Vegetarian?

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by netseeker

... I know i'm like a "dinosaur" in this modern, healthy and animal-friendly world - but i am what i am and i'm fine with it.

That's dinosaurist talk!!
Some of them were veggies.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Vegetarian for conscience, health and personal preference.

On the conscience side, I have no objections with animals being raised to provide meat etc, but I do object to them not having a decent quality of life beforehand which factory farming does not provide. (And nor do smaller scale farmers who pump their livestock full of chemicals, feed them food they were never designed to eat and so on.)

[Sweetpea]

I'm absolutely no vegetarian. I do like my meat at every meal. Though, it may also be fish.

Sometimes I do take a vegetarian appatizer at restaurants, but never if it's some sort of "meat replacement". Why eat a "meat replacement"? I'd rather eat real meat. But I do love cheese, beans and other forms of proteins. But I'll probably never take a vegetarian main course, I love meat and fish too much for that.

[Madam Broshkina]

I only eat beef from cows that are on a strict vegetarian diet.

[netseeker]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

That's dinosaurist talk!!
Some of them were veggies.

Lol, yes you're right. Hm, maybe that was one of the reasons for their extinction...

[Alphapheemail]

:insert witty joke about fowl that like to eat fowl here with corresponding picture:

But in looking for said picture, my stomach churned. I will spare you all and leave this cute one.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by Madam Broshkina

I only eat beef from cows that are on a strict vegetarian diet.

Are there many vegetarian cows around these days?

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agric...eality-of.html
"Since the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, the federal government has taken some action to restrict the parts of cattle that can be fed back to cattle."

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Alphapheemail

:insert witty joke about fowl that like to eat fowl here with corresponding picture:

But in looking for said picture, my stomach churned. I will spare you all and leave this cute one.

thank you. i sincerely appreciate that.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Are there many vegetarians cows around these days?

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agric...eality-of.html
"Since the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, the federal government has taken some action to restrict the parts of cattle that can be fed back to cattle."

ugh. reinforcing my reason number four.

[Who are you?]

Plants react to attacks and destruction of their bodies. They will have more stress hormones in their bodies, they will increase defenses and they will release pheromone-like substances to warn other plants nearby of what is happening. All very much like pain and screaming in humans and animals.

So if you're vegetarian because of conscience, you might want to consider skipping on plants as well

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Who are you?

Plants react to attacks and destruction of their bodies. They will have more stress hormones in their bodies, they will increase defenses and they will release pheromone-like substances to warn other plants nearby of what is happening. All very much like pain and screaming in humans and animals.

So if you're vegetarian because of conscience, you might want to consider skipping on plants as well

i do realise this is a legitimate point, but i have to admit that arguments like that annoy me. (probably because it's inevitable that someone will bring it up, when i say i am vegetarian partly for ethical concerns). i have to eat something, after all, and the best i can do is eat the least complex organisms available to me. also, not that i am particularly interested in exploring the question, i suspect that those reactions really depend on what plant you are talking about ; fruit trees for example are not damaged when the fruit is harvested. this is not a case which is likely to occur when an animal is involved. (this is also why i do eat eggs and milk products : no animals were killed or harmed to make them).

[vivaldirules]

I remember a Joseph Campbell quote that goes something like "All food is living. It's just that some of it doesn't run away." Unless, of course, you can figure out how to live on salt and water.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Sometimes I do take a vegetarian appatizer at restaurants, but never if it's some sort of "meat replacement". Why eat a "meat replacement"? I'd rather eat real meat. But I do love cheese, beans and other forms of proteins. But I'll probably never take a vegetarian main course, I love meat and fish too much for that.

I'm not fond of fake meat dishes either. Though when I was in England, I ate some spectacular Quorn vegetarian "sausages". (Quorn is a brand-name for foods made from mycoprotein or mushroom/fungal proteins.) The fake meat products can make it easier for someone who is transitioning to vegetarian eating in that their meals won't look very different from before and yet they can feel virtuous that they're eating more healthily. Now, the risk is that the manufacturers of fake meat products pump them up with extra fat and artificial flavors to try and capture the esthetics of the meat and what you get is actually less healthy.

[Who are you?]

Least complex is not always the right way to describe plants, not even in comparison with animals.

Milk and eggs still require animals to be housed on farms, with everything that comes with it (regular and good feeding, no predators, but also confined spaces and life that is cut short when usefulness has come to an end)

Personally I don't like eating food that was killed in the wild, as that is usually not done in a sustainable way, like fishing, so I try to avoid that, everything else is fair game to me

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I'm not fond of fake meat dishes either. Though when I was in England, I ate some spectacular Quorn vegetarian "sausages". (Quorn is a brand-name for foods made from mycoprotein or mushroom/fungal proteins.) The fake meat products can make it easier for someone who is transitioning to vegetarian eating in that their meals won't look very different from before and yet they can feel virtuous that they're eating more healthily. Now, the risk is that the manufacturers of fake meat products pump them up with extra fat and artificial flavors to try and capture the esthetics of the meat and what you get is actually less healthy.

we don't have many products like that here (i've never seen quorn for instance) but we do have soya "sausages" in bio food stores. i suspect they don't taste very much like real sausages, but i buy them sometimes as a snack food ; the ones i get are just soy protein and some spices, a lot like tofu, so i don't think they are particularly unhealthy.

i wish we did have quorn here ; i keep hearing about it and i would like to try it.