Mindless Eating is an Act of Cruelty
I am a chef from Taiwan. As I was growing up, my family did not have the habit of dining out too often. My mother was the queen in charge of the kitchen, and both my brother and I thought her cooking was the ultimate delicacy. There would usually be three plates of seasonal stir-fried vegetables on the table, and a little bowl of braised pork or chicken on the side. My mother liked to cut the meat into small cubes, and we would take two or three cubes as our main meat protein intake. Our daily meals were very simple. It is my father who would emphatically advise us to consume discreetly. “Just take what you should, leave some for the others,” he always says.
Taiwan is a country that some regard as a food paradise. There are vendors, restaurants, global chains; food courts in the shopping malls, buffets . . . You name it, Taiwan has it. A place I am sure you can get any kind of food at any time of day.
When I first left Kaohsiung, my hometown, to go to other cities for studying, I was amazed by the diversity of food in the markets and restaurants. There were so many different types of cuisines that I had never tried before!
And that was the time I was first shocked by the excessive amount of food on some dinner tables, and how people would throw away food just because they ordered too much. I have seen people ordering a big piece of steak and only eating the middle part just because the outside of the meat was “not soft enough.” When have we begun to be spoiled by the easy access to food resources? Food, which was made from living things that are originally sacrificed for feeding our needs, has become an undervalued commodity; like a T-shirt we buy from the supermarket.
After I gained my chef certificate in Taiwan May 2022, I decided to travel to different countries to try other types of food, in order to add variety to the dishes which would expand my flavor repertoire.
By participating in a culinary experience in Paris, I had the opportunity to go to the Rungis International Market, the principal market that supplies food and agricultural products to all of Europe.
It was an exceptional, life-changing experience.
The first and an extremely compelling moment was the sight of two plastic packages with tiny, suckling piglets. Being taken away from their mothers, the piglets were slaughtered, and waited for further purchase in the market. The picture shows the piglets with empty bellies as their guts were scooped out, and the certification stamped on their skins. Within 2 months of birth, these piglets have become pieces of flesh in plastic boxes with codes; they are the lifeless creatures “ready to use.” In a few days, they will be sold as delicacies in a restaurant somewhere.
Consuming young animals has always been a controversial topic. Some people said they don’t eat veal because it is an act of killing baby cattles. However, many do not acknowledge that a massive quantity of young animals are eaten without knowing the fact.
As my research went on, a Japanese show piqued my curiosity. On May 23rd, 2021, a Youtuber set up a channel recording the daily life of a piglet named “Karlbi.”
Karlbi was taken to his new owner’s place after 75 days of birth. Soon, Karlbi would greet his owner with a wriggling tail; like most domestic pets, he became extremely intimate with his owner. The owner fed him with a careful mixture of barley flour, soy milk powder, yogurt and water. was rich in vegetables and fruits. After the meal, his owner would take him out for a walk.
Karlbi had more toys to play in the house, his owner prepared him an inflatable swimming pool at home so he could play in the water. He had a big watermelon ball in the pool, and a few little colorful balls outside the pool to welcome him to play.
When it was Karlbi’s half birthday. The owner decorated the house with a big “Happy Birthday” sign, a balloon and a small hat for Karlbi. A birthday cake made with tofu, sliced fruit and vegetables was given to Karlbi as the celebration.
It was the 100th video that started with the owner signing a document and Karlbi being placed in a bag. The owner drove to an unknown destination. Later, he returned to the car with a sealed cardboard box. The scene in the video was blurred by special effects when the owner returned home. We can roughly understand that the owner was washing the body in the kitchen sink, while the ingredients to roast the piglet were set aside. He activated the grill, and placed the dead body on the stove.
The shocking image of this animal turned into a delicious roasted dish was presented to the audience.
After the meal, the gnawed pork ribs came into view. The owner prayed as he lit an incense stick, a shrine was made in Karlbi’s cage with his picture in the center.
At the Rungis International Market, the piglets I saw, packaged in plastic wrap for sale, were very similar in sight to Karlbi.
With the invention of booming technology , we have the privilege to access unlimited information at all times. Nowadays we search for: “the best restaurants in town.” We google: “the most famous dishes,” and even more specifically, the most popular pork or sausage dishes in, let’s say, Germany.
But are we fully aware of the reality behind the paradoxical curtain of the butchery system? The ”free range” labels do not indicate that the animals spend their lives in liberty, and they certainly are not raised “free”. How have the animals been genetically engineered to the likings of our kitchens and taste buds? Innumerable factories take animal lives to serve the F&B industry, and the total amount of food lost or wasted can reach over 30% each year.
According to Sentient Media, over 55 billion animals are killed every year in the United States alone.
Pigs in general, are the third most commonly slaughtered animals in the world following chickens and fish. A 2019 data showed that approximately 3.5 million pigs were slaughtered every day.
On the “U.S. Animal Kill Clock”, the rapidly increasing numbers on the screen show how many animals are being killed every second. The fact that this number can jump from thousands per second to even a higher number is extremely heart-wrenching. In any butchery, the blood runs like a river and floods the entire floor.
If animals are to be sacrificed for human needs, what is the minimum consideration we should bear for their sacrifice?
According to The Humane Society : an estimated 92.2 billion land animals are killed globally. We are fully aware of how the animals are slaughtered to satisfy human consumption. Yet we do not have the courage to face the truth...
Before the final cut of Karlbi’s 100th video, there was a short message in the bottom right of the screen indicating: “This story is fictional.”
Later, the channel producer made a public announcement which indicated that Kalrbi was still alive; and the production team bought another piglet from the meat market for making the video.
Yet, the fact remains: a small animal was sacrificed on that day, only it was not Karlbi, but another piglet that was purchased at the market, however, what is the difference? Because other piglets do not own 9,730,000 Youtube subscribers, are we insensitive about their death?
According to The Human League, “a massive number of animals never see the outdoors except on their way to the slaughterhouse”.
Sentient beings are controlled, exploited, killed for the deformed, festing, social behaviors (i.e. the enormous waste in the buffet restaurants). I believe it is crucial to understand how the current economy is responsible for this overwhelmingly meat-consuming system; we as consumers should be fully alarmed. In some animal farms, piglets like Karlbi are taken away from their mother before weaning. To some extent, for those unwanted piglets which are called “Runts”, are usually killed by violently bashing their heads on the floor; it is called “thumping” as the industrial term for this practice.
These piglets in the plastic I saw in Rungis may be slaughtered in a more humane way, but what accounts for being “humane,” if we are taking tremendous amounts of lives away every second? I cannot tell the whole world to become vegetarians or vegan, but if you do eat meat, I invite you to think about Karlbi’s story, the roasted piglet in that screen shot of the Japanese channel, and the picture of these little pigs wrapped in plastic in Rungis.
A small portion of meat, in my parents’ point of view, is sufficient enough for our nourishment. Eating life is a lesson; and mindless eating is an inhumane, cruel act.
The piglets in the Rungis International Market
Karlbi’s 98th day - Enjoying the carefully-prepared salads at the owner’s house
Karlbi’s half birthday
Karlbi’s 100th day