Five Movie Classics That Will Wean You Off of Meat

I am not a vegetarian, but have always tried my best to reduce my meat consumption.  Part of the reason for easing off of meat is health, but concerns over food safety—and animal cruelty, have driven me towards a more-vegetable based diet.  Sites like meat.org and some of the recent news stories that have shown what animals go through are enough to stop buying meat from chain supermarkets.  I figure if you buy meat that is raised sustainably and from reputable stores, that is a huge step.

Over the years, some movie scenes were successful in dissuading me from eating meat.  I share a few movies below:

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?:  Someday we’ll see haggard and hunched Jennifer Anniston and Julia Roberts duke it out in a garish thriller—but this film noir classic, innovative for its time, has no imitation.  Deranged Bette Davis served Joan Crawford her poor parakeet, then amped up the mind games when she served lamb instead of another backyard animal.  But a starving Blanche, who was denied breakfast for not eating her lamb, got this served for lunch. Watching Joan Crawford circle in her wheelchair, sobbing and heaving, is disturbing.  So was the way Davis dealt with basement rats.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?:  It was the highlight of Elizabeth Taylor’s career, and yet could have been the beginning of her decline as well.  Taylor won her second Oscar for her searing performance castigating the character her on-again, off-again husband, Richard Burton, played.  By the way, contrary to what Burton’s emasculated character said, she did bray.  But I can never look at a drumstick the same away again after watching Taylor eat a cold chicken leg right out of the fridge—she was still stunningly beautiful in 1966, but the way she gnashed her teeth on that chicken flesh was grotesque.

Mommie Dearest.  Once upon a time a famous movie star made her children do chores, which most children hate.  Most kids grow up and learn to appreciate the value of house and garden work in later years, or turn toward hire help.  Christina Crawford wrote a nasty book about her mother, Joan Crawford instead—and eventually admitted some of those nasty episodes were exaggerated.  But the 1981 film became a cult classic, and eviscerated the career of every actor who was in the film.  Forget the wire hanger scene—the highlight is the ridiculous PepsiCo boardroom scene.  But watching a young Christina play with rare meat, and to grow up having no option but to order steak—rare—does not do much for the appetite.  In case you want a rehash of the movie’s highlights, you can always watch remixes with Abba’s Mamma Mia.

The Great Outdoors.  John Candy and Dan Aykroyd were at the top of their comedic game in this 1988 slapstick comedy.  The genre of suburbanites out of their element in nature made for many a silly flick during the late 80s and early 90s.  But watching John Candy eat that huge hunk of meat in order to get a free meal for the whole gang was, well, the best advertisement message that Boca Burgers could ever snag.

When Harry Met Sally:  It’s hard to believe 20 years has passed since this movie, one of the most watchable films of all time, was the talk of college dorms and happy hours.  Now it just reminds us of how bad 80s hair was, and the indigestion that results from eating one of those multi-stories sandwiches at a New York or LA Jewish deli.