How traveling helped me see things differently #11

Today I wanna take a step back and tell you about a key experience that lead to me overthinking some food choices.
I was backpacking with some friends in Indonesia. It was great: beautiful beaches, a lot of sun, fresh fruits, friendly people, small markets, etc.
Those markets however posed as eye-opener for me because they don't just sell fresh fruit but also "fresh" meat. It was then, when I realized that it really is nothing else but rotting flesh. Flies were buzzing all around it and I imagined them laying small eggs in it. The meat was exposed to the burning hot sun which did the rest. The smell was horrific and it was at that moment when I decided to not eat anymore of it during my stay in South-East Asia.
Gladly that wasn't really hard to do because of all the tasty fruits and they always offer their curries with traditional vegan alternatives like Tofu or Tempeh. I tried those for the first time in my entire life and really enjoyed it. Especially Tempeh is really good and I probably wouldn't have eaten so much of it if I hadn't seen the truth behind the meat.

I understand people who only see the packaged product and believe that meat is something delicious and healthy since we get conditioned daily for years through all the advertisement. We don't see what's really going on. All the cruelty and unpleasantries happen behind closed curtains. We only see the finished product, not realizing that an animal had to suffer and die for it.

Noting for myself that I feel disgusted of the meat that I eat if it isn't wrapped in plastic, I began to think about why that might be. Breaking down the procedure of its manufacturing I came to the conclusion that this is an horrific industry which I won't support any longer by buying its products.

Just watch the short video of a small girl that gets it despite or maybe due to her young age.

V
BJ