Tastes like chicken!

So today our small family unit made the epic journey across town to celebrate Rowan's* birthday. Rowan and Pippa have found a new and interesting way to save money during Canberra's housing crisis - they live, for free, in other people's houses instead of their own. They are currently house-sitting for what seems to be (from what I can glean from house and son) a very nice, if slightly OCD, couple.

Their house has a beautiful backyard complete with deck, barbecue, pool table, water features...and chooks. Charlotte was immediately in her element. Apart from really interesting things to look at and touch she was at an adult party where no one treated her like a four-year-old. Unfortunately for us her little day trip appears to have had unexpected consequences. Come dinner the choices were steak or chicken skewers. Madam chose the chicken, which came on a stick, her most beloved of all meats in her favourite form.

After about three mouthfuls, she looked at Charles.

"Daddy? Is this a real chicken?"

"Yes, it is."

"Does it come from the inside of the chicken?"

"Yes - it comes from the chicken's muscles."

She seemed to think about this for a moment.

"But why?"

"Well because it's tasty."

She seemed to look at it for a bit.

"But Daddy how does it come from the chicken?"

"Well we cut the muscles off after the chicken is dead."

Now the chicken is back on the plate and madam is staring at it suspiciously. She laughs a little half-heartedly.

"Boy those chickens will be all wibbly-wobbly when they wake up!" she giggles.

At this point Charles shoots me a glance and then puts his knife down to talk to her properly.

"Sweetie I don't think they wake up. Once something is dead, it stays dead."

Charlotte stares at her chicken skewers for a bit longer this time.

"Well I don't think I'm going to eat this chicken," she announces and off she goes.

I will be the first to admit that it's probably not how many people would have handled this conversation with their child. Both of us could see where her mind would take her when she started the conversation but we decided a long time ago that questions like "why do we eat meat" need to be answered honestly. Lying to children about meat has to be the biggest hypocrisy parents commit. As a society we have decided that it is all right to cultivate and kill animals for food. People may not like to link this harsh reality with the neat little packages of red they buy in the supermarket to throw in their stir-fry but there it is. When you buy your sausages you are subscribing to the concept that it is worth killing an animal in order to be able to eat meat.

Once I had a conversation with another mother about the meat issue. She had told her children that meat came from animals. But, when her children asked how the animal died, she caved and told them it was butchered after it had died of old age. Because that's how the meat industry works. We let them grow up, have families and wait for them to die of old age before we turn them into lamb cutlets. She almost had them living in little houses with central heating in Winter.

People lie about meat eating to their children for two reasons. Either they think meat eating is wrong and are ashamed to admit what they're doing or they don't want to tell their child the truth in case the child says, "my God that's horrible" and then they have to think of something more creative than bangers and mash to feed the little hippies. I realise that as a result of tonight's conversation I am now potentially raising a vegetarian. If Charlotte decides that killing an animal is too high a price to pay for her cheeseburger then I will support her by cooking vegetarian meals and educating her on what she needs to eat to cover the deficiency in her diet left by an absence of meat.

The origin of the meat on our tables is an uncomfortable truth that anyone with children will one day face. It's worth thinking about how you would address this issue with your child and, if you have a hesitation when it comes to admitting the truth, maybe you need to seriously re-evaluate your lifestyle and honestly judge your behaviours. Do you really believe that it's okay to kill an animal for the sake of a traditional family meal?

* Rowan is Pippa's hubby and doesn't need a pseudonym because he doesn't frighten people.