Meat-eater Spirituality
Few months ago I matched with a guy on a popular dating app. 35year old engineer — not a bad profile. I ask where he comes from, and then the story begins. He said where he’s from and without even asking, he says that he has never been in a relationship but was going behind a girl for a year and half until she moved to the US two months back. Unrequested stories, but I read his texts, knowing well how we all want someone to share our stories with— dating app or real life.
Anyway, after his broken crush story, he asks: “Your profile says non-vegetarian and spiritual. How can you be both?”
Its the first time I come across such a question. I was taken aback!
His profile said spiritual and he goes on sending a whole paragraph about why someone has to be vegetarian or vegan if they can call themselves spiritual!
I did not want to waste my time and energy explaining to him about why his responses and mindset are anything but ‘spiritual’, as per my understanding of the concept. I wished the guy best and unmatched him right away. No point explaining something to someone who has already formed such a strong opinion and judgement on something that that they think makes them superior to others, yes?
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I remembered reading the following text about Buddhist monks in Japan.
I kept thinking about what he said — that non-vegetarians are somehow not spiritual. Some of my closest friends are vegetarian or vegan. We respect each other’s choices, make adjustments when we eat together, and somehow, the world keeps spinning. All non-vegetarians I know of, also eat vegetarian food. We don’t tend to discriminate food or people in this way.
The more I thought about it, the less it made sense. What about animals that hunt and eat other animals? Are they somehow less divine because of what they eat? From what I understand of history and science, humans were hunters and gatherers long before agriculture became what it is today. We ate what was available to survive. Were people any less spiritual then?And what about Indigenous cultures around the world that eat meat while holding deep spiritual beliefs and profound respect for nature? Surely there is recorded history of gods in various religions eating meat — for gods sake!
I believe and research shows that our food originated from what the land had to offer. Quoting directly from Cambridge university Press:
“Peer-reviewed research consistently demonstrates that local food systems are products of their geographical context. Climate, soils, water resources, topography, and biodiversity influence what can be produced locally, while regional cultural practices further shape distinctive food traditions and identities."
If your ancestors lived by the coast, they ate seafood and if they were inland, they cultivated and ate grains. Just common sense to understand how environment and ecology impacted eating/food habits?
Anyway, months pass and when talking to people for potential matrimony I continue to ask what their dietary preference are. Not because I wont eat vegetarian but if they look down on non-vegetarians like the main character in this story did. I also kept thinking about the future. Someday, I hope to raise children, and I want them to feel free to eat whatever they enjoy, not be limited by some strange sense of moral or cultural superiority tied to food. I want them to experience different cultures through what they eat, because what tells the story of migration, history, geography, climate, human ingenuity, and love better than food?
