Film details effects of eating meat

By Megan Finnerty
Features Editor

For most students, meal decisions revolve around three questions — what does it cost, what does it taste like and how fast can they deliver.

But for Ashish Bhandari, a senior in the Schools of Engineering, eating is about social and moral choices. Bhandari, a vegetarian since birth, created a half-hour film for Boiler Television outlining the negative effects of a meat-eating diet.

The video will air today and Thursday at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day.

Bhandari, a counselor at Cary Quadrangle, made the video for a floor program about how people's diets affect the environment, animals and themselves, and although many attended the program, Bhandari and friend Ashton Hainge wanted to reach more people.

The graphic video presents a variety of facts and gives viewers a walk-through of the slaughtering process for chickens, cows and pigs. It also shows how egg-producing chickens and dairy cows are raised.

"It wasn't made to gross anyone out," Bhandari said about the disturbing scenes such as unconscious chickens whirling in a metal spiked cylinder being de-feathered.

Tim Jennett, the director of physical facilities for housing and food services, said student-made videos are run on BTV several times a month. To be selected to air on the Purdue-affiliated station, all of the videos must coincide with his office's mission.

"Our mission is educational, aiding in the development of students and the student life component of housing and food services," Jennett said. "We want something that provides intellectual and social growth."

Hainge, a senior in the Schools of Engineering, helped make the video because he used to work in a chicken house and was disgusted by the experience.

"I had to pull them out of their cages with my bare hands and I didn't even want to touch them, let alone eat them," he said. "I didn't eat chicken for about a year and a half after that, but now, seeing all these pictures again brought back those memories and I haven't eaten beef, chicken, eggs — anything like that — in about six months."

"This is one of the things I really feel strongly about," Bhandari said about vegetarianism. "There's so many things you can eat naturally that aren't detrimental to the body or environment. If I had an option to live peacefully with another being, that's what I'll do instead of killing it and eating it."

Bhandari said that at Purdue he eats mostly Indian dishes with lentils, beans and nuts. He doesn’t eat cheese, eggs, fish or any product derived from animals. Because of this, he gets creative with the foods in the residence halls. Bhandari said he eats a lot of whole grain breads and pastas with vegetables.

"I pretty much make up my own dishes and have for five years now," he said. "If I can do it, anyone can. Living in the dorms isn't a reason to not try vegetarianism."

He said some of the people he's talked with about the video said they didn't want to hear negative things about their diets.

But most people who attended the presentation or who have spoken to Bhandari about vegetarianism were open to his ideas. He said many who attended his talk were disgusted with what they saw about the raising and processing of animals. One of Bhandari's friends who he talked to about the video has been a vegetarian since their conversation.

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Features editor:
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