I have long struggled with this question ever since diseases obtained from eating animal flesh held the limelight. Scared of contracting some virus from my meatballs that will wipe my brain clean like a Shamwow, I seriously considered eating nothing but vegetables.

But growing up under the loving arms of a red-haired clown selling burgers, the thought of having only the “special sauce-lettuce-pickles-onions-and-sesame seed bun” part of the rhyme was a little too much too ask. I needed my “all-beef-patty” and “cheese” part too. But it was a time of great health concern and I had to make a decision.

So, I gave in. For a period of time, I was a vegetarian.

I loved being a vegetarian. I loved being in tune with the natural world and detached from the process of slaughtering hapless creatures for dinner. I felt free.

Mostly, I ate greens, root crops, and fruits. I ate out a lot. I loved the vegetarian restaurant on Mott Street so much that I kept the place afloat amid tough economic times. All the restaurant crew there knew me more than the actual owner. To them, I was the Buddha who adored their Buddha’s Delight.

Everything was great until I noticed a general feeling of weakness. I started to have random nosebleeds and sporadic dizziness. I became sick.

I consulted a doctor and I was informed that I had severe iron and protein deficiencies. I suspected that the doctor was a cattle rancher, fisherman, a steakhouse owner or the CEO the company that sells Lipitor because he kept on telling me to eat more steak and seafood so I could get the nutrients that I lacked.

I told him I was vegetarian. He apologized and told me to get some supplements and try eating more tofu and fake meat instead.

Fake meat. Why would I eat fake meat? “A good source of protein,” he said. “It’s like meat but not really meat.”

So I did.

I began searching for these food items to augment my veggie diet. Soon enough, I found a lot in the grocery store: Mock Chicken, Fake Ground Beef, I Can’t Believe It’s Turkey, Are You Kiddin’ This Is Not Pork? , Tempeh, and If This Is Not Bacon Then What The Hell Is It?

I bought them all. I ate them all!

But as my vegetarian life went on, I began to notice that I have been eating a lot of things that suited my vegetarian needs yet looked nothing like real food at all. These meat impostors were like astronaut food and tasted like mushy underwear–not that I eat this!

I became scared. I started to ask myself: if meat is really bad, then why am I eating things that pretend to be meat? And why did the doctor originally wanted me to eat more steak?

Then it dawned upon me. The second coming of Buddha was finally at hand! This realization led me to wild search for information. I read more than I ate and eventually led me to the movie Food Inc, the Slow Food movement and to eating meat again–meat from pasture raised animals.

Now I know that the whole issue about eating meat is not really about the nutrients or the fat but more about the ethics. Yes, the ethics of killing animals for food. It turns out the whole thing is more political and moral than nutritional. It’s more about animal rights than the right ventricle.

So what about the ethics of eating animals?

I understand and respect the vegetarian argument of animal rights and the ‘Perry the Pig has the brain of a six-year old child’ belief. I held this belief when I was still a vegetarian. But I also acknowledge the argument that animals greatly benefit from the special symbiotic relationship they have with humans who take care of them and then later turn them into roasts.

This seems reasonable because for one reason: According to Michael Pollan, by allowing themselves to be domesticated by humans for food, their species are guaranteed to survive. In fact, meat-eating humans are the greatest things that ever happened to these animals that have tasty flesh. If they continue to offer their juicy tenderloins or tasty wings, their species will live for a long long time.

This may seem a bit over the top, but consider that fact that if we let all the pigs go into the wild and cease to domesticate them, they will be extinct in a very short time. This is true because the wilderness will literally destroy them.

We should not make the mistake of thinking that the wilderness is like the Garden of Eden where all people are naked and all creatures co-exist just as how Bono sees it. Nope. Creatures devour one another. It’s wicked and cruel out there!  It’s eat or be eaten. And to leave Perry the Pig out there among hungry lions and crocs that could not differentiate between piglets and pigs is the greater disservice to Perry’s species. Please bear in mind though, that when I say domesticated, I mean domesticated in a natural pasture setting and not the CAFOs or feedlots that the industry uses.

But what about animal suffering? There is evidence that animals react to pain so why participate in something that causes suffering?

Reaction to pain does not necessarily mean suffering. It could only be a reflex action. Suffering, to be able to be felt, requires higher mental and emotional faculties. First the creature needs to have the ability to comprehend and compare past experiences and likewise be able to recognize an ideal sense of the future. Without these things, suffering would not be experienced. Does Perry the Pig know that his life in the wilderness was much better than his life in the pig farm? Does he have a clear view of his future as a pig enjoying the twilight of his years watching the sunset while his family of pigs and piglets gather around giving him a well-deserved send-off? Does he feel anguish in knowing that thousands of pigs like him are being slaughtered and spit-roasted?

Perry the Pig may feel pain only in a biological sense, but he won’t necessarily connect it with a concept as deep as suffering in the same way as humans do. But then again, we may never know that. We may never really understand what’s going on inside Perry’s brain, until he talks.

Well, this is where I am as of now in this matter. And if my vegetarian friends here could share some of their most-valued opinions, it would be great. Education never ends and a healthy discussion about this is always welcome.