I was on the subway yesterday, and the woman sitting next to me told her friend that she would only eat free-range chicken because that was the ethical thing to do. If I were a chicken, my main objection to slaughterhouses would not be the accommodations. I would be happy to stay in cramped quarters provided that you did not brutally murder my family and I at the end of our visit.

We sometimes rationalize our behavior as “ethical” without changing the worst part of it because we want to believe we’re thoughtful people while still doing exactly what is most enjoyable for us.

Here’s a 1963 clip of Colonel Harland Sanders, the Pol Pot of the chicken world, guesting on What’s My LIne?

From “Demand Grows for Hogs That Are Raised Humanely Outdoors,” by Stephanie Strom in the New York Times:

“Several factors are driving the appetite for pasture-raised pork, grocers and chefs say. Consumers are increasingly aware of and concerned about the conditions under which livestock is raised, and somewhat more willing to pay higher prices for meat certified to have come from animals that were humanely raised.

Big food businesses from McDonald’s to Oscar Mayer and Safeway have promised to stop selling pork from pigs raised in crates over the next decade. Smithfield Farms, one of the country’s largest pork processors, announced this month that it was encouraging all contractors raising hogs on its behalf to move to the use of group pens, which have to be big enough for several pigs to live in comfortably, with space to walk around and bed down.

The restaurant chain Chipotle and some prominent chefs like Dan Barber and Bill Telepan, both of whom have restaurants in Manhattan, have begun using meats from animals that were humanely raised. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s do a brisk business in such meat.”