What Does it Mean to Eat Ethically?

I’m a pretty flexible person who’s open to trying new things. I eat meat but I consider my diet to be balanced because I also eat fish, rice, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other starches. After reading an excerpt from an essay by Gary Steiner titled “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable”, I’m quite offended by his writing in this piece. I respect vegetarians and vegans lifestyles because I’m a very welcoming person and believe people should have the power to make their own choices about what they put in their bodies without judgement. I’m annoyed with the perspective of Mr. Steiner and any other strict vegans who think they are morally superior to people who eat meat or use animal products. This is the world we live in, to be quite honest we would have to regress as a society to prevent the use of animals in any of commercialized products. Animals can be credited with having specific qualities that are only found in nature that cure diseases and further medicine. There are awful things that humans do to animals and I understand that and I agree with Steiner in this regard as far as pertaining to collecting and processing animals into food for human consumption. Yes, I think is horrendous what domesticated animals have to endure before they become food for human consumption, and there should be policies put in place to ameliorate such terrible conditions. But I disagree with Steiner’s perspective on boycotting any materials using animal products. Animals have been used for clothing, medicine, food, and companionship for as long as humankind has inhabited this planet and shouldn’t be stopped solely because of ethics or morality. I believe that animals are being harmed during animal testing for these products and for food consumption. I think for the balance of this world we live in; humans, animals and the environment should coexist at a sustainable level. What I mean by that is animals and humans live off the land, humans also live off the animals and then once we die we become part of the earth again in a symbiotic relationship. So all three aspects of the relationship are interchangeable because humans would hinder our potential by only utilizing one food source but in reality there should be a blend of different things as we treat animals, and our environment properly so the earth is sustainable which at the moment isn’t happening. Gary Steiner’s perspective is an extreme one and I personally think his opinion is in the minority for a reason but he did discuss ideas that I could also agree with to an extent.