Such a realization understandly is troubling to people who are a meat-and-dairy rut. But one day it will be the conventional wisdom.

So, let’s back off the critters piece for a second and talk about something you probably do eat: soy. Are you aware that 85% of the soy on the US market is genetically modified? My understanding is that even a lot of the “organic” stuff is GMO, and we know from things like Starlink corn that once it hits the field, there will be cross-contamination. How do you feel about GMO-soy? Do you eat it? Do you trust the labels that don’t say it’s GMO to be true?

Well aware of all of that… and I’m none too pleased. When I buy fresh soybeans, they’re organic. When I buy soy products, 9 times out of 10 it’s organic, non-GMO soy. And though I can’t exactly trust the labels 100%, they’re the best I have to work from at this point.

What sorts of manipulation of the food supply are a good idea is a huge question, and one we should all think about carefully. Ultimately, if nobody buys it, it won’t continue being made.

Agreed.

But I am also struck by this comment, “Unfortunately, there’s no going back to family farming…” because of its fatalism. If even folks like you, who are aware and concerend enough to blog on the topic, don’t see a possibility of real change, what’s the point? If you give up, the corporate food producers win.

You know, you’re right. My statement wasn’t meant to say that there family farming is dead, but rather that it’s highly unlikely that the industry would ever reach the point where factory farming was the minority. But I shouldn’t be so fatalist about it…

I don’t know where you live, but go find a family farmer and buy something from them. Then come back and tell us how wonderful it was. It’ll do more to help convince people that they can be a force for positive change in their daily lives than a hundred posts saying we can’t win. :-)

As a member of a local organic farm’s CSA group, I do just that and have encouraged others to do so as well. I’m not always a downer. :)

btw, got a good vegan sugar or choc-chip cookie recipe? That’s what got me here to start with and then I got side-tracked.

Two very, very good chocolate chip cookie recipes:

* Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (PPK)
* The Real, the Original, the Authentic, the Veganized Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (Compassionate Cooks)

This topic seems to break down into three areas:
— eating animals
— cloning animals
— eating cloned animals

Eating animals seems straight-forward. Some folks do, others don’t. Can’t we all just get along? I won’t say bad things about your diet if you don’t say bad things about mine. (and if we’re gonna talk trash about diets, I am starting with the whole “bee slaves” thing, because really… LOL)

Cloning has a bunch of sub-issues: is it safe for the critters, is it good for the species, is it necessary or desireable and if so, what sorts of restraints should be applied. Those things–the science and politics–don’t seem to be your primary concern as much as the caging and eating them part.

The third point seems self-evident from the first. As you note yourself, if you find eating non-cloned meat unacceptable, then why would you find cloned meat any better?

As a meat-eater, I find myself more concerned about the effects of cloning on the species than on a steak. I am not saying that I want to eat cloned cows, but if I had to pick from a free-range clone and a feedlot “natural” I’d have to call my geneticist friend and talk a while. Seems a lot more negative things are done to the critters after they are born than before…even for clones.

So, let’s back off the critters piece for a second and talk about something you probably do eat: soy. Are you aware that 85% of the soy on the US market is genetically modified? My understanding is that even a lot of the “organic” stuff is GMO, and we know from things like Starlink corn that once it hits the field, there will be cross-contamination. How do you feel about GMO-soy? Do you eat it? Do you trust the labels that don’t say it’s GMO to be true?

It seems we have a lot of concerns on the cusp of food, tecnhology and politics–many of those concerns are shared by people who eat very different diets. What sorts of manipulation of the food supply are a good idea is a huge question, and one we should all think about carefully. Ultimately, if nobody buys it, it won’t continue being made.

But I am also struck by this comment, “Unfortunately, there’s no going back to family farming…” because of its fatalism. If even folks like you, who are aware and concerend enough to blog on the topic, don’t see a possibility of real change, what’s the point? If you give up, the corporate food producers win. I don’t know where you live, but go find a family farmer and buy something from them. Then come back and tell us how wonderful it was. It’ll do more to help convince people that they can be a force for positive change in their daily lives than a hundred posts saying we can’t win. :-)

btw, got a good vegan sugar or choc-chip cookie recipe? That’s what got me here to start with and then I got side-tracked.