[DanaC]

I seem to go through phases of vegetarianism. The idea of eating meat just isnt appealing for months on end and then suddenly I'll get a mad craving for a BK burger or one of my ex's super chillis....usually after drinking beer.

In a way I think the best thing to do if one wants to help animals is in fact to eat meat but to insist on only eating meat which comes from humanely farmed animals. If people who want to help animals stop eating meat altogether thne they lose their economic muscle. If they arent going to eat meat at all then they are no longer part of the market forces which drive farming methods. If one only eats meat which comes from assured farming methods then one is throwing one's consumer weight behind those methods. The more of us who insist on those methods for the meat we eat thne the more sense it makes economically speaking, for food producers to maintain high standards rather than using the unspeakable methods many currently employ ( such as battery farming)

Unfortunately what seems to drive the industry towards cheaper and less humane methods of farming seems to be the ready made meals we eat rather than the cuts of meat we buy. When food manufacturers make ready meals they generally choose cheaper meat which often comes from battery farmed sources.