There is a nexus of the old and the new in the recent ICE raids on meat processing plants in Mississippi. A recent UN report on meat and climate change asserts that meat in the human diet is a major contributor to climate change.
Missing in the debate about the propriety of the raids on meat processing plants is the damage done to the butcher’s craft by the processing in rural plants rather than your neighborhood butcher shop. Sixty years ago, butchers cut most of our meat and were paid a good, living wage. Now the meats come already processed from plants in the countryside, where undocumented workers endure the conditions, often for less than minimum wage. Certainly we would be eating meat more mindfully if the price were higher.
