I've heard every excuse in the book for eating animals, but I've yet to hear a convincing reason. The consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs is so ritualized, rationalized, disguised, and romanticized that an entirely new group of people has emerged: the "excuse-itarians." These are the people who spend enormous amounts of time and energy romanticizing the consumption of animal products and who have become pseudo-celebrities because of it. The rise in popularity of such people reminds me of the Hans Christian Andersen fable, "The Emperor Has No Clothes," because nobody is saying what's true. (The main part of this podcast is really only 13 minutes, but it's extended to 20 because of my reading of the fairy tale.)