By: Alessia
A vegetarian student is hanging out with her friends when one says “let’s go to Burger King”. They sit down at a table and dig in, everyone but her. She stares at the burger and wonders about that animal that has been slaughtered. She’s aware of her choices on what to put in her body, She aspires to live a healthy life and believes that animals should be able to, too. She is disgusted.
Kids are developing unhealthy habits of drifting towards meat options at restaurants or even at school. With the population rising, chickens are being grown unnaturally with the use of hormones for cheap. Of course, when we eat chicken, we eat these hormones too, which is why eating chicken often while growing and developing has more serious consequences on health. How are people getting involved with this issue? How are parents aware of what their kids are eating.
Parents send their children to school each day, most middle schoolers buy their lunch at the canteen managed by Sodexo. How are parents aware of what children eat each day, and more importantly, how do we know what quality sodexo food is at? The highly famous “Chicken 65” on Fridays, at $1.60. How is it possible to have good chicken at only a dollar and 60 cents. Kids aren’t aware of what they eat. The results to a recent survey says that 3/4 of an average eighth grade class never think about whats before them at the lunch table.
Canteen meals have been expected to be of the same quality as fast food. Fast Food Companies claim to have strict policies about the safety of their food, but how can we trust them? McDonalds—and fast food in general—is reputated to not be a balanced meal choice. However, McDonalds themselves believe that their food covers all the bases. A big Mac currently costs $4.80. If a Big Mac was made from free range corn fed chicken, it would cost $13, and not everyone can afford that.
As I mentioned earlier, 13 dollars for a burger isn’t affordable to many people, “Would you rather have to pay 30 times that money for your future healthcare due to the food you eat” said an anonymous student. It’s not just the poor meat at McDonalds that gives them this reputation, but the amount of oil and fried items on the menu. Seed-based oils aren’t usually very healthy, for example, Canola oil. Soy oil is highly processed, harmful to health and used in every McDonalds burger. And this is the standard expectancy of canteen food in the US. There currently aren’t any laws regarding the kinds of food required to be served at schools in the US. Is there a solution?
Vegetarianism. A trend today is to become “Vegan” or “Vegetarian”. There are many theories on how veganism and vegetarianism can solve environmental issue. The number of vegans has doubled in the US since 2009. Slowly, more and more people are taking on this lifestyle whether its for their health, religion or simply animal rights. The average person in the UK consumes over 85kg of meat per year and your average american consumes around 7,000 animals in a lifestyle. 7,000 animals. The real question here is, is there a solution? Is vegetarianism the solution? Is it the future? Red and processed meat consumption are associated with colon cancer. Evidence compiled that diets with high intakes of fruits and vegetables may reduce cancer risk. If more people took part in developping a vegetarian lifestyle, animals wouldn’t be killed at such a fast rate. According to the European Food information Council, 1 or 2 portions of meat suffice to get the weekly protein requirements.
The process and decision of becoming vegetarian or potentially vegan doesn’t happen immediately. Some people believe that they aren’t ready to take on the extremes on being vegan.
