Before going veggie, did you eat meat every day?

Breezer

Random question for those that used to eat meat: before you went veg*n, did you eat meat every day? Or do meat eating members of your family do so?

The reason I'm asking is, bizarre as it might sound, I've only recently discovered that this seems to be the norm in Ireland. When I was growing up, none of my family were vegetarian (they still aren't), but we always had 2 or 3 vegetarian dinners per week. I just assumed everyone else did too, but have recently found out that lots of if not most people eat meat every single day of their lives. I just think that's really strange!

So yeah, were veggie meals a thing in your houses?

Zombienosh

Probably never had a veggie meal before I went veggie, this was one of the main reasons I first went veggie. I was amazed that everything on a plate was a side to the meat. When deciding what was for dinner, you pick the meat first then decide what can be made out of that meat.

Everyday growing up was that way. Until I said what if. Why does everything have to revolve around meat.

Ri na hEireann

I'm wondering this too. I'm currently trying to move to a more plant-based diet gradually and hope to cut out meat completely as soon as possible. At the moment I'm having 4/5 meat-free days per week but up until I chose to do this I think I included some sort of meat in my dinners nearly every day, with the odd inadvertent exception.

Shenshen

I didn't grow up in Ireland but in Germany, and yes, in my family we'd eat meat every day. Most days, there would be meat on the table in one form or another 3 meals a day even.

In retrospect, I think my family is probably a little on the extreme side there, but I do think that many if not most people eat far too much meat.
Mostly out of convenience, I suspect. It's just the easiest thing to cook, very little preparation or skill required.

entropi

My family still eat meat most days of the week, it was no different to when I was growing up. I hardly ever ate it though, was never a big fan of meat anyway so a transition to being veggie as an adult was quite easy.

Staff Infection

Well growing up we had at least one non-meat family meal per week such as pasta arrabiata, omelet or beans on toast for tea maybe. We also used to have margarita pizzas and chips a bit.
Then my sister went through a more health conscious phase which meant thinks like lentils and soya mince were in the press. As a result I had eaten and cooked a fair few vegetarian meals years before I ever made the switch myself.

However, I understand from talking to others that most families in Ireland do tend to be more "meat and two veg" meal centered. The one exception would be religious folk who had pescetarian friendly Friday meals as families used to eat fish on Fridays as far as I know.

Tar.Aldarion

Yes every day, in fact nearly every meal. I would only really eat meat and couldn't eat other foods without it. I really needed that chewiness.

Killer_banana

My family eats mainly meat and two veg style dinners. I was roughly ten before I ever had pasta and the most exotic thing my mum ever cooks is stir fry. If there's no meat on the plate there's going to be fish. There may be an odd day where we would have soup or maybe savoury rice but that would only be if we had been gone somewhere most of the day and were back fairly late or if it were a Sunday and mum was feeling particularly lazy. I think my mum (who does the majority of the cooking) might try more different things if she were cooking just for herself but my dad is picky enough so she tends to stick what she knows. She doesn't like having to cook two separate meals.

fillefatale

No, save for maybe chicken nuggets & kievs, things that weren't so explicitly meaty, and I ate a lot of tuna

Ms. Koi

My family would be quite varied in food choices, my dad is an excellent cook. We would have pasta dishes once a week, like mac and cheese, so obviously no meat there. Most days they will have chicken or meat, but they don't mind the odd veggie meal at all. My boyfriends family have the very traditional meat and two veg every single day, the concept of vegetarianism took them a while to get used to, I don't think they understand now! But they do keep veggie pizzas in the freezer if I'm over in the evening and am hungry (which is cute as hell!)!
I never ate much meat anyway, I only ate chicken or white fish, mince maybe. I've never eaten steak. I wasn't a huge fan of red meat at all. A lot of people seem to think that I'm a veggie because I haven't tasted steak!

Killer_banana

kellief wrote: »

A lot of people seem to think that I'm a veggie because I haven't tasted steak!

I will admit I never cared for red meat or beef much but well cooked steak was really good. When the horse meat scandal broke I was only gone vegetarian for a little while and my dad said to mum 'Maybe she had the right idea.' To which she replied 'You like steak too much to give up meat.'

entropi

I had what would have been described as a nicely cooked steak (some friends and I were at a meal years ago before I was veggie), and I really didnt get the point of it. It was actually very bland and flavourless! The only time I've ever tried it, only time I ever will

Ms. Koi

Killer_banana wrote: »

I will admit I never cared for red meat or beef much but well cooked steak was really good. When the horse meat scandal broke I was only gone vegetarian for a little while and my dad said to mum 'Maybe she had the right idea.' To which she replied 'You like steak too much to give up meat.'

I never had it so don't care for it! Sure I'm veggie over 7 years now. I don't mind people eating meat in front of me, but once, when we were in Italy, my boyfriend got a steak and I swear the thing was just short of mooing on the plate. It was the one and only time I asked for a menu to put up between us, because I just couldn't bear the sight of it.

Maxthedm

I'd say I had a mix of vegetarian and meat dishes, though I probably had some form of meat almost once a day. When going out to certain restaurants I would eat the veggie burger because I thought it tasted better than the actual meat ones! Though at the time I wouldn't have normally looked at a meal and thought whether it was vegetarian or not.

I do noticed whenever I eat with family for dinner though, they always have a non-vegetarian dish and I have to have a separate meal made for me. Rarely do I eat what they're eating these days.

Killer_banana

kellief wrote: »

I never had it so don't care for it! Sure I'm veggie over 7 years now. I don't mind people eating meat in front of me, but once, when we were in Italy, my boyfriend got a steak and I swear the thing was just short of mooing on the plate. It was the one and only time I asked for a menu to put up between us, because I just couldn't bear the sight of it.

I do think they're good but not good enough to keep eating meat for. I do think they're overrated.

Never got the appeal of rare meat. I would probably do the same.

Ms. Koi

Killer_banana wrote: »

I do think they're good but not good enough to keep eating meat for. I do think they're overrated.

Never got the appeal of rare meat. I would probably do the same.

It was just too rare!

openup

I definitely ate meat everyday. For both lunch and dinner. I didn't get why someone would eat a meal where meat wasn't the main component, especially in a restaurant. And I wouldn't even have considered myself a big meat-eater! My parents would still eat meat everyday, though they eat more fish know for health reasons.

--LOS--

Probably did when I was younger, but no not when I was older, I ate less and less meat tbh, I was never a huge fan of meat especially red meat anyway, much preferred fish. Now though, my family eat meat a few times a week but not every day, they definitely don't have to have meat every day, they'll make things like stir-frys with chickpeas or kidney beans a few times a week too which is good.

Benny_Cake

I ate meat practically every day as part of my lunch and dinner. I loved meat, just before I went vegetarian I developed a taste for rare steak - something that I know a lot of long-time vegetarians would find nauseating. I find that even if your culinary expertise is limited, meat automatically makes a bland meal taste better. It makes cooking a lot easier! The advantage of being vegetarian (for me) is that I've been forced to try new things and be more inventive.

StevoTG

Yep, ate meat nearly everyday up until going veggie. Was never keen on fish (except for smoked cod) so it would have been red meat or chicken, pretty much every day, at least once a day. After making the switch, I used a lot of meat substitutes to fill the void on the plate. I still use mock meats every once in a while, but I tend to appreciate the variety of tastes in vegetables and other foods a lot more these days so there's no need for something 'meaty'.

Twoandahalfmen

I did but Havant eaten meat for 3 years. Love feeling healthyer and animals not dying

Breezer

Interesting. Guess my family was just weird so

sweet-rasmus

When I was younger our family generally only had meat once or twice a week, I think (it was a long time ago!). It certainly made the transition a lot easier when I decided to become vegetarian.

blatantrereg

I ate a lot of meat before going vegetarian. Growing up I ate it every day, and as an adult I ate it almost every day too.