No, I don't eat veal at all, ever.

I'm not a vegetarian, and I admit that all the animals products I've eaten have caused suffering to some degree, but in the case of food choices, I think some moral relativity is valid. There is undoubtedly a difference between killing a cow as quickly and humanely as possible after it has been well cared for all it's life and keeping a calf under torturous conditions for it's whole life and then killing it.

If I was a better person, I would probably become a vegetarian, but I don't seem to have the backbone to do that right now. At least I can take some baby steps to reduce cruelty by not eating things like foie gras and veal. I always buy free range eggs. I try to buy items produced by cruelty free options when I can. In many cases, by a happy coincidence, these are also healthier products. Eggs from free range chickens that receive organic feed usually don't need hormones and antibiotics, so it's a win-win.

To be completely honest, I could survive without meat. If I'm unable to commit to that choice right now, at least I certainly can live without eating ducks, geese, calves, lamb, etc. No one "needs" veal; it's a deliberate choice to be complicit in cruel farming practices.

I eat fish, chicken, pork and beef, and over the last year I've considerably reduced my consumption of pork, hoping to get off it entirely. Of the major meat sources in America, I think pig factory farming is the most destructive for a number of reasons and the one I least want to support.

It's hard to live a perfect life, but it's easy to become a better person a little bit at a time.

That's a fascinating piece of logic, konsiders. You're doing the calf a huge favor by eating him, thus ending his miserable existence. HUH? In case you need it spelled out, you are therefore supporting a horrific and cruel industry. If you don't buy veal, that industry cannot exist, it's that simple. And while we are at it, please understand that the ONLY reason veal exists is to make use of the male calves that are the result of the constantly impregnated cows of the dairy industry. Contrary to popular thought, cows do not keep lactating unless that are impregnated. The males are useless to them, so are tossed in a dumpster or sold to veal farmers. That's why part of ethical eating is not supporting the milk/cheese industry either. www.dumpdairy.com OH and BTW, if you still believe the thing about needing it for bone health, that's a myth that the dairy industry sold you. The NYTimes ran an article just this week about the fact that meat consumption is the main reason for weak bones because the acid from meat causes the calcium to leach out and weaken bones.

And the idea that plants feel pain in any way that compares to animals with nervous systems is so ludicrous, it's the last resort of the guilty feeling you get from killing innocent creatures. There probably are degrees of morality involved here; is eating a shrimp the same as de-beaking and keeping a chicken in a tiny cage her whole life? Factory farms are the reality of your food, be aware, be responsible, be environmental. A plant-based diet is the absolute best for your health and your conscience.

Yes.
One could make the argument that allowing a cow to "live" locked up within a few acres just so you could eat it is more wrong than eating a calf that hasn't had the chance. It's not like the calf is missing out on something, and you could even say you're ending the misery of a dull, listless existence.
Eating meat, however, is no different from eating plants, since each of those things live, reproduce, spend energies to simplify their lives, and die. There have been arguments that plants even feel a sort of pain.
So don't worry about what your food is feeling, or did feel. It's food, you need to eat to live. If the food could directly eat you, it would.

Think about this for a second: When people die, they get eaten by bacteria that get eaten by plants that get eaten by cows.