, as they say.
posted by markkraft at 10:05 AM on April 29, 2009


I read about this on Meatfilter a while ago.
posted by psmealey at 10:59 AM on April 29, 2009


Double -- from 2003, FOREVER MIGUEL!!!!

Part 1 is a double, but the the other three parts weren't up when Miguel posted it.
posted by homunculus at 11:11 AM on April 29, 2009


The other two parts (II and II 1/2), I mean.
posted by homunculus at 11:19 AM on April 29, 2009


Bacon's Revenge
posted by homunculus at 11:20 AM on April 29, 2009


I dunno how it's possible to kill an animal without some amount of cruelty. I've seen some killing, it's not always nice. Man pigs are the worst with all their thrashing.

You gotta get 'em nice and drunk beforehand, then they'll die happy.
A single shot with a .22 in the head will do it.
Chickens you just snap their necks with a quick flick of the wrist and chop their heads off well down the neck, that cuts down on the flapping. If they're running around afterward, you're cutting too far up the neck.
Tofu you just crank the piss out of it in the press, pull the box out of the press, take the lid off, flip the box upside down and pull it off. Whip off the cheesecloth in one fluid motion and you won't get kicked, although it does jiggle a little.
Tofu's best eaten fresh, preferably on the day of slaughter.
posted by Floydd at 4:14 PM on April 29, 2009 [1 favorite]


I will tell you, vegans get a hell of a lot more shit from people who eat meat, than meat eaters get from vegans.

You are, of course, in no position to state that, since you're basing it purely on personal experience.

If we're going on personal experience, I find that "Oh, you're a vegan? Heh." and "Oh, you're an omnivore? Murderer!" aren't worth the same level of umbrage-taking.

Except usually the meat-is-murder types don't even realize that "carnivore" does not describe any human except possibly (judging by his comments above) Brandon Blatcher.
posted by oaf at 7:31 PM on April 29, 2009


One nice plus about eating more vegetables... You can pretty easily contribute to a very considerable portion of your diet, simply by putting a few plants in the ground.

Just finished eating fresh, homegrown artichokes that I harvested today. One single plant which cost me about $1.49 a few years back is now producing about 40 artichokes this year, which I find to be sweeter and fresher than storebought. Oh, and I've been harvesting from it for about four years now, so it's paid for itself many, many times over.

Oh... and I never water it, never fertilize it, and when the harvest is over, you can mow it back / cut it off to a stump once, until it grows back next season.

(Can't say that about the obligatory front lawn. What a waste of time and space that is...!)
posted by markkraft at 9:06 PM on April 29, 2009 [1 favorite]


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