Say a little thanks.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

So at my work we often get fresh seafood, while I understand oysters are still alive when you shuck them I do not feel too bad about it. What really gets me is killing lobsters and crabs. Lobster is not so bad since I am just throwing them into a pot of boiling water. Crabs? Aside from the fact that to cook evenly you should cook the legs and bodies separate (often separated while they are alive...), I always feel guilty. Luckily at my work, we rarely get hard-shelled crabs, and when we do we usually do them whole as well and it is usually not me. What really gets me is the soft-shelled crabs. To get them ready, you cut off their face (while it is still living), then the "tail". You then proceed to remove the lungs and squish out the guts (some people say to keep them in cuz they are tasty, normally I am told to squish them out). Did I mention they twitch after you cut the face off? Yeah...

I feel horrid when I do this since it seems rather cruel. Ironically, I do not really eat shellfish, so I am not even killing something I would eat. Though I usually offer a little thanks to the creatures for what they are sacrificing, since I am literally ending their lives. I try to make sure my knife is sharp and I do it quick. I honestly feel bad when I do it. The feeling lingers the rest of the day.

What about you guys? Do you offer thanks/ are mindful (religiously or not) of sacrifice of the animal in question? Have you ever had to kill an animal before you ate it? Are you thankful? Do you feel remorse?

(Before anyone asks or suggests it, I am by no means a vegetarian or vegan. I love me my meat.)

[noxious.sunshine]

My mom came home with live lobsters one time to cook for dinner. She'd only bought 2 and they were actually small - I think they were probably -barely- the legal weight minimum. Then again, this was back in 2004/2005 so I don't know what the fishing laws for lobsters were back then as far as weight goes. I -do- know that our local Wal Mart was one of the few left that even had a live lobster tank and actually had a flippin' -15- lb lobster in there. My mom was willing to pay whatever the store manager wanted for it, but they weren't going 'cuz it was a Valentine's Day drawing prize.

Anyway, she brought these lobsters home and within 5 minutes, I had the rubber bands off their claws and had them on the floor, playing with them. Totally inhumane, I realize now, considering they weren't in anything close to their natural habitat, but I remember my dad looking at me and he said, "You're not gonna eat these now, are you?"... I was 19 and nearly broke down in tears when they went into the pot.

I do appreciate our animal-related food resources, though. I think it's sad the way much of it is cultivated - cows being massed produced and fed corn & other things that aren't part of their natural diet to fatten them up, calves being kept in crates to keep their muscles soft so that we can have veal (which I don't eat), chickens kept in their own small cages for mass egg production and being de-beaked in order to keep the risks of pecking at themselves or each other to a minimum in spite of it being a natural instinct when they're under a lot of stress.

But sadly, all of those things are what keep costs down when it comes to the mass production of meat & poultry foods.

I would feel better if the whole animal were being put to good use in some way, but I think that that's just not the case in many processing factories.

I'm thankful, but I just try not to think about it in general.

[Miriel]

Cooking live lobsters is a smurfing traumatic experience. ;_;

I'll never do it again!

[noxious.sunshine]

I used to work at Red Lobster.

Pretty ironic considering how I feel about it. I actually learned how to "burp" them and put them in the tank when we got new shipments in and it kind of became my extra side work since I was one of the only servers that worked lunch shift almost everyday and was willing to do it so that the managers could go on with their day.

However, when it was super slow, my co-workers and I would place bets on them. Since they're all male, they'd fight a lot. Smacking each other in the heads with the flats of their rubber-banded claws. It was a pretty fun pastime when lunch was slow. >.>;;;

[Aulayna]

Out of sight. Out of mind.

[Chris]

"Little lobster, I appreciate and respect your existence, but now you are going to be boiled alive."

*Proceeds to eat*

[Jinx]

All I know is that lobster and crab tastes goddamn delicious.

[Night Fury]

I've never done it myself, but my dogs often get fresh pheasant when my uncle has been on a hunt, something I don't like but.. my dog gets food so.

Well one time, I threw a pheasant for my bitch and her pups, and it wasn't dead? Like I thought it was, and when it hit the ground it woke up O_O my bitch grabbed it and killed it though then left it down for her pups. It was really fascinating watching my bitch's eating habits when she had her pups. Normally she was very guardy of her own food, but she was always sharing with her pups. Now when ever she sees a pup she loves it! she goes straight into mommy mode!

[nik0tine]

I eat meat nearly every day, but try as I might, I cannot come up with a single justification for it.

[Madame Adequate]

All I know is that lobster and crab tastes goddamn delicious.

Yep. Cruelty is apparently amazingly tasty.

I eat meat nearly every day, but try as I might, I cannot come up with a single justification for it.

Same boat here. I can't justify doing it but I still do it.

[Slothy]

Do you need one? If it helps, it's healthy. There ya go.

[Jinx]

Do you need one? If it helps, it's healthy. There ya go.

And it's goddamn delicious.

[Slothy]

That's always been enough for me, but I guess some people need more.

[Madame Adequate]

It's hardly required for a health lifestyle and can easily go over into being unhealthy. And being delicious isn't a justification, it's just saying you don't care

[Night Fury]

It's hardly required for a health lifestyle and can easily go over into being unhealthy. And being delicious isn't a justification, it's just saying you don't care

Actually you are wrong.

I have it on good authority that there is a rare vitamin crucial to life found in meat. It is called 'Meatious deliciouseseses'.