The ethics of food production

[JAS_OH1]

There are even vegan farms that use green fertilizer, no poop. EDIT let's call it super tiny poop that was made by things you can't see with your eyes
BTW a colleague just mentioned Israeli scientists found out plants can actually feel something similar to pain when cut and eaten.
But I guess most vegan are doing it so the world could be more happy, not the animals.

Yeah, those studies have been out for quite awhile about plants possibly feeling pain (or even fear).

 

[medtran49]

BTW a colleague just mentioned Israeli scientists found out plants can actually feel something similar to pain when cut and eaten.

I saw an article on that just recently. Interesting read.

Only older SciFy interested folks might remember this, but in an original Lost In Space episode there was a carrot like creature who took great offense because the Robinson's grew and ate plants. In its world, plants were sentient and communicated, had emotions, and felt things just like humans.

 

[caseydog]

I saw an article on that just recently. Interesting read.

Only older SciFy interested folks might remember this, but in an original Lost In Space episode there was a carrot like creature who took great offense because the Robinson's grew and ate plants. In its world, plants were sentient and communicated, had emotions, and felt things just like humans.

I have a neighbor/friend that is a SciFy geek. He has one of Captain Kirk's chairs from the show, and a full-size replica of the robot from Lost in Space.

CD

 

[LissaC]

When you go into a supermarket in the US or in the UK, every single vegetable and fruit is identical in size. Perfect peppers, 6 inch carrots, potatoes which seem to have been cloned from a single specimen, perfectly round tomatoes the size of golf balls, etc, etc.
So what happens to the veg that do not conform to Barbie & Ken perfection? They're rejected, and used for processed food, or animal food, or simply composted. WHAT A WASTE! Personally, I love small vegetables, when I can get them, because they're more tender and sweeter, but they're just not available. "Wonky" veg are rejected by the big supermarkets, leaving tons and tons of perfectly edible food to rot. That's not ethical, IMHO, and I'm sure that drives up the prices. Nor is it ethical to wrap the damn things in cellophane packets so they look pretty.

Just yesterday I was listening to a BBC podcast episode that discussed food waste: BBC Radio 5 Live - 5 Live Science, What can we do about food waste?

They were talking with a scientist who studies food waste and one of the things he mentioned is that UK supermarkets have absurd standards of perfection for produce, leaving farmers with plenty of perfectly good vegetables that they cannot sell.

He also talked an episode post-Brexit where there was supposedly a shortage of potatoes produced, yet there was not a shortage of potatoes in the supermarkets, because the supermarkets started buying and selling the "sub-standard" potatoes, and apparently consumers didn't notice, or if they did notice, they at least didn't complain.

 

[medtran49]

In the early 1990s Craig and I were traveling out of the country on a 2 week guided tour and befriended a couple of women around our age, sisters, who were touring. Before anybody says anything, yes, they did look like sisters, and they told us their husbands didn't like traveling outside of the U.S. They were from Texas and their husbands were involved in the cattle business. From their appearance and mannerisms, they appeared to be fairly wealthy. We had quite a few meals together and I noticed they weren't eating beef at all and not much of any other animal protein, other than seafood. So, being the curious person I am and being a budding foodie at the time, I asked why. The answer was if I ever saw the way the animals were raised, the living conditions, the way they were put down and the conditions in the slaughter houses that I wouldn't eat meat either.

 

[LissaC]

In the early 1990s Craig and I were traveling out of the country on a 2 week guided tour and befriended a couple of women around our age, sisters, who were touring. Before anybody says anything, yes, they did look like sisters, and they told us their husbands didn't like traveling outside of the U.S. They were from Texas and their husbands were involved in the cattle business. From their appearance and mannerisms, they appeared to be fairly wealthy. We had quite a few meals together and I noticed they weren't eating beef at all and not much of any other animal protein, other than seafood. So, being the curious person I am and being a budding foodie at the time, I asked why. The answer was if I ever saw the way the animals were raised, the living conditions, the way they were put down and the conditions in the slaughter houses that I wouldn't eat meat either.

One of my dad's coworkers used to work at a sausage factory. He stopped eating sausages after that

 

[medtran49]

When you go into a supermarket in the US or in the UK, every single vegetable and fruit is identical in size. Perfect peppers, 6 inch carrots, potatoes which seem to have been cloned from a single specimen, perfectly round tomatoes the size of golf balls, etc, etc.
So what happens to the veg that do not conform to Barbie & Ken perfection? They're rejected, and used for processed food, or animal food, or simply composted. WHAT A WASTE! Personally, I love small vegetables, when I can get them, because they're more tender and sweeter, but they're just not available. "Wonky" veg are rejected by the big supermarkets, leaving tons and tons of perfectly edible food to rot. That's not ethical, IMHO, and I'm sure that drives up the prices. Nor is it ethical to wrap the damn things in cellophane packets so they look pretty.

We have quite a few places here that sell the wonky vegetables at substantially lower prices, you just have to find them and want to make the trip and take cash, since most don't accept CCs.

I refuse to buy the cellophane wrapped produce, other than bagged salad mixes sometimes and spinach because that's the only way it comes at most places, nor do I buy bags of potatoes or onions. I'd rather pick out my own.

A friend of ours that used to breed tortoises and other plant eating reptiles would go to the vegetable packers in the Redlands in South Florida during growing season and they would give him wonky vegetables and wilting greens for free. He just had to load it in his pickup. Most groceries would also do the same with produce that was going bad.

 

[LissaC]

We have quite a few places here that sell the wonky vegetables at substantially lower prices, you just have to find them and want to make the trip and take cash, since most don't accept CCs.

I refuse to buy the cellophane wrapped produce, other than bagged salad mixes sometimes and spinach because that's the only way it comes at most places, nor do I buy bags of potatoes or onions. I'd rather pick out my own.

A friend of ours that used to breed tortoises and other plant eating reptiles would go to the vegetable packers in the Redlands in South Florida during growing season and they would give him wonky vegetables and wilting greens for free. He just had to load it in his pickup. Most groceries would also do the same with produce that was going bad.

I know portuguese supermarkets have standards for produce too, but I think they're not as strict as in the US and the UK, because I see a lot of produce in our supermarkets that looks less than perfect, and most of the small groceries sell produce that looks even less than perfect than the ones on the supermarket shelves. Still, I know there must be some kind of standard because I know at least one portuguese company that only sells wonky fruit, which we in Portugal call "ugly produce".

There's also an online shop called Good After that sells products that are past their "best by" date but that are still safe for human consumption (stuff like rice, cereal, tea, etc), all for discounted prices. Along with a company called "Too Goo To Go" that has an app that allows you to buy food that's almost expired from supermarkets and restaurants near you.

 

[medtran49]

There's at least 1 online site that sells wonky vegetables in the States. I don't remember the name though. I looked at it and thought about trying it out, but then thought again because it's just me and Craig, and a good bit of it would go bad before we could get it eaten, which kind of defeats the purpose.