Vegetarians

Fliss, that's what my OH said to start with too <evil cackle>

Actually I didn't really pressurise him, he just realised 3 yrs into our relationship that he was eating veggie most of the time anyway, and didn't really miss meat.

So in terms of ethical treatment of animals, lamb is usually the safest option?

Speaking as someone on a budget who cannot always afford to buy organic free range chicken etc it would be good to know which items were the best.

I do buy free range eggs, and buy most of my meat from the butchers/farm shop but occasionally all I can get to as ASDA.

R-A:

Fliss, that's what my OH said to start with too <evil cackle>

Actually I didn't really pressurise him, he just realised 3 yrs into our relationship that he was eating veggie most of the time anyway, and didn't really miss meat.

I've been trying for nine years - I think he's pretty much a lost cause!  I let him choose what he wanted to do for his 30th... and we ended up with a night at the local and a extra large burger to eat on the way home.  And his idea of holiday bliss is 5 pints and a burger every night, followed by a bacon buttie in the morning.  Every day.   He's so un-classy

At least I've weaned him off kebabs by pointing out the meat tubes, and 'baa-ing' like a lamb

Merlini:

I've got massive reservations about the whole dairy industry as well but couldn't face giving up cheese.

This is what made me give up being veggie after so long.  I couldn't get my head round the fact that I drank milk, ate cheese, had leather handbags and leather shoes etc yet wouldn't eat meat.   I was vegan for about 6 months for health reasons (to see if it would help my skin problems) and I could no way be vegan so thought I'd denounce being veggie and eat happy meat if I wanted to eat any meat at all.

I was vegetarian for about 12 years, then went back to eating meat a few years ago. It did start off as an ill-thought-out moral objection (not saying for a second that a moral objection to eating meat is necessarily ill-thought-out, there are perfectly convincing and coherent objections, but they don't fit in with my general moral/philosophical outlook so for me it was ill-thought-out!).

I can honestly say that during that time, aged 12-24, I didn't miss the taste of meat at all, and continued to be vegetarian (although not strict about meat stock/additives) even when the moral objection had gone, just because I saw no reason to change (plus it was cheaper). I went back to eating meat when I started travelling more widely, because it really is extremely difficult not to eat meat in a lot of countries, although that's a worthwhile sacrifice if you have a strong moral objection, which I don't. I enjoy all types of meat now, although interestingly if I'm cooking for just me I'll generally cook something without meat.

I can't actually remember when I gave up meat.  I know that my Mum was carving a chicken.  And I said that I really couldn't eat it, and I was turning veggie!  This must have been about 15 - 20 years ago I guess.  I didn't really like meat before that.  Hated lamb.  Chicken was ok.  Hated beef.  Thought fish was ok.  So honestly, I've never missed it.

Although ironically, I've had 3 near misses in the last month.  Iain's elderly aunt forgot I was veggie, and tried to feed me some kind of chicken thing.  Then I went out to eat and the restaurant accidentally put chicken in my fajitas!  Then I got a pasty from the station and it had lamb in!  I think someone's trying to tell me something!

Madam Jodie:

So in terms of ethical treatment of animals, lamb is usually the safest option?

Speaking as someone on a budget who cannot always afford to buy organic free range chicken etc it would be good to know which items were the best.

I do buy free range eggs, and buy most of my meat from the butchers/farm shop but occasionally all I can get to as ASDA.

I think so but happy to be told otherwise if anyone got better info. In supermarkets you can sometimes get good deals on free range chicken if you get stuff on special offer - maybe only a day or so in date. I freeze it or cook immediately and freeze. My mum often buys half a lamb (jointed of course) from the farmer down the road for very cheap but she's got one of those gigantic chest freezers. I cook cheap lamb cuts in the slow cooker for hours and hours - they can be really lovely. We try only to eat meat two or three times a week which keeps budget down a bit. Having said that I think there are some environmental (rather than animal welfare) objections to sheep farming. It really is a minefield.

I don't buy organic milk or cheese because my SIL told me that organic dairy farmers can't give antibiotics to cows that have mastitis and I felt bad about it. I've had mastitis twice and it really hurt!

I was a veggie for about 10 years from the age of six. I didn't miss it, but I also didn't like it. I still remember forcing a sausage sandwich down at a sleepover- in the end I hid it down the side of the bed (?) I just couldn't eat it. When I woudl eat mean, it would have to be cooked so specifically that it was just easier to be veggie.

Somehow, my tastes changed. I tried a Mcdonalds burger at 16 (thank god I lived in a nice city which didn't have McDoanlds until they finally forced their way in in the mid 90s) They say Bacon sandwiches are most likely to turn a veggie- I didn't even try one until 23, and even then I would have to cut off all the fat with a pair of scissors and grill the tiny medalions that were left.

Weirdly, I am now very much the carnviore and love meat and especially fish. i can eat gristle, fat, offal, gut a fish, whatever. Whilst i think its more than possible to be healthy as a veggie I also think its a far harder way to be.

The good thing is though, I'm as sure as one can be that I don't have mad cows disease, having not touched meat until the late 90s

Hyacinth:

Weirdly, I am now very much the carnviore and love meat and especially fish. i can eat gristle, fat, offal, gut a fish, whatever. Whilst i think its more than possible to be healthy as a veggie I also think its a far harder way to be.

What makes you say that?

I always think one of the advantages of being a veggie is how much easier it is to eat healthily. I don't have anywhere near the number of 'temptations'

And statistically speaking, of course, veggies have much lower incidences of heart disease, high blood pressure, bowel cancer, diabetes, breast cancer, obesity etc etc (mainly through reduced saturated fat & higher fibre intake from what I understand) (whoops, went a bit veggie warrior there )

R-A:

Hyacinth:

Weirdly, I am now very much the carnviore and love meat and especially fish. i can eat gristle, fat, offal, gut a fish, whatever. Whilst i think its more than possible to be healthy as a veggie I also think its a far harder way to be.

What makes you say that?

 

I always think one of the advantages of being a veggie is how much easier it is to eat healthily. I don't have anywhere near the number of 'temptations'

And statistically speaking, of course, veggies have much lower incidences of heart disease, high blood pressure, bowel cancer, diabetes, breast cancer, obesity etc etc (mainly through reduced saturated fat & higher fibre intake from what I understand) (whoops, went a bit veggie warrior there )

well, completely anocdotally, I recently had to up my Iron intake- thats really quite hard on a veggie diet (spinach really doesn't have as much Iron as people think ) and whilst you can certainly meet your daily Iron requirement through veggie food, I found it hard to hit mine on a meat diet- when you consider most sources of meat have between 3 & 10 times as much Iron per serving than no meat sources- its easier to be meeting that through meat. Not better, but easier.

I'mn not veggie bashing- a huge proportion of the world population are vegetarian and almost all of them have lower levels of obesity, heart disease, bowel cancer etc.. than ours- and as I mentioned I'm an ex veggie myself so the first to support it as a lifestyle, BUT I do find western veggies often fill up on pasta and cheese because its simple, especially when eating outside the home.

hyacinth, I think there's a massive difference between junk food vegetarians (pasta, cheese, diet coke, chocolate) and wholefood vegetarians. if you are the latter it's certainly easy to eat healthily. well, i think so anyway.

I became a veggie about the time I started practicing yoga more seriously, which is also when I fell pg and completely went off meat. the smell made me want to vom, I just couldn't have eaten it. once my daughter was born I was feeling pretty fab on a wholefood veggie diet so just never went back  to meat.

recently I've had fish a few times, so am obv not a strict veggie, but only about three times in the last six months. I've also recently switched cows milk for soy/oat/almond milk and can't remember the last time I had any cheese but haven't specifically avoided it - i just seem to have lost the taste / need for it somehow? weird.

I guess I could always take or leave meat but my family did think it odd when I stopped altogether, however they've accepted it now. I only cook veggie / vegan at home, and occasionally MrF gets a caveman urge and goes to buy half a cow / a rack of ribs / a whole chicken and eats the lots over two days . which is prob much more how our diets used to be - mostly veg, pulses etc, meat when available.

I've been veggie for about 20 years now. When I turned veggie (11) the things I found hardest to give up were chicken and McDonalds burgers

I don't think I've ever missed it really, certainly not red meat. I have had the occasional lapse when I've had too much to drink and fancied a bit of whatever was on offer but I've always regretted it - and not particularly enjoyed it.

I did decide about five years ago to try and start eating meat again - mainly for convenience purposes and had a chicken meal. Half way through eating it I felt ill and couldn't cope with the thought of eating flesh.

I find this really interesting: I toy with the idea of being veggie all the time. We really don't eat that much meat, and all the sustainabilty issues surrounding it really upset me. The dairy thing is ridic to, so I could only ever become a full on vegan I think.

However, I do love meat. Really, really love it. Only ever buy local, free-range organic stuff so it really is an occasional thing, so i don't think I'd be very good at it.

As I say, interesting discussion.

I am exactly the same as Geekypants.  Whenever I think through the morality of meat and dairy, I struggle to come to any conclusion other than that both are unacceptable (to me, based on my view of the world) and I should become a vegan.  However I truly love meat and fish- they are absolutely my favourite things to eat in the world- and I don't know that I could do it.  I also hate the idea of being a pain in the arse to cater for.  So I've started sticking my head in the sand and avoiding thinking about the issue- I even stopped reading this fascinating book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Animal-Liberation-Peter-Singer/dp/0712674446/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251651015&sr=8-3 because I was scared of being too convinced

Actually, I don't have much of a problem with eggs (assuming properly free range, by which I mean a higher standard than supermarket free range) so I could be an egg-eating "vegan".  As it is, I'm a hypocritical carnivore (albeit of free range meat only) and, when I'm not thinking about it, happy to be so. 

I've been veggie for 19 years.  I turned veggie at 6 because I just did not like the taste of meat.  I have tried over the last couple of years to eat different types of fish just so I could have a bit more choice when eating out, but I haven't found any I like!