Eating Meat - give it up or what..???

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TheLife : One Thread

Yep, it's that Question again.. You know, I just love animals and the whole 'My Year of Meat' thing really disturbed me - not only on the hormone and unpleasant additives side, but also the whole rearing and killing of animals (I could have done without reading the entire slaughterhouse bit thankyouverymuch..) But you know, not eating meat because you love animals doesn't stop at Not Eating Meat - what about the shoes on your feet..? what about cosmetics, soap, even glue..? There's animal products in a hell of a lot of stuff - so where do you draw the line.. And if you don't eat meat, but wear leather and suede - isn't this similar to throwing on a mink coat..???

Yes - lets have some controversy for my first forum..!

Off you go then..

-- Immy (immy@rocketmail.com), August 13, 1999

Answers

God.!! Soy cheese is dire.. evil. I have managed to come to a very casual arrangement with the Soy milk department - but that's only if I make it into a smoothie, and put heaps of banana and wheatgerm into it, and then - and only then, does it become palatable - but I draw the line at Soy Cheese..

(oh, i don't care how many peppercorns, or garlic, or herbs you're putting in it Soy CheeseMakers - you're not fooling me. It still tastes awful. GIVE IT UP ALREADY..!!!)

It isn't cheese. It should be in a museum - somewhere like "Ripleys, Believe it or Not" perhaps..

-- Immy (immy@rocketmail.com), August 15, 1999.


Hey - why is my answer appearing at the top... GOD I HATE THESE THINGS..!!!

go in order, damn you..!!

I've checked the admin board, it's set for most recent answers on the bottom.. Don't make me come over there..!

-- Immy (immy@rocketmail.com), August 15, 1999.


Awww, for fucks sake..!!

-- Immy (immy@rocketmail.com), August 15, 1999.

i became a lacto-ovo-vegetarian 5,5 years ago simply because i don't wanna eat animals because i love them. totally sappy, i know. i didn't even look for other benefits, like health benefits and stuff, i just got the chance one day and followed through (i was sixteen and our school cafeteria began to offer veggy food as an alternative).

i literally quit in one day. on the sunday i ate meat kebab 'for the last time' and the next day veggy all the way. the way i was able to do it was that i realised that i set the limits, and the rules. it's not a game to impress other people, it's my own thing.

for me, the veggy style that suited me was lacto-ovo-vegetarian. that means in addition to veggies, i also eat eggs and dairy products, but no fish, birds or other things with faces who poops. i chose it because i'm crap at eating - i could never survive without the extra protein and vitamins in dairy and eggs, but it let's me know i'm at least partially doing something to follow my gutt feeling. i don't agree with how the animals are treated in the dairy/egg industry and one day i might become a vegan, but till then i feel better just knowing i'm at least not entirely contributing to the big meat industry.

i try and buy things that are no animal tested and that are not made out of suede and leather, but that is not a 100% thing, it's just my choice. the main thing to remember, immy, is that it's *your* choice.

if you're a veggy and then one day get this huge craving for a hamburger and (gasp!) actually eat one, that doesn't mean you've "lost" and that you might as well start to eat meat all together (unless you wish so) - you simply decided to have a hamburger, just as you decide *not* to have a hamburger.

hmm. hope i'm making some sense. i know i've ranted quite a lot. ah well :) /jennie

-- Jennie (a veggy) (deanna@kajen.com), August 13, 1999.


mmmmmm...meat.... I eat meat but I love animals....how do I live with myself? Denial! It's amazing the feelings you can repress when you dive down into the well of denial.

-- John (rirams@erols.com), August 13, 1999.


I have half given up meat - well given up red meat, except when my mum makes roast lamb (which I just love) except for the part that lambs are so cute and frolicking and look kind of cuddly (but I have never cuddled one) so I have a sort of dilema over that one. I don't like the look of red meat, the touch of red meat, the smell when it is cooking makes me gag, but I do like the taste, but only when it is with some sort of sauce or spice, the taste of cooked red meat on it's own is gross.

I have some polish friends who have appalling taste in meat, they eat chicken livers and chicken hearts, it is so gross I haven't got words to describe it, I was over there last night and they were cooking chicken livers and I had to go home because I was going to puke - not because of them I said but because of their cooking. I hope I didn't offend them.

I say give up meat, but not chicken, especially BBQ chicken which has really nice flavour enhanced skin which is fatty and greasy but really yummy, and also not mum's roast lamb, or really yummy lamb shanks cooked at a restaurant at South Bank. But apart from all that, give up meat!

-- Di (diski@bigpond.com), August 13, 1999.


Someday, when I grow up, I am going to give up meat. I eat very little anyway, but there's that occasional craving for a tender steak or a stupid ole hotdog. Very occasional.

What happens to me is that my family expects meat in EVERYTHING. I am very tired of cooking, period, so to cook two sets of meals just puts me under a pillow. And (as you can tell from the physique) I am no longer satisfied to eat the salad and skip the main course. When Jackson does the cookin' he tends to leave out the salad anyway - just the substance fried in grease, yum.

You? I think you should go for it ...for both of us!

-- Lyra (lyra11@yahoo.com), August 13, 1999.


If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat? And more to the point...why do they taste SO GOOD!

-- Mat (matw@bigfoot.com), August 15, 1999.

A Silverchair concert that I did not go to 2 years ago along with the book 'The Liver Cleansing Diet' converted me over to not eating meat except seafood. My brother brought home a flier describing the additives they give chickens, the appalling conditions that battery hens are farmed in and it was really disturbing. From the sounds of it, that's what may be in 'My Year of Meat' - I'll keep a look out for it. I know I'm not a vegetarian (I eat fish), but I still feel happy with what I am doing. The way I reason it is is that fish mostly lead 'happy' lives - they're not farmed in small cages and fed hormones to make them grow big quick. Also you don'toften go and see cows and chickens attacking and eating other animals. That's the way of the ocean though - there's always a bigger fish. That eases my guilt there. As for eggs, in the supermarkets they sell grain-fed barn laid freerange eggs. After 2 years of eating soy cheeses, I've realised it is just not the same though! :)

tam

-- tamara (yublocka@tmbg.org), August 15, 1999.


I was a vegan for an entire year... Before I moved back in with Mom and her Irish Staple Diet (meat, and maybe something else), whereupon I promptly fell off the wagon.

I never felt better than when I was avoiding animal products altogether. I slept like a log, always had energy, was skinny as a rail, and felt morally superior to everyone at McDonald's.

But it's really hard to do. Finding non-meat meals is close to impossible in the suburbs where I live. My friends always rolled their eyes when I'd order pizza without cheese, or a "veggie Whopper" at Burger King.

If you're going to go meatless, I'd suggest doing so on moral grounds. Health reasons aren't enough, since you can always decide to screw over your own body. Thinking of dewey-eyed puppies and kitties every time you sit down to a plate of steak works better.

-- Patrick Cleary (xingcat@yahoo.com), August 16, 1999.



Immy, I suspect your messages appear at the top because you are the One and True Immy and this is Immy's forum.

As for the meat debate, Mat hit the nail on the head. Now I want to learn more about Timtams..what makes them so good?

-- John (rirams@erols.com), August 16, 1999.


Yep, I emailed the forum guy, and apparently my messages take precedent.. but it seems that if I use a different email address I can be incognito - ha..!!

Anyhoo - Timtams. Well John - as you know I am sworn off chocolate and I only eat it now on very rare occasions, and a packet of TimTams is just too much temptation for me (particularly the double chocolate.. Mmmmmmm....) I cannot open a packet of biscuits and eat only one, I will keep eating them until I feel sick or they have all gone.. I don't do the moderation thingy. BUT, as I am sooooooo nice I will offer to send you a packet - how about that..!

***

And Patrick..!! Vegan - Vegan..!! That means no chocolate EVER AGAIN, and Women Need Chocolate - it's official..! There's even a book about it - and carob just does not do it for me..

And it also means no milk, eggs or cheese... I'm not sure I have that sort of willpower.

I have noticed that Vegans are super-slim, but I can't help but think it's because there isn't a hell of a lot left to eat..

-- Immy (jealousyw@yahoo.com), August 17, 1999.


For the last 5 years have been on cattle stations. We eat alot of meat, three times a day - but I can't. We shoot our "beasts" as they're called and dress them (cut them up) and hang the meat in the coldroom. Not so long ago they kept the skin for making greenhide ropes etc. While I have never actually watched an animal being killed (I shut my eyes and close my ears to the sound of the gun), I can look upon the dead beast and even assist with the dressing. I do know they die quickly and humanely. Cattle are extremely tough animals and it is wrong to attribute human qualities to these beasts. I have a friend "down south" who is currently trying to become pregnant - she's totally vegan but her body doesn't seem to be able to carry the babies her doctor has suggested increasing her protein intake. I have learnt that in all things, your views, attitudes and beliefs even your diet, MODERATION is the key. Too much meat is bad but so can too little.

-- Kessiah Goswell (goswellk@bigpond.com), August 20, 1999.

I would like to hook up on the thread of moderation. Too little protein is life threatening. A couple of weeks ago a young VEGAN couple came to the hospital with their baby, who was sick. No wonder, the stupid vegans had put their newborn baby on a vegan diet! The child was on its way to starve to death, and the doctors expect permanent brain damage to the kid. If you want to drain your own brain, go ahead a be a vegan, if you want to think and still don't eat meat, stick to lacto-ovo.

-- Maria (maria.vabulis@se.abb.com), August 25, 1999.

Eat the goddamn meat!

-- celeste (clembo@telstra.easymail.com.au), August 26, 1999.


Meat, Gawd I love that stuff...

Sweet & Sour Pork BBQ Lamb BBQ Steak Chicken, Lamb... Fish...Battered Fish... Prawn...Shrimp...Crab...

The list goes on (defenitely)...

"All Aussies shall eat meat but not to excess" or "Get it out of your mind and into your mouth"

*tumbles out of his chair and scrambles for the fridge to find that there's no left-over meat from last nights Chinese...*

Aaah, darn...

By The Way... It's good to see that more than 2 people (I would count my friend, except he says he's limbless. So I now classify him as a vegie. ie, one level below human) on this planet enjoys the Civilisation series.

But I do believe you're allowed to name yourself "Lady Pyschotic Communist" not some preset name... Oh, and what are you thinking going as Romans!?!! *sigh*

Any Aussie who doesn't play as the Australians is a little...Queer... Oh, and one more thing... I'm a little disappointed by the way the cheat menu has now got "limits". In Civilisation II it was possible not only to redefine the hit points of each unit, but also to "redraw" them. I replaced all my infantry with little stick figuer guys. And I stuck a little smiley face in the spoon of the catapult.

Oh...ONE more thing...*sigh*...What happened to the animations in the diplomacy screen?? I don't get to see the Aztecs chuck hissy fits anymore when I get on their backs! That's what happens when you hand the rights of the game over to some "amatuer" company like Activision (do not argue).

That's it from me... Cya

-- Jason K (goblodge@crazedanddazed.com), September 01, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ