Are you a vegetarian?

Are you a vegetarian? If you are why?

Except for seafood. I gotta have my shrimp and crablegs once in a while. Mudbugs, too.

My son tells everyone he's a "begetarian". He says he only eats meat "sometimes"! He cracks me up.

My reasons are animal cruelty, environmental and anti-corporate government profiteering within the meat industry.

do you just kinda keep it to yourself?

i don't try and convert people. i won't mention my vegetarianism unless it is necessary. if someone asks why i am a vegetarian i'll tell them, but not in a condescending or superior manner. anything i might say most people know already anyway so, what would be the point?

But that's not really the reason, it's just easier to explain in Texas.

:evilgrin:

in other words, I don't eat meat because we as human beings have a duty as stewards towards those who are mute and defenseless

:*

Sorry, love those questions.

The one I did a doubletake on, though, was oysters. What the heck are oysters? No face. Do they have a nervous system? Do they have mothers? I don't eat them, but I don't know how much of an animal they are!

you eat fruit & vegetables don't you? it has been studied that they 'feel' too.

*giggle* from me.


their attractiveness color, shape etc leads to them being eaten, and in turn propagation thru distribution of seeds.

of course, with the introduction of proper sanitation the distribution is nilch. but the argument still holds;
fruits and veggies aren't just for people.

get? I tell people I'm an atheist and they shrug a little, but I tell them I'm a vegetarian, and they fly off the handle. They ask how I get protein, they tell me that plants have feelings, too, they tell me I'm crazy, or a wimp, or to grow up. Then, when all their arguments fail to convert me, they say "All you vegetarians go around trying to convert everyone!"

Sigh.

I myself am an omnivore. I only eat cage-free chickens, and free-range beef, blah blah blah...but I know that isn't going to assuage the animal cruelty argument, and it shouldn't.

I have a couple of strict vegetarian friends (one is even a Jain!), though, and they haven't related to me any stories of militant carnivores. Could it be how you are relaying the info that you are vegetarian (maybe they are seeing it as condescending) or could it just be that you live in a different area or deal with different sorts of people? Please understand I'm not attacking you...I'm just surprised.

I hunt all forms of big, small, and fowl game. I fish. Plus, I garden and grow my own veggies and herbs.

You would gain sustenance, rather than subsistence, eh? :-)

Just teasing you. Like I've never mispelled a word!

I'm not a vegan, but:

1) I do not eat any beef nor pork, and
2) I am reducing my chicken and turkey intake

It's more efficient to just eat the fruits, veges, and grains instead of waiting for them to be processed by feed animals. In my long-term goal of living more lightly on the land, this is an important issue.

But that is just for religious reasons.

But I do eat seafood and have been trying to wean myself off that.

Too stringy, all bones, and the meat is too lean. Not good eatin'!

I was a meat-eater for 40 years but I haven't eaten meat or fowl for the past 15. In the beginning it was because of a low fat diet. My health improved dramatically when my diet changed. While I don't begrudge carnivores their meat, I have no desire to kill another creature for food.
I've learned to love foods I never dreamed I'd eat-Brussels sprouts,
tofu, sea weed, the list goes on...

Than all the bean sprouts in Japan.

(thanks, Al)

I'm a vegetarian and I certainly don't. I think a lot of people shy away from being a vegetarian because they don't realize all of the delicious things we DO eat.

I still include dairy and eggs a couple of times a week in my diet so it does open up a lot more possibilities.

but I'm a weirdo! :silly:

But you are correct: the vegetarian diet is probably even more varied that the average omnivore diet. We sometimes have to get creative, can't just go pick up a hamburger at the drive through.

I'm an omnivore, but bean sprouts? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Lotsa vitamins too.

you don't have to eat bean or alfalfa sprouts just because you are a vegetarian!

but I like meat a lot.

burgers and all the shit that goes along with it, fries, etc. because I was buying burgers and eating them while driving and I had to put a stop somewhere or I'd be a fat, unhealthy motherfucker...so I stopped eating red meat, it wasn't very hard (I try a burger about once a year, I don't miss it). And I'm able to easily keep weight off...as long as I don't snack on chips, ice cream or other garbage foods after dinner.

Veggie and proud!

I have a couple of Jain friends :-)

I am having a salad. I should be one because I eat shit, a lot of meat, pork and chicken but I do have a lot of fruits and vegetables as well. Right now I weigh only 130 lbs. and last time I checked my cholesterol was only 170 so that's not too bad.

So is mr. cedahlia, which makes it very easy...don't know just how I'd manage if I was married to someone who wasn't veg. He actually was the person who convinced me to give up meat. I've always been an animal lover, and when I really thought deeply about what I was doing by eating meat, I had to stop. After going veg for the animal rights reason, I later found out how bad the meat industry is for the environment, so the global environemental benefit is also an incentive. I don't miss meat at all, although I have considered eating fish again for the health benefits. That's probably not gonna happen though because I'd still feel guilty.

Interestingly, back in the day when I went veg, lots of my friends did the same. Since then, mr. cedahlia and I are the only true veggies left in our group of friends...everyone else has fallen off the veggie wagon. :shrug:

For what it's worth, I don't actively try to convert people, but will educate them if they are interested in vegetarianism and want information. I will get defensive if someone gives me a hard time about being veg, but I understand that not everyone shares my ideals and that it still is a meat-eater's world. I just deal with that and continue to live my life the way I feel is right.

it makes things rather difficult. I refuse to cook the stuff (it would turn out poorly anyway, I don't know how to cook meat) and I won't buy it. We end up eating out a fair amount so he can eat what he wants and I can eat what I want. But most of the time he's pretty happy with whatever I've cooked :-)

I feel for ya! :)

The only meat I've cooked in the last 8 years was some sausage patties this past Christmas because my Grandma is getting too old to handle doing our big family breakfast by herself.

Does your partner like any of the yummy meat alternatives out there? I've fixed stuff for my meat-eating family and friends using "fake meat" (Morningstar Farms, etc.) and they really liked what I made...nobody has converted to veg becaue of my cooking, but they are more open-minded and some actually buy veggie burgers at the store rather than hamburgers now.

Here's how we do it in our household, which consists of three carnivores and me. Note that one of the carnivores is an on-again-off-again Atkins-dieter with food allergies, another once said his idea of veggie cooking is "tell the cooks what you want and they go make it," and the third is watching her fat intake.

We have become good at combinaton meals where there is a main course to which meat can be added after cooking. For instance, there will be a stir fry or a noodle dish that is itself vegan, and then one of the carnivores will cook the meat in a separate pan and they'll mix it on their plate. Or sometimes we will have a meal where there's a meat thing and a synth-meat substitute--hamburgers and Boca burgers, for instance. We use soy milk and soy cheese in place of the dairy versions and egg replacer instead of eggs.

Frequently this means two or more people are cooking at the same time, but that's become a fun activity in itself. :-)

Tucker

it's pretty easy in my town, fish about once a month, and I'll only eat wild salmon, not farmed...

It grosses me out and I enjoy seafood as it is generally more healthy and enjoyable to me.

planet......and also for my peace of mind and spirit,

although I do eat some fish and animal products like dairy and eggs.

I have been wanting to stop eating meats for years, but my family was not interested in going veggie and I did not have the creativity and will to prepare both kinds of meals each mealtime.

But now that the kids are moving out and more on their own, it is easy for me to cook vegetarian, and my husband has absolutely no complaints.

So I have been animal flesh free for 6 weeks now! :kick:

It is not difficult at all to make satisfying, delicious and healthy meals without meat, and even my meat-loving 20 year old son is surprised at how much he can enjoy my vegetarian meals lately.

DemEx

I prefer a big plate of beef with a side of pork. MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Humans were not meant to eat only vegetables. If you were to look at our jaw structure and the shape of our teeth, then you can see that we're supposed to eat both meat and vegetables.

Someone asks a simple question about vegetarians, and people have to come out with cockeyed theories about what people are "meant" to eat. In truth, humans have evolved to be able to eat both animals and plants; but have also evolved to be able to choose to be vegetarians.

I have been vegetarian for thirteen years, and don't care what you choose to eat.

Tucker

It's scientific proof. I don't know where you went to school, but from where I was taught, I learned that humans are evolved to eat meats and vegetables, not only one thing or the other. If you don't like it, that's fine, but there's nothing you can do about it.

And I really don't care what you eat either. I was just making a scientific fact.

there are studies that show otherwise. We don't have teeth to tear through flesh, we have teeth to bite through tough skins on vegetables.

When was the last time you ate cow before it went through the meat packing process?

I became a vegetarian when I was a little girl because I loved animals so much. I remain a vegetarian for the same reason but also since learning more since then for environmental and health reasons along with loving animals. :-)

this post would elicit the "animals taste so great" replies. sigh.

it's a real eye opener though when i get off the vegetarian internet groups and go out into the real world and realize 99% of people (it might be 98% according to some surveys) are not like me at all.

i never mention my vegetarian lifestyle to anyone. the only resposes i get are people trying to "catch me" eating something i shouldn't, or people giving me beef and dairy propaganda about why i should be downing three pus filled glasses of milk a day; people questioning my researched and well thought out decisions when i would NEVER think of questioning them about their meat eating habits.

since I was 12 years old...there wasn't one reason that I became vegetarian..it was a combination of thinking that it would be good for my health, partly animal cruelty reasons, and partly just wondering if I could pull it off.

There was no one reason I became or stay a vegetarian but I appreciate all the benefits that come along with it. :)

It works for me, I don't crave meat or anything, and I get plenty of protein w/ the foods that I eat.

But I eat fish or wild game occasionally.

For health reasons, animal cruelty reasons, and for environmental reasons.

I quit eating meat almost ten years ago because my cousin was a vegetarian, and she bet me that I couldn't go without meat for one month. I did it, and after that I just lost a taste for it.

I don't claim to do it for animal cruelty reasons, because I've since added seafood back into my diet. And I don't claim to do it for health reasons, because I just gave up smoking cigarettes, which I started before I stopped eating meat.

I quit eating beef and pork because I don't approve of how it's raised (the environmental impact of free-range cattle or large-scale pig farms is horrendous) and I believe in putting my money where my mouth is...so I won't contribute to sales of either. It evolved into not eating any mammals, because I really don't digest red meat all that well, anyway. I eat some poultry, but am trying to cut down on it. I eat a lot of seafood, though. See, I don't cook, so going strictly vegetarian is difficult; I've done it a few times and you either have to cook or your diet becomes very limited.

My husband eats some red meat, but does me the courtesy to cook it outside on the barbecue grill, as I can't abide the smell, and won't wash dishes used to prepare it. I also won't pay for it in the grocery store, although I've been known to buy him a steak at a restaurant for a special occasion.

What I don't get is people on either side of the issue trying to convert others. State your own preferences, but don't attack theirs. Food doesn't carry moral imperatives. It's sustenance. Don't judge people based on what they do or don't eat. I see this just as much from carnivores as I do from hardcore vegans.