Peter Singer. Eating Ethically. Peter Singer. Eating Ethically. Free Inquiry. June-July, 2005.

Stealing, lying, hurting people-these acts are obviously relevant to our moral character. So too, most people would say, is our involvement in community activities, our generosity to others in need, and-especially-our sex lives. But how about what we eat? Though eating is even more essential than sex, and everyone does it, usually more than once a day, most people don't see it as raising ethical issues. Try to think o a politician whose prospects have been damaged by revelations about what he or she eats. !t wasn't always so. "ichel #oucault, the #rench historian o ideas, has pointed out that in ancient $reece and %ome the ethics o what we eat was considered an important topic, at least as signi icant as sexual ethics.& !n traditional 'ewish, !slamic, (indu, and Buddhist ethics, too, discussions o what should and should not be eaten occupy a prominent place. !n the (ebrew scriptures, or example, some animals, though edible, are )abominable,) and 'ewish law prohibits their consumption. *#or a witty take on this, see $od(atesShrimp.com, which aptly mocks undamentalists who use the Bible as a weapon against gays.+ !n the ,hristian era, however, interest in the ethics o what we eat aded away. 'esus deliberately re-ected the 'ewish dietary laws, saying, according to "atthew's account, ).hat goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out o his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.')/ 0s (ub 1wart, who has researched the history o ood ethics, comments, ).hat is so striking in the ood ethic proclaimed by 'esus, is the basic atmosphere o carelessness it conveys. 0ll o a sudden, ood intake seems to have become completely insigni icant, rom a moral point o view.)2 3ven the later %oman ,atholic tradition o avoiding meat on #ridays and during 4ent was not intended to suggest that there was anything wrong, in general, with eating meat. True, gluttony is one o the seven cardinal sins. That means that there are ethical concerns about the 5uantity that one eats but not about what is eaten. 6erhaps the deliberate decision o 'esus and his ollowers to rebel against the ethics o the 6harisees by repudiating the 'ewish dietary laws has led, as such decisions o ten do, to an opposite extreme, one that goes too ar in its disregard o the moral signi icance o what we eat. 7obody seriously disputes that eating human lesh-at least i you have killed human beings in order to eat them-is wrong. So at least one kind o ood is ethically prohibited. !n the .est, we also disapprove o eating dogs and cats, but that restriction is a minor one and so widely accepted that it scarcely strikes us as an ethical constraint. .ith the exception o a ew ethical vegetarians, and those who observe religious prohibitions on what they put in their mouths, eating has, until recently, been largely an )ethics- ree 8one.) 9ver the last thirty years, however, there have been signs o signi icant change. "any people show some concern or the treatment o animals in their ood choices-avoiding veal because they don't like what they have heard about the treatment o veal calves, or avoiding all actory- arm animal products, or being vegetarian or vegan. 9thers seek out organically produced ood, because they don't want all those pesticides and synthetic ertili8ers getting into their bodies or-and here is the broader ethical concernour land and water. Sales o organic ood in 0merica are now growing at about /: percent per

annum, as compared to only a 2 percent rise in ood sales in general. That makes organic ood the astest-growing sector o the ood market. Then there are trade issues; air-trade co ee, bought rom small growers at a price that assures them a living wage, is increasing its market share. There is a )buy local) movement that points to the ossiluel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions re5uired to bring lettuce thousands o miles to your plate. Surveys in several countries have ound that more than hal o the population claims to have declined to buy something because o conditions under which it was made. "any 0mericans are disenchanted with voting because money seems to matter more than votes, and politicians repeatedly ail to live up their promises. By bringing ethics into their shopping, they have a political impact that is otherwise denied to them. 0 consumer who switches rom buying conventionally produced ruit to buying organic ruit is giving an incentive to organic producers to maintain or increase their productionand, at the same time, they are diminishing the resources available to the conventional producer. The message does get through to the producers. !n a survey o the biggest <.S. armers, agribusiness executives, academicians, and environmental leaders taken in the summer o /::2, animal wel are was identi ied as the seventh )megatrend) out o twelve acing 0merican agriculture-entirely because o consumer concern.= .hen we eat-or more speci ically, when we pay or what we eat, whether at a armer's market, a supermarket, or a restaurant, we are taking part in a vast global industry. 0mericans spend more than a trillion dollars on ood every year. That's more than double what they spend on motor vehicles and also more than double what the government spends on de ense. #ood production a ects every person on this planet and untold billions o animals as well. !t is important, or the sake o the environment, animals, and uture generations, that we see our ood choices as raising serious ethical issues and learn the implications o what we eat. Notes &. "ichel #oucault, (istoire de la Sexualit> /; 4'usage des 6laisirs *6aris; $allimard, &?@=a+ AThe (istory o Sexuality, Bolume /; The <se o 6leasure, reissue edition *7ew Cork; Bintage Books, &??:D, ! owe this re erence to (ub 1wart, )0 Short (istory o #ood 3thics,) 'ournal o 0gricultural and 3nvironmental 3thics &/; &&2-&/E,/:::. /. "atthew, &F;&&-&G, 7ew !nternational Bersion. 2. (ub 1wart, )0 Short (istory o #ood 3thics,) 'ournal o 0gricultural and 3nvironmental 3thics &/ */:::+; &&G. =. 'erry 6erkins, )Hinder, $entler #ood,) The. Ies "oines %egister, "arch G, /::=. 0vailable at http;JJdesmoinesregistcr.comJ businessJstoriesJc=G@?:&2J/2G2&GFF.html.