nutritional ethics and sardines
I’ve not eaten any mammals for over 15 years now. I don’t like the idea of a sentient creature suffering and dying for me to chew on and digest their flesh, especially when there are alternative sources of nutrition easily to hand.
But I don’t consider myself to be any kind of example of nutritional ethics. I’ve occasionally eaten fish without even scrutinising the source – most notably when under the influence of alcohol and a fish supper is nearby, and when pregnant and breastfeeding. I continue to consume eggs, knowing that male baby chick by-products trundle along a cold conveyor belt by their hundreds of thousands to death by gas and crush. And cheese from unknown cows, with all the associated death and suffering I’m aware exists in the dairy industry.
So I don’t judge anyone else for what they eat. But I wonder how many more generations will continue to knowingly exploit our animal friends on such a large scale. I hope not many.
I view life through my own personal lens of evolutionary theory. When something about human behaviour upsets me, I try to trace it back through time. Humans are what we are because we have eaten other living things. Our brains would be dinky if we’d stuck to plants. The natural cycle of life sees most living things crushing up and digesting another living thing in order to grow. We’re all made up of the same stuff, aren’t we? I should be able to eat road kill.
My body is weak and under-nourished. I don’t eat enough calcium, there’s no vitamin D in my diet (and certainly none from the sun) and my brain is sluggish, to say the least. I’ve decided to sacrifice one of my fellow Earth inhabitants to my gut. I want to eat sardines – they’re not very sentient, little scope for suffering, they’re abundant, and they’re nutritionally rich.
Any suggestions on how to open the can and cross the mental barrier to chew through their flesh?
I have never eaten sardines…perhaps you can hide them in a casserole.
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Sardine casserole … I don’t know if I like the sound of that, but thanks for trying! You went to spam by the way. I’ve fished you out.
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Sometimes I wonder what I say (shakes her head from side to side and squint her eyes) . It does sound horrible, doesn’t it? Did you end up finding an alternative?
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Not yet, still mulling over fishcakes…
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Listen to the words
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I didn’t hear anything about sardines. But then I had to try and stay awake through a full three minutes of dull plonking to even get to a word. 😉
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You know, there is more to music than banging two stones together while running through peat bogs.
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Again, is that not Ireland? I’m going to start calling you a Kiwi if you’re not careful …
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WWDD? What would Darwin do?
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Thank you. I need a male authority figure/god to help me in situations like this. If he can’t help, I’ll email the Pope. 🙂
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I read, sardines are loaded with calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, and are a great source of nonmeat vitamin B12. But they’re also quite low on the food chain so pretty efficient in terms of resources (compared to larger fishes that eat them). They are a short-lived, robust species (not currently overfished) and often caught with mid water trawl and purse seine a fishing method where bycatch is not a problem. Treehugger also recommends sardines.
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I read all that too, which led to me buying the can. I’m still no closer to opening it. I’ve got some leftover mashed potatoes and I’m thinking I could cop out and make some fish cakes. I bought a tin of anchovies as well and made a basic puttanesca sauce with them – almost gagged.
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I remember the Goodies had an episode once where Bill Oddie started a campaign to protect the right of vegetables. Now that would make it hard.
What Sardines have going for them is that seem to be raised in a natural environment. Penguins and the Puffins seem to eat lots of Sardines, so being eaten is part of life for many a sardine.
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Gotta go- lightening about. Bye!
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Oh well, if the puffins are doing it! 🙂
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Don’t ask me. My conscience is like scrambled eggs over this.
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Clearly mine is too. I guess that’s why it has to be each to their own. Still haven’t opened the tin but I bought coriander and spring onions to make the fish cakes …
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You could try eating the label and see how you feel?
It would be like a false idol type of thing.
Eventually the sardine will be over-fished then you will have a legit reason not to eat it.
Can you not hang on a decade or so?
Meantime, I hear Mopani Worms are full of all the goodness a growing Mum needs.
Perhaps Selfridges keeps them? Try the internet?
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Oh well, there’s always road kill. And dead whales washed up on shore. Yum. Nature’s bounty.
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If you fancy road kill, would not Muckdonalds be the easier option?
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When it comes to eating, going potty and the vah-VOOM rumba (aka wanton, craven fornication), mankind has a lot in common with his lower mammalian brethren.
Nevertheless, the cute little lion cub will gleefully torture young prey to death as Mommy lioness trains him to be a successful, ruthless, bloodthirsty hunter.
The lion possesses his lion nature, after all.
Truly, the ethical treatment of animals (and the children) is an import duty of man, but it is totally ethical for man to behave according to his human nature.
That means the industrial production of food is a moral imperative since it eradicates the age old scourge of starvation.
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Indeed, but we don’t need to include nutritionally unnecessary sentient creatures in the mill, do we?
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Violet,
Who is to judge what is nutritionally unnecessary?
Maybe we should all eat an industrially produced nutrient-rich sludge, that way humanity can leave all the plants and animals completely alone.
The sane solution is to just leave people alone and let them eat what they want according to their human nature and personal preferences.
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And then you get the United States of America: Shockingly obese and diabetic 😉
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John,
Maybe we’ll all die up here and Latin America can be happy once again.
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Whatever that means…
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I’ve recently gone almost vegan (I too eat eggs), and I largely share your approach: I try to minimize the harm I do to sentient animals while verbally allowing other people their freedom to eat what they will.
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Do you know, there seems to be a significant pattern of people abandoning religion, analysing other things they took for granted from social conditioning, and cutting animals out of their diet. Soon we’ll know the Christians by their flesh munching!
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I’d abandon ‘religion’ too Violet……as it is perceived by the masses, but abandon truth? Ha, you may as well try to abandon daylight.
and the flesh eating….remember it’s not what goes into the stomach that defiles a man, but what comes out of the heart. 😉
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The only way I like sardines is canned in mustard as a topping on melba crackers.
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Yikes, think I’d prefer sardine stew. Still not opened it.
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There has to be a better way. Right?
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