...Other than being less prepared to do what I need to to survive if I'm stranded in the wilderness?

I'm from America. Our wet markets(we call ours "farmers markets" as if it's any different) have no animals meant for food. Here I experience all animal products prepackaged in corporate markets. Meat pre butchered in styrofoam trays, wrapped with plastic. The killing process is hidden from customers, done many miles away from the market.

There's two instances I've seen animals for eating before they were consumed. In Hawaii at a luau where they showed the pig to everyone before they killed and cooked it. And abroad in a market where someone was slitting chicken's throats.

I am committed to continuing to eat meat. I think it's kind of shitty of me to not be mindful of the process of how animals end up on my plate. I also want to experience wet markets with less disgust of the act of animals being killed. I think it's unfair of me to judge others for killing for food. I mentally isolate the butcher's role from the rest society. Plus, there are many native peoples for who the process of killing animals is a part of their culture.

  • culpritus [any]
    ·
    21 days ago

    Being desensitized to the killing of helpless animals is generally considered a psychological red flag. I think this is why the ritualization of the process is pretty common in many cultures. It creates a time and place where this is acceptable behavior, and outside of those special circumstances it's not viewed as being so acceptable. Have you considered going on a hunt with some experienced folks that hunt for food purposes? It something I had exposure to when I was younger. Did you ever dissect an animal in biology?

    Nowadays I'm much more of a naturalist, but there's a similar skill set of being stealthy and maintaining awareness to movement, etc. I just wonder why you feel compelled to go down this rabbit hole. The animal flesh industry is pretty fucking vile from what I understand of it. I do my best to avoid eating meat, mostly for personal health, but there's tons of environmental and political reasons to do so as well. Death is death, and witnessing the death of a beloved animal is much more philosophically impactful in my opinion than seeing 'livestock' being killed and butchered.