I’ve found that I’ve no real interest in eating any meat. It’s either tasteless or just unappealing. I didn’t expect this; I assumed that my body would really jump at the chance to eat some meat. By contrast if I’m faced with a some green vegetables I want to just eat and eat.

I’m having to think rather hard about what I choose to eat, when I barely had to think before. This weekend I was in a seaside town with my girlfriend and she suggested we eat some fresh shrimp for lunch. The ideas that persuaded me to give up my vegetarianism have me thinking that if one lives by the sea, the least destructive and most compassionate way to live might well be to catch and eat shrimp. So I accepted the suggestion. However, in my naïvety, I didn’t think at all about how the shrimp might be killed. The respectful thing to do, respecting the fact that one’s continued living requires a certain amount of destruction of other living things, is to kill the shrimp with minimal suffering, perhaps by taking them out of their tank and stabbing them quickly. In fact the shrimp were shook around in a plastic box in an attempt to knock them out, as they drowned in the air, and then they were put in a pan on a bed of salt and cooked alive right on the table in front of me. Totally unnecessary suffering; total disrespect of other sentient creatures. I’ve got to think about these things when choosing to eat seafood or meat.