The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently had a million dollar contest to see if someone could come up with a viable actual meat made in vitro. (See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/10/meet-shmeat-test-tube-mea_n_149936.html for more)
This reminds us that eating meat in itself is not morally wrong–it’s really about how we source it. Some animal products are currently sourced in more cruel ways than others (think veal, foie gras). You have to use your own sense of what constitutes inhumane processing to determine what you’re going to eat and where you’re going to get it from.
One food I eat now that I can’t afford to adjust and it doesn’t yet work to fit-into-my-life differently (yep, i’ve looked into co-op, going to farms, markets, free-range, organic, etc.) is the egg. There’s something about what egg factories do with male chicks that, while cheap, must currently defy a better economic and humane answer. The television show American Dad did a bit about one version of the disposal of the males, although I cannot track down which episode.
Todd Wellman 