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an interview with John Robbins
But these are simply distractions that draw attention away from the issues around the over-consumption of meat that we must address at all costs: the needless suffering of gentle creatures, the fatally dangerous lack of hygiene in the slaughterhouse, the toxic byproducts of the meat and dairy industry. All of these crimes against the earth continue unabated and time, it seems, is running out. Luckily for the planet, John Robbins has a new book out. The earth and all her creatures again have a voice. Many of you know Robbins as the author of Diet for a New America. Published in 1987, it was the most successful exposé ever of the devastation brought about by current methods of meat and dairy production. Robbins’ stunning statistics on groundwater contamination alone (from unsound practices of beef production) have become standard for anyone trying to explain the true cost of toxic animal "factory farms." Probably the most visible of Robbins’ successes is his campaign to bring recognition to the plight of veal calves. In the years following the release of Diet for a New America, veal production dropped almost by half in America. The reverberations of his work continue to be felt, and Food Revolution, Robbins’ latest offering, is his boldest and most insightful work yet. I spoke with him in August 2001, asking him first about his own spiritual practices. I knew from seeing him in Seattle years before that he had to have some sort of meditation practice, so calm and intentional was his delivery. Again on the phone I heard the palpable serenity, together with clear, purposeful words. I learned that Robbins has maintained a meditation practice for 35 years. Without some sort of reflective tradition, he said, "it’s just so easy to become reactive and caught up in anger and other emotions that aren’t very useful."
Lori: How do you sit with all the suffering in the world? John: If you want to make a difference in the world — extend yourself into the world’s pain as a healing influence — you have to extend yourself inwardly at least the same distance. I’m trying to make a difference in the world in a substantial way, and my sense is that only when I remain grounded in my essential nature can I do that. There are things you can do to align yourself to your higher mind, so that you become a vehicle of peace and creativity and passion, methods of approaching the body/mind that make it more congruent to the divine, more open to inspiration and to freedom. Lori: Why is food, such a common experience, so fraught with meaning for some of us? John: Food is the entry point to the project of taking responsibility for yourself in the world. It’s a great place to begin because it’s very personal, it’s very intimate, and everybody does it. And we all depend on the food supply together. You can’t separate yourself from the world, and food is one of the places where that becomes most apparent. So it’s a very beautiful thing; even if you start from the selfish place of just being concerned with your own health and nothing else, you soon learn that the same life choices that make a healthy body are also the best choices for a healthy world. Turns out it’s the same diet that is best for us that also takes the least toll on the biosphere, conserves the resources that make food production possible, and causes the least amount of pollution, soil erosion, and deforestation. This plant-based diet allows the most land, energy, water, and labor to be available to other people, and causes the least suffering to animals. I mean, this is phenomenal. It’s saying that what serves you serves others, too. You don’t have to choose between what’s good for you and what’s good for others. When you do what is really, essentially, truthfully good for you, you’re also doing what is good for the planet and other people, and the future. Lori: But that’s not what most people think. John: Our culture has taught us this trivialized and very diminished view of our own interests, that it means acquiring more money and status and prestige. But in fact, what is in our interest is to give our gifts, our talents, to the healing of our world and each other. Lori: The culture is definitely sending out a different message. John: Commercials feed on our fears and needs, and most people are in a cultural trance. But if we look at it as a tape recording — same thing over and over, not real — we can begin to turn off the messages and deconstruct the ads. Television. It’s just huge. I recommend that parents of small children not even have one. Lori: How do you answer people like Sally Fallon [author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, a bestseller that squares off against vegetarianism]? John: We do agree on one thing: that if you must eat meat, it should be the highest quality, organically fed, humanely raised. But that isn’t what most people are eating. We’ve seen a livestock shift away from family farming — farms compatible with the cow’s biological needs. Now we have almost exclusively factory farms, where animals are kept indoors in cages, virtually immobilized. They’re fed absolutely unnatural diets. Their natural urges are treated with contempt, and all their instincts are frustrated. It’s an obscene situation. A concentration camp situation, really. If you’re going to eat animal products, you really should make every effort to get animals that are humanely raised, allowed to live outdoors, and as humanely slaughtered as you can. But I disagree that one needs to eat animal foods, and I have data to support my position. Lori: Yes, your latest book is so thorough and well researched. John: Everything I say is documented, and I provide over a thousand citations from scientific and medical journals and peer-reviewed journals. The data shows that people who eat less animal protein are healthier. I don’t know how you can ignore that. Lori: Don’t you think people just want an excuse to keep eating meat? John: People love to have justifications for their indulgences. It gets them off the hook. But I think there’s always a higher calling within us than that. Lori: I do try to receive the animal with thanks and reverence... John: It’s an interesting thing, this idea of blessing the animals who grace our table, as if that exonerates us from the consequences of our actions. I want my life to be my prayer, a statement of my heart’s purpose. I don’t want to think that just saying nice words before I eat is sufficient. It isn’t. I have to make my entire life into an expression of what I cherish, what I love. So, to me, someone eating the flesh of an animal whose life was a nightmare of suffering and who then died of terror, and then blessing the animal as if that were adequate recompense to what was done to that creature, is absurd. And it’s really the opposite of what prayer truly is. I think prayer is a way of aligning our lives with their higher, divine purposes. When your life is a prayer of gratitude, then you can affirm, honor, uphold, and call forth the best in other people. And that’s what is asked of us: to respond to whatever life brings with courage, commitment, and love. For a time, I felt unworthy to bring Robbins’ message to you, dear reader, feeling an imperfect vessel for such words. I finally came to understand that I needed to show myself a little more compassion — and to forgive myself for the fact that, in my life, the occasional chicken must die. And that even if it is tragically misguided to bless her after her life of suffering, I will do so anyway, so that at least my children and I stop for a moment in our continual cycle of consumption to reflect on the great sacrifices made for us by gentle creatures of the earth. Sometimes that’s all I can do. Dear Mr. Robbins, I honor and bless and thank you for your great contribution to the relief of suffering in the world. I’m not there yet, but don’t give up on me. I am trying. For more information on John Robbins and The Food Revolution, go to <http://www.foodrevolution.org/> or <http://www.earthsave.org/>. |
It often seems that,
with all the violence and misery in the world today, our food
choices do not matter very much; that, in fact, we are entitled
to them without examination precisely because so much else in
our world is uncertain. Who really cares whether we eat a cow
or a Boca burger, anyway, when we have so many other things to
worry about? Especially now, when so many new books and health
trends advocate meat eating (Eat Right for Your Type,
for instance), it’s a relief not to have to worry about
eating cows or chickens again.