Owen, "Ethics and Eating"

8/3/2019 Owen, "Ethics and Eating"

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Ethics and Eating: Some Food Choices Affect More than Personal Health1

By Karen Owen

Jul. 22--A fast-food hamburger isn't just a hamburger to some area residents. It's an ethical dilemma.

A trip to the grocery store isn't just a shopping trip for some people. It's a moral minefield.

These people aren't just concerned about the sin of gluttony or overindulgence, although that can be a concern too,said the Rev. Jonathan Carroll, pastor at First Presbyterian Church.

They are concerned about animal rights, the rain forest, pesticides or unnecessary hormones and antibiotics intheir food.

They worry about pollution from factory farms, American dependence on foreign oil or even the workingconditions of all the people who handled the food between the farm and their dinner table.

"My primary reason for being a vegetarian has as much to do with the ethics of food as it has health," said MollyGibson of Owensboro. "I'm particularly concerned about the effects of factory farming. I am concerned about thetreatment of the animals, in particular."

"Being a vegetarian reduces the negative impact on the environment," said Marie Roberts of Owensboro, who hasabstained from consuming animal flesh for about 20 years now. "That's one thing I have control over -- the food Ieat."

Different motivations

Carol Schlachter of Philpot and her husband were at a July 4 cook-out about 27 years ago when "a bunch of usdecided not to eat meat," mainly "for the animals' safekeeping," she recalled.

Jay King talks with Lee Dew while opening his trailer July 15 morning during the FarmersMarket at Owensboro

Christian Church. "Jay is the man," Dew said. "He has the best meat you can buy in Owensboro. I particularly likehis bison." King packs all his meat into freezers to sell from his trailer. "We run all ourlivestock on pasture," Kingsaid. Photo by John Dunham, M-I

After all this time, she and her husband are the only ones who still avoid meat, Schlachter said.

Some ethical eaters still consume meat, but try to eat only grass-fed beef or free-range chickens.

Christine Willis of Owensboro teaches yoga part-time. Yoga's emphasis on holistic living influenced her to goorganic, she said. So did her father's diagnosis with colon cancer about 10 years ago.

Carroll said his father, who wasn't obese and didn't smoke, died at age 46 after suffering from high blood

pressure, hardening of the arteries and two heart attacks. Carroll was a teenager.

"Thinking about my health and my weight led me to think about ... who else's body was being affected by this,"the pastor said.

1Owen, Karen. "Ethics and Eating: Some food choices affect more than personal health." Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro,

KY) (2006): Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.


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He sees food as a powerful theological symbol. To him it brings up family, community and Communion as wellas "the idea of the peaceable kingdom," where all of God's creation will one day be "lifted up for the good of thewhole."

Sustainable solutions

With such ideals in view, some local people shop at the Farmers Market or order organic foods through the

Owensboro Food Co-op, which buys in bulk from a for-profit company. The co-op sends off about $1,500 inorders each month for its 100 members, said Donna Collier, the assistant coordinator.

Delivery day Tuesday at the Owensboro Church of the Nazarene found bags of almonds, rolled oats, wild rice andspelt -- a grain used by people with wheat allergies -- stacked on tables in the church fellowship hall. Othershoppers had ordered cases of organic lentil soup, vanilla rice drinks or even peanut butter balls.

The co-op also handles quarts of honey from a local beekeeper.

For people who want smaller quantities or a more convenient source, local grocery stores and butchers areoffering a much wider selection of organic foods than in the past, several shoppers said.

Some area farmers also sell organic beef, chicken, bison, lamb, pork or geese directly to the consumer.

The Owensboro Food Group has organized to encourage more local farmers to grow organic food and moreconsumers to patronize them. The group's first meeting is Tuesday.

"It doesn't make sense to eat a tomato, even if it's organic, if it was shipped 20,000 miles to get here," Willis said.

Some farmers here are interested in building greenhouses to extend their growing season, she said. But a moresustainable way of eating "might mean we learn to eat sweet potatoes in the fall and greens in the spring."

Roberts said she tries to buy local produce "but it's just so easy for us to get food from all over the world anymore.

I've gotten spoiled to that."

Eating organic can be more expensive, devotees acknowledge, but they say it's not as different as some assume.Staples like beans, rice and tofu aren't expensive, they say. Even meat eaters don't need meat at every meal.

An organic peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole grain bread at home is cheaper than driving her childrento a fast-food restaurant, Willis said.

And when one considers the over-sized portions served at restaurants and the food's high fat and salt content,eating natural seems like a bargain, some say.

"If you eat healthy, it satisfies the body more," Roberts said. "I don't eat as much, but I feel better."

When busy families do resort to fast food, they choose salads, cheese or veggie pizzas, Mexican food ormicrowaved veggie burgers at home. Carroll has even been known to order grilled cheese sandwiches at a localbarbecue restaurant.

Fasting from convenience foods can also mean a little more time in the kitchen, but these folks say the don't mind.They like to cook.


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Vegetarian eating has "caused us to be very intentional about cooking," Carroll said. "If you see eating as aprayer, you see working in the kitchen as service to one another."

He doesn't try to be a missionary for vegetarianism or sustainable living, Carroll said. "I can do what I can do, ifnothing else as a way to bear witness."

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Owen, "Ethics and Eating"