Where's the beef? Or pork? Or chicken?

I have issues with Farmville. (Having not played Farmtown, I will refrain from commenting on it.) Let me first begin by stating that I grew up on a farm in east Georgia, not far from the Savannah River. I learned not to give the livestock names, and we rarely had a dog reach old age. That is the nature of living on a farm. Some readers might be shocked by the callousness of that statement—hence the reason for this week’s blog.

I rolled my eyes when Zynga, the web development firm that created Farmville as a Facebook app, added pink cows that expressed strawberry milk. I saw it as whimsical, if anything, but left it at that. Then I noticed that ducks, geese and swans are raised by farmers solely for their feathers. I know from experience that such is not the case.

I drew the line with the addition of pigs to the game. Pigs are a significant farm animal that produce nothing but meat. I wondered how Farmville would broach the subject that adorable, stuttering Porky, clever Babe and humane Wilbur are all destined for the table. Language actually has a word for cooking with pork—charcuterie. According to the USDA, 100 metric tons of pork were consumed worldwide in 2006.

Farmville’s choice? Pigs collect truffles. Just so I’m clear, truffle production is so insignificant that Wikipedia doesn’t even devote any time to recording production or consumption information, other than to mention truffles of noteworthy size.

With each new Farmville update, I laugh at how the designers bend over backwards to avoid implying that cute, gamboling farm animals are ever consumed. Turkeys are raised only for their feathers and not for the glutton-fest every Thanksgiving. Lambs are petted. I’m tickled by the constant changes in bulls. For those who don’t know—bull cattle are used to breed more cattle, but only one of them. The rest of the male calves meet with castration so that they can devote their growth to becoming nice, juicy steaks. As for the females, they become breeding machines, with farmers gambling each birthing season for steak as opposed to new breeding stock. (Now that would make a good game—managing growing a herd versus harvesting beef.) The lucky few bulls are milked for sperm. So far Farmville has had users brush bulls (for fur?), only to recently shift to allow users to “calm” their bulls. I’m guessing that’s a euphemism for “milk for sperm.”

Even so, never have I laughed harder than when Farmville introduced the elephant. Elephants are hunted for their ivory. But in Farmville? One harvests circus peanuts from elephants. I fear to ask where one plucks circus peanuts from an elephant. Brother, that ain’t no peanut.

So why should I care? This is a web-based game, after all. Stop over-thinking things. Would that I could, especially when I come across evidence like this, which I found on the website, Failblog.org. For those who don’t wish to click the link, the site uploaded an image of a submission to a newspaper’s “vent” column, where users call or upload comments expressing their ire. I have no idea which paper published this reader’s thoughts, but here is a transcript:

“To all you hunters who kill animals for food, shame on you; you ought to go to the store and buy the meat that was there, where no animal was harmed.”

There is a possibility that such a comment was posted there as a troll by someone who really knew where packaged meat comes from, yet the cynic in me is not so certain. I recall my friend’s favorite retort: “Have you met people?” Sadly, I have. I’m more inclined to believe that there are stupid people out there who believe such tripe.

Games like Farmville and movies like Babe produce in the urban and suburban mind the notion that meat just appears at the grocery store. I’m reminded of Homer Simpson’s comment when Lisa decides to become a vegetarian: “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?”

“Yes”

“Bacon?”

“Yes, Dad,”

“Ham?”

“Dad all those meats come from the same animal.”

“Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”

I’m convinced the issues behind overfishing stem from consumers not understanding where food comes from. On February 5, the United Nations backed the ban on bluefin tuna. Curiously, the normally highly educated Japanese and Norwegians can’t seem to understand why whaling is wiping out an entire genus of mammal. By far the most damaging details lie in industrial meat production. Living near these industrialized farms is an ecological nightmare, not simply with the smell, flies and bacteria, but the pesticides, antibiotics, and chemicals that leak into the water supply as well. I will let readers explore the Internet to see how chickens, cows and pigs are treated in their sterile cages, from birth to harvest.

Do not misinterpret this posting as a call for vegetarianism. I do, actually, approve of including more vegetables in contemporary diets. But to anyone who attempts to deprive me of my bacon, be prepared to face me barricaded in my home. I will have my steak, and on occasion, I will have my chicken and fish. Humans are omnivorous, especially this human. No, my concern is that we as humans have lost the understanding of where food comes from. Food does not come from a grocery store, or a restaurant, or even a box. Food is grown. Food is harvested. Food is the product of death; even that precious head of lettuce cried out when it was plucked from the ground and sliced into your healthy, preciously-ethical salad. And more and more, our media is only happy to entertain us as we look the other way. I propose that Farmville include an ear-piercing squeal whenever a user harvests a pig so that players can understand that food is no game.