If, like me, you have millennial granddaughters, you will have encountered vegetarianism. What several years ago was regarded as an eccentricity has become a commonplace. And, more than widespread: it appears to carry moral overtones. It is no longer a simple preference; it approaches an obligation. Fortunately my obvious senility excuses me.
Of course I understand the sentiment that cares about the cruelty of killing animals. But I wonder how solidly this is based. Several decades ago I happened, for good reason, to inspect the work in a slaughterhouse. I saw no cruelty there: the animals were instantaneously and completely stunned by the use of a captive bolt pistol. There are variations on this according to species, but the law protecting animals appears comprehensive – though I am less happy about the religious (Jewish and Muslim) exceptions. But my granddaughters remain unimpressed by the thought that, if we eschewed meat, the animals would not have been allowed to be born in the first place.
