BRATTLEBORO — RE: “Raising chickens as spiritual practice” [Essay, July 3]:
Meg Mott writes: “It takes so much dying to raise one of these fine birds, it only feels natural to eat them with passion and within limits.”
I really, truly do not understand this perspective.
I grew up in a hunting community. We were poor, not foodies.
In Vermont, people turn the killing of animals into a spiritual experience. It seems sentimental and self-indulgent to me to justify eating animals in this way. People value self-reliance and localvorism, but ultimately they just like the taste of meat.
Having the spiritual fortitude to feel at ease with blood on one's hands does not make killing okay, however natural it is.
This comment isn't personally directed at you, Meg. You express a very popular sentiment for this region, and it's one I find as confusing as it is dismaying.