Anyone who is an addict or has known an addict understands that we have some very Big Feelings. In active addiction, these highs and lows are artificially amplified: they climb to the highest peaks and fall to the lowest abysses, and no one is safe from storms we conjure from these winds of chaos.

We fret about taking too long of showers or leaving the lights on or eating meat or using cucumber melon body wash, but no matter what choices we make, our money is only feeding the beast, and our individual choices are swallowed up by a system that does not care if we live or die with poison in our veins—only that we never stop consuming, never stop working, never stop believing it’s all up to us to fix the world they’ve ravaged.

“By eating animal products, I’ve reintegrated myself into the cycle of life and death, birth and rebirth, killing and thriving. I feel a greater bond to my ancestors, distant and ancient, and a renewed connection to the people I break bread with, the places I visit, the passage of history and the beautiful multiplicity of culture, art, and cuisine.”