Mark Zuckerberg has conquered the world and made half a billion friends along the way, and now he wants to conquer his own dinner. The Facebook founder recently made the bizarre declaration that he plans to only eat meat he kills himself for the time being.
It all started when Zuckerberg posted "I just killed a pig and a goat" to his Facebook account. He offered a more detailed explanation to Fortune Magazine, and it turns out the young billionaire's diet is more about green-minded, back-to-the-land ethics than Ted Nugent-styled gunning and grilling.
"This year, my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have," Zuckerberg writes. "I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I'm eating a lot healthier foods and I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals."
Zuckerberg says the meat thing is his annual project for the year, a personal challenge he sets for himself -- last year he spent an hour every day studying Chinese.
"I started thinking about this last year when I had a pig roast at my house. A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn't want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me," he writes to Fortune. "I don't have an issue with anything people choose to eat, but I do think they should take responsibility and be thankful for what they eat rather than trying to ignore where it came from."
Famous Silicon Valley chef Jesse Cool, who lives near Zuckerberg, has been acting as his go-between on the project, connecting him to various local farmers who have advised him on each kill.
Zuckerberg started his personal protein quest by boiling a lobster and then moved on to a chicken. Now that he's butchered his own pork, he says the next step could be going hunting.
