vegetarian

[Miska]

ok so im frightfully bored and dont want to start my a$signment...or more like it i cant start my a$signment cos i dont no what im doing...anyway i was just thinking (as i cleared the table from lunch) does being a dedicated fan of obernewtyn create/group together ppl who have much the same veiws as ic? or somethin of the such...i guess the whole animal rights thing. since i had a conversation with my biology (population and behavioural genetics) lecturer it got me thinking bout the reasons behind some ppl's choices. he's a vegitarian but one that wont eat an organisms that is influential to its environment. eg, he wont wear cotton or eat cows, pigs or lamb cos of the damage they do the the ausie enviro. he also wont touch any shell fish cos of their improtance to sea ecosystem survival, but he will eat farmed samon and free range eggs. (i think he's loopy personally) i no others dont eat meat cos they hate the taste of it. some will eat white meat or fish, but still classify themselves vegitarian. one guy in my course is vegan cos of his love nad passion for animals -tho he'd quite readily eat humans if possible(so he says and he argues it strongly enough that i dont doubt him)... so how bout u all?

i love my meat, but dont swear by it. i have quiet a few days of vegi food (much to bro's dislike) ...in fact i make sure i dont have too much meat and could probably, quiet easily become vegitarian. tho i cant cos i would never manage to get enough iron (i loss it way too quickly). so in a way i need my meat. not that i really care. but i have to say if ur vegitarian you might as well be vegan. cos if ur wearing animal products that results in their death u mite as well eat meat and get the most out of a 'bad' thing. so its either none or all me thinks...but wat are ur arguements? im quiet interested...

[Elspeth]

I only really eat chicken and some fish, but I'd never call myself a vegetarian! I mean, chickens and fish are animals, aren't they? I like the principals of vegetarianism, but I can never seem to live up to them. Ironically, I'm not actually that fond of vegetables. So, I don't like meat, I'm not mad about vegies... that leaves me with junk food!

Sometimes, I think it's possible to take vegetarianism too far, although I do admire people who have the strength to stand by their convictions.

After all, vegetables are alive, too, in a non-sentient kind of way.

[Miska]

agreed - long live the vegies!!!!!! they have feeling too, jsut ask natally...

anyway i get annoyed by ppl who name/place themselves under a certain stigma just cos they dont like wats left...eg im vegitarian cos i dont liek meat, but ill eat chicken...not sayin thats bad or anything - each to thier own. but i find it a lil silly. tho i guess its easier to say 'vegitarian' if u have to go somewhere...like a school camp or something

[brydie]

i LLOOVVEE my meat!!! the best steak is from the local butcher...SSOOOOO YUMMY....bbq steak and my dad's specially cooked potatoes...or roast chicken! yumM!!! i could never be a vegetarian even if i wanted to be one!! too much goodness!!

[Cat-Eyes]

Yeah, aren't there some people who will only eay fruit and vegetables once they've fallen from a tree or something? Taking it a LITTLE too far, don't you think?

Cat - not a vegan. Just though I'd mention that

[Arien]

Cat-Eyes said:

Yeah, aren't there some people who will only eay fruit and vegetables once they've fallen from a tree or something? Taking it a LITTLE too far, don't you think?

What?! i thought me and my friend only made that up!!!!

there are seriously people who do that? wow..

[brydie]

PMSL at arien!!!
well theres ppl who only eat the stuff they grow themselves...but theres stuff that goes over ripe when theyre left on the tree too long (i think) so do they eat that as well??
lol....only a tiny bit too far...

[Emerald]

umm i think some people have watched a little too much Notting Hill... i believe their called a fruitarian wasn't it? ;D

I love vegies and fruit, but i enojoy eating meat too much to give it up...

[Lix]

im going vegi when i move out with chris,. hurrah!

[Glynnavyre]

Yes there are people that only eat fruit that has fallen from a tree because it has 'lived it's life and let itself be consumed from then on'... I'm not to sure what it is called though...

There are also people who will eat NOTHING else but food that has been grown with a 30km radius of where they live... Think about that... all wheat that can be made into flour, rice, nuts and all those other esssential base foods that are needed just to survive let alone as well fruits and vegetables...
It's a bizzare concept and would take huge amounts of plaaning and organisation but if you've got a passion like that good luck to you! ;D

I eat meat...

[Min]

Ok...I thought there'd be more of us than this...

I've been a vege all my life. I've recently started eating fish, because it was really obscure, and I had a craving for it one day so I must have needed it.

But I'm 23, and I've never eaten any meat other than fish recently. My mum was a vege when my brother and I were born and she bought us both up vegetarian so we could make the choice whether we wanted to eat meat or not. My aunt & uncle that I lived with for 4 years were vege also, so the diet remained the same.

So back then it was 'because mum is'. Now it's more...I dunno...I feel like a hypocrite saying anything here because I've started eating fish now. I can't do it though, it makes me really sad why should any creatures sole purpose here be to feed another creature? They have to have a bigger better purpose than that, and god knows they deserve more than we give them. They have brains and hearts and feelings too, and it feels wrong to me. But it's a personal thing. I don't push it onto other people, and I expect other people to try not to push their views on to me, so I'm just explaining it here because you asked

[~Ethereal~]

I've been a vegetarian since I was two. I ate meat before that, btu apparently at 2 I started throwing tantrums any tiem someone tried to feed me meat. Eventually they gave up and decided I could be vegetarian. I'm the only one in my family.
They tried to get me to eat meat again at abotu 8, btu by that stage my body was so used to not getting it that I jsut thought it tasted awful, and it actually made me sick becasue I'd never had it in my system before. So I continued on being vegetarian and I really have never had any desire to eat meat.

[Min]

That's another thing that I've wondered about now - because I've never eaten most white meats, or any red meat my entire life, wouldn't my body try to reject it like yours did, Ethereal?

*feels ill at the thought*

[~Ethereal~]

It probably would. Moreso with red meat than white, I would think. It wasnt' a pleasant experience....

[Lucy]

Hmmm, well I eat meat, but feel I could justify it because I'm pretty sure I could go and kill my own animal (not a moth though - phobia!!) and skin it and what not (with help from my dad!) but I think it's probs cos my dad used to be a chef and brough stuff home all the time to skin and cook for us so I'm used to it.

The one thing I wonder is the whole veggie/fish thing. No offence Min, because you've said about reasons and realsie the contradictions but I know an awful lot of people who say they're veggie but have qualms eating fish....that just doesn't compute to me. Also, people who can't look at a dead something, but eat meat knark me. ooo oo also people who say ugh I couldnt eat a bunny or kangaroo or whatever - it's the same as a bloomin' chicken! If you know what I mean.

Also, the way I see it is that if we were in the jungle and a lion (yes, such a stereotype and no lions in the jungle) was hungry, he'd eat me if I was there, so yeah, why not me eat the lion too? If I had a gun and stuff. I'm not saying lock up all animals and stuff, I don't really go for the cruelty aspect - free range eggs people! - but it's natural. We aren't herbivores by nature.

Not forcing this on anyone, but they're my views.

[Miska]

i agree with u lucy...i guess being a meat eater needs as much explaining as being a vegie...i cant stand ppl who go out to a farm and go isnt that lamb cute! how coudl u kill it..then go have lamb for dinner that nite. but thats ok cos it wasnt that lamb. i guess its the same with the fish senario..but meh - if u can kill it then ur entitles to eat it...and that goes for any living things...if just got to be able to say im gonna kill that cos its meat - not cos its a cow or lamb or chicken...if u cant then try being a vegie

im similar to u min -in that my dad was brought up on a meat diet. and in recent yrs the massive amounts of meat he ate turned me off of it..so id only have meat 3times a week (if that was possible)...and at easter when we fast im more then happy to be a vegitarian for 40days (even tho i have iron probs by the end of it...) tho to b hypocritical i couldnt do the vegan thing...i find there are to many necessities that use animal prducts nad society just inst built for it to be easy/feasible...well thats my opinion

[Elspeth]

I liked what you said, Lucy. You raised some good points there. My family used to have a small farm, and one year we ended up eating some of our own lamb. Now that was really hard, because we 'knew' the sheep in question and it wasn't a whole lot of fun to know they were know sitting on our plate amidst some vegies. But we were just learning the truth of the meat industry in a rather first-hand way. So although I love chicken, I feel incredibly sorry for all the silly hens that have to die only to be eaten.

[Rilla]

I'm not a vegetarian.

Er... thats all i really have to say...

[Glynnavyre]

I have chcikens as pets and I eat chicken (I used to work at KFC!!) But I can't explain why I do that...

I think I'm just leaving myself open to criticism on this board by bringing the whole thing up actually...!

[Elspeth]

What sort of chickens do you have, Glynnavyre? I love hens. They're so stupid but cute.

[Glynnavyre]

Just normal chooks...
Three rhode Island Reds (Brown ones) and three black ones...
There only 10 weeks old so they are about 1/2 the size of normal hens... I grew up with chiaken when I was younger and Dad just decided to get some more... They are very cute and my dog seems to get along with them too which is great! ;D

[Min]

Hey Lucy,

I know what you mean. Like I said in my post, I feel like a hypocrite in my life's beliefs because I've started eating fish. The truth is, the only pet I have at the moment is my office fish, Bob (Glynna, you met him the other day).

It was just really obscure. I've been a vegetarian my whole life. I've never eaten any meat, until a few months ago, where I was driving back from a weekend in Stanthorpe and just had this craving for something I'd never eaten before.
So I can't logically justify it anymore. I don't eat meat because of the ingrained pychology that goes with being a vege all my life - but I can eat fish? I don't get it either. That's just another mystery to me...

For social purposes however, it is far easier to tell people I'm still a full vege. I don't HAVE to eat fish - I just CAN if I have to.

But yeah feel like a hypocrite...I suppose I wasn't being careful enough with my diet lately, because I've had to start doing everything for myself now I'm living on my own - and my body was screaming "OMEGA 3!!!" at me or something!

But like I said - I don't push my beliefs on anyone else, and I don't want my friends trying to convince me to eat other meats either...it's a personal choice.

[Elspeth]

Hehe - I can just hear your body screaming, "OMEGA 3!" My body started screaming "IRON!!" at me a while ago. I'd be subsisting on mainly vegies and chicken for a while and I was wondering why I was so tired and exhausted. Does anyone here remember those ads they used to run for iron-supplements, with all those women in black and white looking like they'd just been raised from the dead? Well - it's all true! It's amazing how utterly crappy a lack of iron can make you feel.

So, even though it might feel like I've strayed from the point, I do have a point. If your body is used to receiving something regularly (ie. iron), it can sometimes be catastrophic to take it away. Not that I've taken up eating red meat - I just take vitamins.

[Lucy]

Aww, Min, I wasn't being an meanie (well, didn't mean to be) or calling you a hypocrite - like I say you admit the whole thing's a bit strange!

I don't like pushing things on others either - I've had my fair share of defending you veggies!! One was rather unpleaseant and I called my best friend's (at the time) mum a fat cow and it was all horrid, but it was the right thing to do (she was calling a close friend skinny and stupid for being a veggie and I had to retaliate!!). SO sorry if my big speech sounded like I was!

One of my friends didn't like meat when she was a kid - the taste of it just didn't turn her on! But now if she's asked why she doesn't eat meat she says because of the cruelty and stuff. I'm not sure whether it's conformity or what but I think it's a little strange.

Don't know why I rambled into that anyway!! Doing a lot of rambling in this thread!!

So - question - what's your main source of protein? And do you eat quorn-y stuff? Aaand, do you avoid gelatine etc or just meat? Open questions to anyone btw!

[Marija]

Lol!

I don't think having some fish makes you a hypocrite Min =P I mean, we aren't perfect. My friend, who is a vegan, had cheese the other day. Needless to say it made her feel sick and she is never having some again... but yes. In a lot of cultures fish isn't counted as meat anyway. I'm not sure why exactly... But I know that when a lot of Christians fast (which means veganism) they still eat fish and seafood. Tis odd.
Well, I eat meat and I like some of it but I love my fruits and veggies and dairy too! In fact, if I had to choose between meat and dairy, I would go for dairy! Cheese!!! Which is why I could never be a vegan =P
I think being a vegetarian or a vegan takes effort because you can't just grab anything and eat it. You also have to check for hidden stuff like gelatin etc. And yes, I haven't got the will power etc to bother. Yes... me is bad =P