Meat

I’m not much of a foodie myself. I’m happy with average food. But there was a time I was quite fussy about what I eat. It all happened after I heard a guy singing, in the gloomiest way possible, “Meat is murder”.

Morrissey was promoting a new album in this particular period where I was a miserable twenty-something and it was BBC Radio 2’s record of the week or something. Ironically, I was doing some cooking when one of them caught my ears. I had known that he was a frontman of The Smiths, but I had never got into their stuff before. The lyrics resonated with me so much because I thought he was singing about my life. Spare the DJ from hanging.

Within no time, I fully immersed myself in everything Moz. His words now started to sound like messages from the Messiah. I was aware that he is an avid animal rights activist. At first, I didn’t take it seriously, thinking quitting meat is not something I would ever do. But the more I explore his views on animal welfare, the more I felt wrong being a meat eater and a fan at the same time. The only solution to this was declaring myself a vegetarian - upon my family’s frowned faces.

It’s worth noting that being a vegetarian in Japan is not an easy business, let alone in a rural area. Your colleagues might suspect you’re into a cult. There are virtually no vegetarian options at restaurants. Same for ready meal or instant food. You have to cook everything unless you order veg-friendly food that’s twice the price of non-veg ones online. Meat was soon replaced by the likes of soy sausage, soy hamburger steak, grilled soy meat and anything that’s made of soy. My soy intake might have surpassed that of livestocks’, but I was happy with that because I believed I was doing the right thing.

It continued for 4-5 years. But by this time, I was more worried about what to put on my plate than animals themselves, and I was so tired of explaining why I can’t have the same meal everybody else is having. Looking back, I feel very bad about turning down the food I was offered. The worst of all, I refused to touch a single piece of full-course dinner at my brother’s wedding. What an arse. It’s just a tip of the iceberg. I became the last person you want to dine with and food was now a headache for me as well as the people I know. Also, my job required a lot of energy that vegetables and soy meat were not enough to fuel me. I was visibly unwell. I wondered, “why am I putting animals before my own health and causing others trouble for that? What the hell am I doing?” My doubt started to grow. In the end, I came to the realisation that I completely fed up.

It wasn’t until I quit being a vegetarian that I realised how much I cared less about people around me. When you eat with someone, it will always be your diet that should be prioritised. I used to say, trying to be nice, “Let’s go wherever you want. I’ll eat salad”. This is not good. Why?

In one episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Larry David told its host Jerry Seinfeld how his ex-wife hated the fact that he stopped drinking coffee. Curb Your Enthusiasm star argued there is still tea in his cup and steam coming out from it, what’s the difference? Jerry said, “You wanna know the difference? We go to an ice cream shop. I get a cone and you get a salad. And you go, ‘What? I’m eating, you’re eating.’ That’s the difference. It’s the mood”.

My mother told me recently what she felt sad about the most when I went veggie was that we no longer able to eat out together like we used to. It’s this “mood" she was missing. She seemed so happy when I went back to meat.

I’m not saying that the whole idea of animal welfare is nonsense. Animals should be treated better. It’s the process I’m talking about. In retrospect, what made me stop eating meat was not a thorough research on the issue or sympathy on animals. I did it wrong.

If you are contemplating going meat-free, you should know that it doesn’t work for everyone. Unless you are doing it for health reasons or very confident that you can persuade your family and friends to respect your decision, you’re not really obliged to become one. If you are ruining your health, it’s time to rethink about it. Trying to eat less meat should be enough if that’s the case. Choose what suits you the best.

Todd Rundgren, who used to be a vegetarian in the ‘70s, reflected his story in his autobiograhy The Individualist. What he learned from his experience was this:

“Becoming possessed with what you eat can sometimes diminish the importance of other disciplines - controlling anger, developing mindfulness of where you are and what your options may be, facing the truth about yourself. What you eat doesn’t automatically make you a good person, just a less hungry one. However, thankfullness for the meal is always appropriate”.

He has a point. I highly doubt a good person chucks a piece of steak claiming that eating meat is as bad as "eating” cigarettes. At the end of the day, living on a plant-based diet will not protect you from being cancelled for your political views.