GTB
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VegetarianismThis is taken from the Getting to know you section.
| kathy27 wrote: |
I love my meat, there is no way i could be a veggie, if i had to kill it myself i could. Im sorry but im going to sound like a heatless cow now! If i can buy a chicken for £5 that will feed all six of us, i will and do, they all get killed the same way, ive seen the stuff on telly but im sorry im not put off. Animals are here for humans to eat why else have we got k9 teeth. You all know how i feel about my animals but if it was a choice between me or my family and any of them, there is no contest. |
My question is: do people become vegetarian out of guilt? I can think of no other reason at present why people would want to omit meat from their diet. 
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Clunk
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Due to various reasons, the only meat I will eat is chicken. But I possibly only eat meat once a week.
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Local lass
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a friend of mine who grew up on a farm turned to a veggie at the age of 13 she is still one now.
not really sure why.
if ever i was to become a veggie i would come one out of guilt 
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Bear
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Most vegetarians I know dont look at all healthy
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kathy27
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Maybe im being abit dumb (dont say anything!) but whats to feel guilty about? If no one eat meat, the farmers would go bankrupt, the animals would have to be killed anyhow cause no one could afford to feed them.
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GTB
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I'm sure you would feel guilt if you analyse what sort of life an animal has to go through just to feed you and sustain your life. If you have no feelings at all over where your food comes from, ie. ethical humane treatment of animals during their lifetime, then that is a very arrogant attitude.
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kathy27
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Maybe i do have an arrogant attitude then, my family have had beef herds for years, they care for the cows give them food and have the vets check them if they are ill, but at the end of the day they are food for us. And off they go to market.
Im not saying i think these animals should be mis-treated in there life time, but i think we can get too sentimental about it.
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GTB
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A farmer friend of mine said that it still "cuts him up" to send his animals to the slaughter because (like your family, Kathy) he raises a beef herd where an animal can be with you for quite some time before reaching a good killing weight. Another chap know admitted that he sobbed all the way to Stiles abbatoir with his first ever load of beef cows because he had got attached to them, saying that each of them had a different personality and behavioural traits.
I agree that humans evolved to be omnivorous but as a so-called sentient race shouldn't we also have a responsibility to care for the animals in our trust or what we decide to buy?
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Kizzy
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I only eat meat probably about once a week if that, and only chicken, minced beef or tuna.
I have cut meat out of my diet for to help me lose weight, as I was technically morbidly obese (I have already lost 3 stone). I eat meat free produce which tastes great and for someone who hardly eats meat - I don't think I look i'll
My aunty has been vegetarian for about 30 years and she doesn't look ill - she eats sensibly (lots of fruit and veg) and she eats meat free produce. Not sure why she chose to be a vegetarian
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Geddi
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A lie has been told and retold again and again and it is this:
Food is a deeply political, spiritual, sensual, fun, health giving or health diminishing and an essential part of our lives. Whoopee.
If we all ate no meat or animal products at all in the UK, we could feed about 150 million people from home grown food.
If we all ate vastly varied and healthy vegan diets, we could all expect to live about 9 years longer, experience fewer heart attacks, lower cholesterol levels, less sexual dysfunction (men), lower incidence of bowel cancer and be a lot calmer with lower blood pressure. Fewer incidences of excema and asthma and higher sensitivity to others could also result.
A great book about this (on the side of meat eating in UK) is Our Food Our Land. It's also a great book about Britain within Europe and all that side of things.
Here's a point here. Animals eat food we could eat, except for poultry and browsing milch animals like goats. Not very efficient.
Another one: In Southern Africa, feeding rich foods to young women and girls was taboo for a long time, including eggs and certain types of meat and fish. Now, this traditional taboo is changing and behaviour in young women and girls is changing with a massive rise in teenage pregnancies.
I find it amusing, to a point, what different cultures consider ok to eat or not, especially animals. In UK we tend to frown at eating rats, horses, dogs and others. Elsewhere it is not considered good to eat pork, in others beef.
If I were hungry enough and my kids were starving I would eat and feed them whatever was available... This is a fair warning in the light that world food prices are rising fast! You have all been warned 
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GTB
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Some very good points there, Geddi.
| Geddi wrote: |
If we all ate vastly varied and healthy vegan diets, we could all expect to live about 9 years longer, experience fewer heart attacks, lower cholesterol levels, less sexual dysfunction (men), lower incidence of bowel cancer and be a lot calmer with lower blood pressure. Fewer incidences of excema and asthma and higher sensitivity to others could also result. |
I know one vegan quite well and I have to say that her skin is a lovely magnolia colour (she looks a bit like DATA from Star Trek ) Mankind has evolved as an omnivore but we are not built to eat the amounts of meat that we are consuming at present standards. Like you said, if we ate a more varied diet we would all be the better for it.
| Geddi wrote: |
Here's a point here. Animals eat food we could eat, except for poultry and browsing milch animals like goats. Not very efficient.: |
Most (90%+) arable land is on flat areas which are easy to farm. Beef stock and sheep are kept on more hilly hard to farm areas. If this country was to get rid of all it's farm animals where would we get the dung from to spread onto the fields?
| Geddi wrote: |
I find it amusing, to a point, what different cultures consider ok to eat or not, especially animals. In UK we tend to frown at eating rats, horses, dogs and others. Elsewhere it is not considered good to eat pork, in others beef. |
I think the western palate has been spoilt by huge quantities of very bland meat (even free range chicken is bland nowadays) and anything with a bit of taste or texture, pheasant for example, is frowned upon. When in Rome act like a Roman (or something like that ).
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Geddi
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Thanks for your comments, GTB. I know loads of vegans and was vegan myself for over five years. I actually gave up dairy produce before meat and enjoyed eating rabbits and game for a while beyond that. Compassion in World Farming are all for fair treatment of animals and have been behind many of the changes in laws over the last 30+ years. They don't advocate meat free or otherwise, only that animals should be treated with some dignity and suffering kept minimal.
I tend to agree with you about blandness of modern meats. One of my favourite meats is ostrich, although in honesty I have eaten it very rarely. It's dark and rich and yet low in all the bad stuff (so I am told). I also like pheasant and other darker meats.
I'll have to continue this later. I am being dragged off to watch a circus...
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Local lass
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The human body is a carnivore to live as a vegetarian is nuts.One of my friends have been a vegitarian for 13 years and she is always ill and pasty.
The body needs meat to get a healthy balance.
And as for vegan 
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kathy27
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I love my meat and two veg (im not being rude either!  )
I do have friends that are veggie, but they never really look well and do have alot of health problems.
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GTB
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| Local lass wrote: | | The human body is a carnivore |
Humans evolved as omnivores not as carnivores.
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Chepfer
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Why do we have incisors, if we were not supposed to eat meat.
Vegetarians generally need vitamin suppliments, to give them extra protein, why is this ?
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Sam
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| Quote: |
Vegetarians generally need vitamin supplements, to give them extra protein, why is this |
My Husband has been a vegetarian for about 10 years and is very healthy certainly does not take supplements. His asthma and allergies that used to rule his life seemed to disappear along with the meat.
Protein is in plenty of other foods  A lot of my friends and their children are vegi's and all very healthy.
Its a personnal choice.
I stopped buying meat because I make mostly vegetarian meals and ended up throwing any meat away, so im doing it for financial reasons.
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Local lass
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what made you become vegitarian?
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