I have heard many people say that they are vegetarians but eat eggs or eggitarians. i was also one of them. I remember as a 12 year old in school, i had gone to my Bengali friend's house to spend the day. She was having an omelet for snacks & offered it to me too. At that time i was quite impressionable and also curious about its taste. So i took a mouthful but before i could chew it down something within me forced me to puke it out. I don't know what that was.
Then as a grown up a few years back i again tasted egg in its form with different seasonings and didn't mind the taste. I didn't know the facts then. I thought that the eggs we take are infertile & wouldn't have lead to a chick anyways. I used to have eggs in desserts, biscuits (any unseen form) without being mindful and i must admit that i do that now also, though less frequently. (after all i too am a slave to my tongue) But after reading this book "Vegetarianism - for your body, your mind, your soul and your planet" by Swami Chidanand Saraswati; my thinking has changed.
The book says, an egg is a chicken about to be born. The condition of egg-laying hen is as despicable as that of chickens as mentioned in the previous article. Naturally in situations like this the hens become frustrated, anxious, panicked. So they peck each other. In order to prevent this, their beaks are cut off which frequently prevents hens from being able to eat. They also have their toes and claws cut off so that these do not become stuck in metal wires of their crates. these crates are piled high on top of each other. In this way they can't more even an inch. Plus when they excrete, it just falls down the crates. The cages are never cleaned.
If the egg production decreases, the hens are forced into molting. i.e. they are starved till they lost weight and feathers for 14 days & no water for 3 days. Those who survive receive a temporary boost up in their egg laying capacity.
Again some eggs have to be hatched to continue the process. Half of then turn out to be roosters which are smothered & mixed in chicken feed. More chicks are killed this way every year in the USA than there are people in the entire country.
Please understand
"Every particle of factual evidence supports the contention that the higher mammalian vertebrates experience pain sensations as acute as our own...their nervous systems are almost identical to ours and their reactions to pain are remarkably similar" - Richard Serjeant, the Spectrum of Pain.
6 comments:
Salomi,
Thanks for that interesting post. I have a keen interest in this topic and have always believed eggs to be sterile by-products of the poultry animals.
However, I am not sure of the point your are trying to make (maybe it's just me) :) Is it that eggs are not vegetarian or is it they are, but what is bad is the manner in which the hens are treated to get them?
For completeness I feel you should also mention that there is such a thing as "ethical treatment to animals". There are organizations that prevent the mistreatment you have described above. As a matter of fact it is against the law to do to mistreat poultry animals. Sadly, The west is far more sensitive to this topic than ours - where these thoughts form the basis of our culture.
Anwyay, out here there are back-to-tradition farms where hens are allowed to roam free and fed a natural diet (eg. corn, etc) to improve the quality of the eggs they lay. Not only that, these eggs are now hand-collected.
Obviously this affects the price of the eggs and one needs to pay a premium to buy such eggs. I am happy to say - i do ;-)
After all, vegetarianism is not just a food preference but also about conscientious choice.
As far as the acuteness of feeling pain is concerned - it should make no difference! Irrespective of a beings ability to feel pain, no one has the right to inflict pain on another living soul - especially when it is for ones own gain!
I completely agree with you Mr Mayuresh.
I mean here that eggs are a part of non-veg food because it has life inside. I am sorry if it was not clear.
About ethical treatment of animals, its very subjective. Keeping animals in their natural surroundings and then killing them or breeding them for eggs is also unethical i feel. but it takes aware and responsible citizens like you to consume the products from a place where care has been taken. At the same time, it's very difficult to find out the source of the food products we consume here bacause of a variety of reasons.
Hi Salomi,
I have reading your blog for some time now and really love it! I hope you keep posting.
However, I think I disagree with you regarding eggs. From what I have read, once hens reach maturity, they start laying eggs, irrespective of whether there's a cockerel in among the brood of hens. These eggs are infertile. Meaning they will not hatch and no chicken will come out of it. Fertile eggs are those in which a cockerel has had a part to play.
The eggs that are sold are infertile eggs and I therefore believe they are vegetarian.
I agree with you regarding the treatment of the hens that produce eggs. It is deplorable.
However, here in the US, one can buy vegetarian-fed, free-range eggs. These hens are not locked in cages and live relatively normal lives.
Keep Blogging!
hi abhishek, thanks!!!
about eggs, i'll check and get back. bacause even i was of the opinion first that these are infertile. but how can hens lay eggs without being impregnated?
yes in the US and even in UK (as Mr Mayuresh has mentioned) you can choose from where you get your supply of eggs which is good.
Perhaps this can help?
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=467055
Extract:
"Hens begin laying at 18 – 20 weeks of age and a healthy chicken will
lay about one egg a day. A hen does not need a rooster to lay eggs
and eggs are produced in response to day light patterns. The eggs we
buy in the store are not fertilized (they don’t hatch)."
Om Bramharpanam, Bramhahavir, Bramhagnau Bramanahutam/Bramhaiba Tena Gantyabyam Bramhakarma Samdhina.
Brahman is the giving, Brahman the Food Offering/by Brahman it is Offered into the Brahman fire, Brahman is that which is to be Attained/by complete Absorption (samadhi) in Brahman Action.
The rishis understood that eating plants too is taking away a life. Only plants do not have to live by killing somebody. Non-vegetarians kill to live, so do vegetarians. Such is the law of nature. Scientist JC Bose, in the beginning of the last century, conclusively proved that even plants feel pain as much as animals do when treated with Potassium cyanide.
The monks in the Ramakrishna order know this and they are non-vegetarians. So was Swami Vivekananda. He even ridiculed vegetarian fanatics. One can find such stories of Vivekananda laughing at vegtarianism everywhere. No wonder Tagore, who was a pacifist, did not like Vivekananda much. Not even plants - according to the vaidic rishis, even a spec of dust is a living being, full with chetana of the Bramhan. So who can one eat?
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