Firstly, I would like to make it clear that I have nothing personal against vegetairians. I mean, the killing of an innocent animal being wrong, or a dislike to the taste and texture of meat. Thats all fine by me.
According to "The One Show" tonight, the average human eats 11,000 animals a year. The number did shock me. Images of Ozzy Osborne wannabes raging through the streets, tearing the heads off of innocent chickens with their teeth and spitting blood and feathers into the air fill my mind.
But is eating so much meat really so bad? For starters, humans have eaten meat for centuries. The multitude of goodness within a carnivorous diet is very apparent. Protiens, fats, iron: yum. So why is eating meat, for some, such a crime?
Cows, Chickens, Sheep and Pigs dont seem to be roaming round wild in an abundance. Infact, if it weren't for the stick breeding of these farmyard animals, they would not even exist. Every 11,000 animals eaten a year, is 11,000 animals that would not have ever lived if it wasnt for meat-eating humans.
More to the point, if eating meat is so very bad, then why does the vegetarian market feel the need to create products that bear such a resemblance to the very thing they despise? Vegetarian bacon, meat free burgers; what is the point to their existance? If you are so very against meat, why would you want your food to look exactly like it?
Me? I think I'll stick to the real bacon sarnies.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Small Island by Andrea Levy: Book Review
For a story that is heartbreaking, tender, and hopeful all in one whirl of well written narrative, then go out now and find “Small Island” by Andrea Levy.
It follows the quest of the ever-hopeful Gilbert Joseph, and his wife Hortense, as they break through the barriers of racial hatred, unrequited love, and a World at War.
Sent to fight for the Mother Country from Jamaica, Gilbert ends up in the RAF, and his touching honesty and struggle to fight prejudice leads him through the war and into London, where he takes up lodging with his lonely friend Queenie Bligh. Her husband is missing in action, and she takes Gilbert as a lodger to help get by.
Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Hortense follows Gilbert’s promise and joins him in England. But her visions of a glamorous London are crushed by a shabby, war-torn reality. Tensions run high, as Hortense and Gilbert struggle to cope with the racial abuse, a run-down home, and a series of ruined dreams.
Whilst the daily grind continues, we reminisce with Bernard Bligh, Queenie’s husband, his time in the war in India. The devastating story leads to the present day, as Bernard finds himself on Queenie’s doorstep, and all hell breaks loose.
A gorgeous gem of a story and tenderly written, the warmth of the Jamaican spirit and the growing struggles of human beings makes this book a compelling read.
It follows the quest of the ever-hopeful Gilbert Joseph, and his wife Hortense, as they break through the barriers of racial hatred, unrequited love, and a World at War.
Sent to fight for the Mother Country from Jamaica, Gilbert ends up in the RAF, and his touching honesty and struggle to fight prejudice leads him through the war and into London, where he takes up lodging with his lonely friend Queenie Bligh. Her husband is missing in action, and she takes Gilbert as a lodger to help get by.
Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Hortense follows Gilbert’s promise and joins him in England. But her visions of a glamorous London are crushed by a shabby, war-torn reality. Tensions run high, as Hortense and Gilbert struggle to cope with the racial abuse, a run-down home, and a series of ruined dreams.
Whilst the daily grind continues, we reminisce with Bernard Bligh, Queenie’s husband, his time in the war in India. The devastating story leads to the present day, as Bernard finds himself on Queenie’s doorstep, and all hell breaks loose.
A gorgeous gem of a story and tenderly written, the warmth of the Jamaican spirit and the growing struggles of human beings makes this book a compelling read.
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