Mad Cook
Master Chef
I think this illustrates a point about how food animals are treated during their lives and at the end. I find it odd that (at least in the UK) people will eat meat killed in abattoirs where animals are frequently stressed both in transport and in the killing areas but will castigate anyone who shoots his own dinner. At least in the latter case the animal or bird has had a comfortable free life.I remember there was a spoof website, something like manmeat.com that purported to sell steaks made from human flesh.
It looked like a real site. Perhaps the jokesters tired of their jokes, or perhaps they were pressured to quit teasing about such a sensitive subject.
I also remember petv.org, "People for the Ethical Treatment of Vegetables," which is also now defunct. It was a great spoof of the PETA site.
Personally I have no objection to killing any animals except those who are our common pets (dogs & cats) ... and humans of course ... for meat. As far as plants, I don't think they have any ability to perceive pain or any central nervous system to recognize it, so kill all the plants you like (except endangered species).
I recall a story told to me by my Chinese friend and colleague Qiuyan who was loaned a pet dog when she was a girl growing up in China. (She eventually earned an engineering degree and emigrated to the US and worked with me at a medical electronic company.) One day her neighbor who loaned her the pet dog reclaimed it, hung it by its hind legs and beat it with a baseball bat (to tenderize it) until it died, and then he cooked it and offered Qiuyan some of the meat, which of course she declined.
It was a pretty strong story, I hope you don't mind me sharing it, but it illustrates that other cultures may regard our pets as food animals. And to cap off the story, many people regard cows as sacred in India yet beef is one of our biggest meat sources in Western society.
Is it a pet or is it food? It depends on your cultural and culinary values and customs.
My uncle and a couple of cousins were in the meat trade and they have all, at different times told me that the quality and flavour of the meat is seriously undermined if the animal is subjected to stress during transport and the killing procedure.