Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

When I buy meat at the supermarket, no, and I do think about it and it is a bit scary. I was shocked to see that fish at my supermarket (tilapia fillets) come from FREEKIN CHINA!!! That's nuts. I was equally amazed that they were labeled as such, thank goodness for increased regulation.

Recently I have been trying to buy from better purveyors. It's more expensive, but you know where it's from and what it was fed, and that it was raised cleanly and sometimes even humanely. That stuff is important to me so I'm willing to pay more for it.

I almost never consider vegetarian over meat simply on these grounds, unless the only meat option is some obviously super-industrial hockey puck that was pressure washed off a carcass and squeegeed off the floor and packed into burger or tube shape in a hydraulic press, flash frozen and trucked cross country in a diesel smoke spewing big-rig by a crystal meth addicted psychopathic pedophile with road rage. Then I might pass it up.

The thing is though, if a place sells cheap and irresponsibly produced meat, usually the veggie options will either be inedible too or simply nonexistant. Good (in all aspects) veggies are more often than not harder to find than good meat.

My motto is, if you can't meet it, you shouldn't eat it. Anyone too squeamish not to witness the slaughter has no right to eat the creature once it's been killed. Toddlers on farms know exactly that the roast chicken they are eating was just the other day pecking in the backyard. I try to get my meat from respectful free range places as much as possible. And yeah, when I can't, I go the vegetarian route.

I am a vegetarian, although I do eat seafood occasionally (when the veggie options are not appetizing or nonexistant). I haven't eaten other meats for 5 years now, so I'm a little scared to try any, even those from humanely raised and slaughtered animals. But if I ever get over my instinct to not eat it, I think I wouldn't have a problem eating meat if I knew exactly where it came from. I sometimes feel like I'm missing out on some of the best parts of cooking and eating by limiting my diet like this, so I'm actually seriously thinking about trying to eat meat again. It'll probably take some time to get used to though

@Jerzee:

The issue isn't whether or not you should eat meat, but where does that meat come from, what impact does it have on the environment and our society. The fact is that factory farming is awful as described above. It's very polluting and bad for the environment, the animals are mistreated, they are fed low quality foods resulting in less nutritious food, the meat is then trucked for many miles to get to your market. You're missing the point.

A quick story on 'the vegitarian option':
My wife and I were at a wedding last month. We got in the buffet line and at the end I spied the infamous 'rainbow roast beef.' We looked at each other, then the frozen-mixed vegatables and said 'go heavy on the veg.'
So salad, cauliflower/carrots/broccoli, and rolls it was. I simply can't bring myself to eat that kind of protein. Not only because of the enviromental factors but also because it is just BAD. I like meat but I choose to draw a line. For me meat is an occasional and often pricey indulgence.

We have been getting a good bit of our chicken and pork (both "free-range") -- and eggs -- from local purveyors here in western Pa., and some beef, which is grass-fed. The chicken and pork are fantastic, best I've ever had hands down. Grass-fed ground beef is good but far less fatty. Grass-fed steaks are definitely a bit gamier and also leaner (and far more healthy), so that's something to prepare with a good chimmichurri or coated with lots of spices and herbs. Otherwise, we buy most of of our beef at Whole Foods, which has a fairly stringent and strong program for ensuring that they deal with purveyors who meet stringent quality, safety, and environmental guidelines. We occasionally must buy chicken and beef from the local grocery store, but choose their "Nature's Basket" brand, which is hormone/antibiotic-free, and, my understanding is, partially grass fed.

Not the grass fed free range dry aged prime from that I get from my butcher. That aint no stop-n-shop steak. Supermarket steak can come from thousands of miles away, mine is hundreds. Just a little easier on the old conscience, if not (actually definitely not) the wallet.

I'm sorry to see this thread turn into a polemic. We can offer persuasive arguments, but there is no profit in attacking others' choices.

I try to buy ethically; I deplore factory farms; I have seen animals killed and it doesn't please me, but I also believe that it's no prettier when a lion rips apart a gazelle; I try to cut down on meat consumption purely for health reasons; I can't always afford the nobler path but oh my do I love meat. I once saw a bumper sticker: "If God Didn't Want Us to Eat Animals, Then Why Did He Make Them Out of Meat"? I couldn't even be kosher, since I could never ever ever give up pork.

But I respect the wishes and inclinations of my friends, and I *always* check with dinner guests to see what their food requirements are and then make an entire dinner that takes all of those requirements into consideration, so no one has to deal with food on another's plate that they wouldn't want on their own.

I would be cautious of beef from supermarkets (even whole foods) claiming all natural. Many times this meat has only been 'off the sauce' for a short time prior to harvesting.
The myriad of choices of what to eat really can make being a responsible consumer difficult. Thankfully we have places like this to share info. and experiences. I would be gratefull for more people's thoughts and insights.

Similarly, I recently made the switch back to meat. Just to lighten it up a bit, I've been having lots of fun with it. I feel really gleeful when I order meat or my roommate grills up some chicken. I was just going to eat only "ethical" meat, but sometimes it's important to relax. I eat it in great moderation, therefore I don't feel bad about getting a carnitas burrito every once in a while with god knows what kind of pork!

I think that if I buy it for cooking at home, I'll stick to the farmer's market. But as long as it's in great moderation, I've decided not to be too stringent on my meat consumption.

The majority of our red meat comes from the woods approx 7 miles from our home. My husband is an avid hunter and we are able to live off venison for the majority of the year. So we do know where it came from and how it was processed. However, we still buy chicken, pork and the occasional t-bone steak from the grocery store.

i would love to have 2 oz. of meat from like 18 different cows along with 1 oz. of meat from like 10 different hogs, 2 eggs from like 2 hens, mushrooms from like 8 different plants and 3 large onions from like 2 different onion plants. what a great meat loaf.