Document type : article published in L'ADN
Author : Païdeia Conseil group
Preview: Whether we are dealing with ethical questions concerning slaughter standards, or the disappearance of farmed species to prevent animal suffering, the current meat/no meat debates are founded on the absence of interactions between consumers and the animals they eat. And, through this broken connection with animals, we find our entire cultural relationship with living beings is affected, with a widespread indifference towards the fate of farmed animals on the one hand, and legitimate but extremist condemnation on the other. But what if, by reestablishing a link with the animals we eat, and without ignoring their deaths, we could restore meaning to their lives? Here, we need to take a historical and anthropological detour so we can better understand what stakes are in eating meat.
Animals and humans: a cultural history
Beyond the physiological side of things, whether or not we consume animals is a cultural matter that is inherent to human society. It defines our social structures and how we represent the world, while at the same time being a product of them. [...] In France, until the beginning of the 20th century, the ritual of "killing the pig", from its slaughter through to its consumption, acted as a catalyst for social connectivity: the cuts were shared out following the hierarchies of age, gender and social status. Above all, the act of killing, passed down from father to son, had an honorific function, creating a central red thread from which bloodlines would branch into hierarchies and be transformed. [...]
Animal sacrifice or impossible tragedy
Although the consumption of food or its prohibition sit at the heart of polytheistic, monotheistic and animist cultural systems, their various forms expose the fact that the level of animal consciousness acknowledged by humans relates to the latter's familiarity with the animal that is consumed and to the management of its killing. [...]
Animals in the courts: the medieval view of animals, pigs on trial in the Middle Ages
The levels of consciousness we ascribe to animals also permeate our legal systems. The historian Michel Pastoureau reports that, between the 12th and 17th centuries, pigs, cows, mares and even insects or fish were prosecuted according to the same legal procedures and under similar conditions as a human subject in law [...] The medieval law humanised animals [...] It was in this capacity that animals could be convicted; being seen as moral beings, endowed with reason, they were considered fully responsible for their actions.
From "animal-machines" to industrial slaughterhouses: the breaking of the human-animal bond
Such humanising representations of animals declined in the 17th century in the wake of the writings of the philosopher Descartes. According to Descartes, animals are not governed by consciousness but are, on the contrary, made other by instincts from which they cannot free themselves. An animal is merely a complex machine, an "animal-machine". This view spread throughout Europe, to the extent that animals were henceforth dispossessed of their consciousness, becoming simple objects that could be manipulated by humans.
In the 19th century, concepts of sanitation and cleanliness redefined all social practices, and preventive public health policies highlighted the epidemiological and life-threatening nature of animal slaughtering and food preservation methods. Abattoirs were built, reinforcing the utilitarian vision of the animal by radically distancing individuals from the animals they consumed. The emotional charge formerly directed towards farmed animals turned towards pets and wild animals. Feelings of guilt emerged towards those such as abattoir employees and huntsmen [...]
The ecological crisis, health scandals: how can we get through them?
At present, the abattoir model seems to have run out of steam. In addition to the scandals involving health and animal abuse, a growing awareness in public opinion is underpinned by a general shared eco-anxiety that is redefining our relationship with living beings. This change manifests itself through various markers: the recent evolution in the legal status of animals, which has taken them from the category of "movable property" to "living beings endowed with feelings"; the demand for transparency over an animal's state of welfare, concerning the conditions of outdoor farming for example. In other words, consumers are looking for connections, however virtual they may be.
How do we find a way out of these dilemmas? There needs to be a major cultural shift: first, by moving away from the meat/no meat divide and second, by breathing new life into the human-animal bond.
From love to the dinner table: a social challenge?
The reintroduction of the consumer into the life of the animal he or she is about to consume therefore seems a critical step in creating a framework for responsible food decision-making.
First, there is the possibility of improving the communication surrounding meat labelling in the area of the improvements that could be made through the the "animal welfare" margins of red labels.
Additionally, through their focus on proximity and traceability, short distribution chains increasingly offer the possibility for an animal to be shared between several families, offering a way to recreate a social network around the death and consumption of an animal. But it is conceivable that we could take this further, encouraging the desire for proximity with living animals by creating animal sponsorship systems that would allow consumers to interact, or even create bonds of affection with animals they will later eat. The duty of kindness with regard to the killing of the animal would then undoubtedly be suffused by the attachment already formed, and would be all the more engaging and empowering for the consumer. As difficult as it may seem, given the shifting nature of our views on these questions, such a commitment to the animal would, in any case, have the virtue of making the consumer fully responsible for his or her consumption, by renewing our age-old bonds with animals.
