meat is murder; eat your mac and cheese

In the car today;

Greta: mom, how do people make meat out of cow butt?

I pause. I feel the need to tell it like it is.

Me: Well, first the cow has to die. ( horrifying images of slaughter houses pop into my head)
Then people take the meat, which is the muscle of the cow, and eat it.

Greta: When I am a woman I will never eat cow bum. That's where the poop comes out and that's gross. That's gross right?

Me: Yes, it's really gross.

This brief conversation with Greta today got me thinking. I'm going back to being a vegetarian. I was in high school and during my early twenties. I was influenced greatly by my love for animals, a book I read revealing the dark side of the slaughterhouse, and Morrissey. I fell off the wagon. Since then I will eat chicken occasionally only when eating out, I won't cook it at home because I refuse to touch it in it's raw form.

So, yeah. No more meat. I can live with a clean conscience and practice what I preach to my kids. To love thine animal.