Giving the barbecue encouragement

I need to lay my cards flat on the table. I have friends who think that eating meat is barbaric. They shrink in horror as I position a chop on the barbecue, alongside their slab of portabello mushroom. They quickly make certain that no part of my chop touches their food. They move off to nibble on carrots and crushed walnut shells while their fungus cooks, eyeing my grilling pork steak askance.

We raised a steer we called T-Bone one time, a pretty animal that frolicked in our fields. We eventually did him in. When we were packing him away in labeled plastic bags, a vegetarian friend came to visit. It was traditional to grill up a steak when the work was done, and I offered our friend a piece. No, no, she said, aghast.

Then, when we were eating the steak, covered in onions, our friend burst out that she had to have a piece. "I crave meat," she said. It was just like an alcoholic falling off the wagon.

We don't raise animals to butcher any longer. We don't eat the amounts of meat that we used to. We eat smaller portions of meat and larger portions of vegetables. We eat very little beef, using more pork and chicken. We eat a lot of fish. We are aware of the fact that too much meat is not healthy. When we have meat, we like it to be of high quality and locally grown.

That's why I mentioned Hatt's. Hatt's, which also sells vegetables, advertises that its meats are from local farmers and are produced with no growth products, additives, chemicals or preservatives. That's a nice contrast to what you see in some supermarkets, where it is hard to tell where the meat has traveled from, let alone what it has been fed.

Hatt's was started by Richard Hatt 18 years ago, but lately it has been owned and run by a Bridgewater man, Micah Beaumont. A number of members of the Hatt family are still involved in the business, however. They even have one of those ubiquitous mission statements, namely, to provide Queens County and surrounding areas with quality service, quality meats, convenience and the highest level of professionalism.

I understand business has been good. I tried to talk to Micah Beamont, but he was away for the week. I did find out, though, that while it is not advertised, Hatt's does sell lamb. It's just that you have to order it ahead. I have never understood why a place like Nova Scotia doesn't raise more lamb, and why more Nova Scotians don't eat more of it. If you want something nice to put on the grill, or in a curry, lamb will be your choice.

Vegetarians will have given up reading this by now, but I must say that I respect their positions. It is possible to be in the flush of good health eating only vegetables. I sometimes envy the way those who don't eat meat occupy the high moral ground, let alone the fact that they will probably outlive us.

That's the only argument for vegetarianism that really holds water, in-as-much as the other main point, a refusal to kill something, is full of logical and ethical problems. I read a letter to the New Yorker not long ago, which hit the nail on the head when the writer said that when land is tilled to produce grains and vegetables, millions of animals from mice and moles to ground nesting birds are killed.

He went on to say that even more animals are killed during the growing season where pesticides are used, and still more at harvest and processing. So it's not as if eating vegetables alone will prevent animals from being killed. And it’s pretty specious to argue that one is only concerned about not killing large animals, or those with personality and character.

We have an uneasy relationship with animals, at best. In general, I believe that we should treat all living things with respect and work to prevent suffering and cruelty. At the same time, eating keeps us alive. Animals raised for food should be raised in the most humane way possible. Beef shouldn't be raised in feedlots and chickens in tiny cages.

You might think it odd that I am focusing on the grill at this time of year. Outside, the temperature has dropped to minus 10. The barbecue sits forlorn on the verandah, cold and dark.

I went by it the other day, however, and gave it a pat.

- Tom Sheppard can be reached at twsheppard@gmail.com