Vegetarian Butchers Plug 'Clean' Meat

A butcher, hunter, and rancher discuss the ethics of eating animals

(NEWSER) - For long stretches of their lives, Nicolette Niman, Tovar Cerulli and Joshua Applestone were all vegetarians or vegans. Now, they’re a rancher, a hunter, and a butcher, respectively, who “firmly believe food from animals can be healthful, environmentally appropriate, and ethical,” they write in the Atlantic . Their stories:

• Nicolette: She became vegan “after hearing that beef was deforesting the Amazon,” but eventually “learned that animals were essential to sustainable farms.” They increase soil fertility and convert otherwise inedible vegetation and uncultivated land into food.
• Tovar: He became a vegan after listening to Buddhist teachings, but eventually “realized that all food has its costs. From habitat destruction to combines that inadvertently mince rabbits … crop production is far from harmless.” What matters, he decided, “wasn’t what we ate, but how that food came to our plates.”
• Joshua: He was a vegetarian until he met his wife and opened a meat company. “Once I saw how the meat we were selling had been raised, and met the farmers who were striving to raise animals sustainably … I realized I didn’t have a problem with meat. I had a problem with the inhumane practices of the commercial meat industry."

Smaller 'natural' farms won't work: James McWilliams

(NEWSER) - Lots of people these days are turning away from large-scale meat farms and toward smaller, organic farms. It's better for the animals and for the environment, right? Not nearly as much as most locavores think, writes James McWilliams in the New York Times . He's not defending factory farms—he hates them, too—but he argues that the logistics of small-scale "natural" farming will never cut it. (For example: We'd need mind-boggling amounts of land to raise all the nation's cattle on grass, and those cows in turn would emit more methane gas.) More»

Drop meat once a week: Mark Bittman

(NEWSER) - "Lose weight" tends to make a whole lot of Americans' lists of New Year's resolutions. But Mark Bittman has a news flash for you: What we all really need to do is not obsess over dieting, but "eat better." And to do so, all we need to do is turn a little bit vegan. If the thought of avoiding all animal products, from meat to eggs to honey, strikes fear into your heart, don't worry: First of all, if you've ever eaten peanut butter and jelly for lunch, you've eaten a vegan meal. And going "semi-vegan" is as easy as cutting meat out of your meal once a week, writes Bittman for the New York Times . More»

Plus: five famous meat lovers

(NEWSER) - Tobey Maguire wasn’t happy with the luxurious Mercedes he was given to use while filming in Australia, so he sent it back—but not because he’s a spoiled Hollywood star. Rather, Maguire is a vegan and took issue with the car’s leather seats, Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports. Maguire, who is filming The Great Gatsby, requested vinyl upholstery instead. But though he doesn’t eat meat, many of his colleagues do— The Frisky lists five who seem to particularly love it: More»

A veal-scarfing food writer offers an odd argument for passing on piglets

(NEWSER) - Josh Ozersky is a James Beard award-winning food writer, but he's no morality cop: In an essay for Time , he admits to eating our planet's wee creatures: "veal cutlets, suckling pigs, spring lambs, game hens." And he has come to terms with that. But he does want to share one compelling reason for taking a pass on animal infanticide: "gastronomic principle." Because the thing is, baby animals just don't taste very good. As animals age they develop fat and muscle; "no teensy little 4-lb. chicken is ever going to have the flavor of a fat old hen." More»