Are you all veggie because of principle or just don't like taste of meat?

Misty Moon

Just curious if you are all vegetarian based on principle? Or are there any here that just don't like the taste of meat and so don't bother eating it, but aren't too stressed about using products with animal products in them (non-veggie cheese etc.). Or perhaps that don't eat meat because it just doesn't agree with them, gives them indigestion and so on.

I know people who fit into all these camps so was just curious as to all of you.

I'm not vegetarian although I don't eat a huge amount of meat, maybe about half my main meals in a week would contain some meat. It's probably more accurate to say though that I don't cook a lot of meat - if I'm in a restaurant or someone else is cooking I don't often choose vegetarian.

bounty

i love meat, and will never stop eating it

seamus

Strike one bounty, I will ban you next time. By all means debate it, but don't post pictures that people here could find upsetting.

If you've nothing to contribute, piss off.

leftofcentre

There are a million reasons, depends on the people. Personally i just don't like eating dead things, I think its completly minging.

Peanut

Misty Moon wrote:

...Or are there any here that just don't like the taste of meat and so don't bother eating it, but aren't too stressed about using products with animal products in them (non-veggie cheese etc.).

I just find it repulsive, on a physical level. It's the same feeling as others would have about eating dirt, or worse. It just seems dirty.

However I think that means I'm more obsessed about being strict about it, so I do try to avoid non-veggie cheese etc..

This was the initial reason, but I do also believe humans are a variety of animal, and it's not good (on a number of levels) to eat your close relatives.

I would argue that anything that has a brain (and perhaps some things that don't) has some type of conciousness, and while it's impossible to avoid violence in the world, we can at least try to maybe not use it when it's overbearing and unnecessary. I think it's astonishing that there are still people today that will say things along the lines of "animals don't feel pain" etc.

Having said that, I don't have a problem with people eating whatever they want, if that's what they decide, it just gets frustrating when your own choices become limited as a result, but that's the same with any minority.

rose of jericho

I am a veggie and I met this girl once who was also a veggie and asked her a similar question her answer was 'I hate animals, they are all disgusting, lowest form of life, filthy, smelly creatures. Now why would I want to put something so disgusting inside my mouth let alone the rest of my body'. I couldn't stopy laughing I was expecting a very different answer never heard anyone not eating meat because they were so repulsed by animals.

Doctor Benway

I'm vegetarian on principle, not because I don't like the taste of meat or even because I think it's disgusting. I actually love meat and still get cravings for it (especially if I pop into McDonald's on Grafton Street to use the toilets).

The only reason I don't eat meat is because I don't it's possible to justify the suffering that kind of diet causes animals. If it was possible to grow a cow or a chicken without a brain or any kind of awareness or ability to suffer, I'd be quite happy to eat it.

kestrel

i'm vegetarian as a sort of protest against the meat industry and people in general. i believe it is completely natural to eat meat, because we are animals and part of a food chain, but

1)i hate the way animals are viewed as much less important than us. i think we should respect them and show them due respect, if for nothing else than they give us life and are feeling, living things.
2)an animal should be raised in comfort and have a happy life before being killed quickly and humanely. none of this factory farming, unnatural lives and cruelty.

technically, i should just go for organic/local meat, but im pessimistic and don't trust people to do the right thing.

Tar.Aldarion

morals along with various other reasons...i adore meat to a ridiculous extent...it was practically all i ate in my youth.i detest nearly every food there is,sucks

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=289639

Peanut

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

morals along with various other reasons...i adore meat to a ridiculous extent...it was practically all i ate in my youth.i detest nearly every food there is,sucks

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=289639

Too much of a good thing? lol...
Well at least nowadays there's a lot more choice of meat and non-meat food so you might find some new obsession.

Attol

I find I feel a bit bloated when I eat meat. I try to eat more tofu, quorn etc. instead. I do eat a bit of chicken. Unfortunately I live at home and don't have too much say in some of the foods that are brought into this house but I do encourage getting organic freerange meat and eggs when we go to the supermarket. I think that it's unfair how animals are treated, the thought of eating animals pumped full of antibiotics repulses me etc. all put me off eating it. I'm also trying to lose weight so sticking to lower fat alternatives. I have this weird habit of whenever anyone leaves some meat uneaten I think that the poor animal died for no reason. It really makes me feel personally responsible somehow and makes me want to just eat veg. alternatives.

Tar.Aldarion

Peanut wrote:

Too much of a good thing? lol...
Well at least nowadays there's a lot more choice of meat and non-meat food so you might find some new obsession.

don't worry mate i still have coke and chef brown sauce....armed with these i can tackle most foods

bounty

seamus wrote:

Strike one bounty, I will ban you next time. By all means debate it, but don't post pictures that people here could find upsetting.

If you've nothing to contribute, piss off.

the lack of protein makes veggies very touchy

miss serena

Doctor Benway wrote:

If it was possible to grow a cow or a chicken without a brain or any kind of awareness or ability to suffer, I'd be quite happy to eat it.

Huh? That's wierd, and opening a whole other can of worms!

I don't like eating something that used to be alive. What's the difference in cow meat, dog meat or human meat. Nothing in my eyes. All the same. Icky!

ANarcho-Munk

Doctor Benway wrote:

If it was possible to grow a cow or a chicken without a brain or any kind of awareness or ability to suffer, I'd be quite happy to eat it.

That'd be just completly wrong and sick and playing god.

The Sweeper

I'm not vegetarian and don't believe I ever will be, but I do buy freerange organic meat. I don't support intensive farming and believe the amount of waste in this day and age is frightening. I can usually get three meals for two people out of one large organic chicken. Day one, roast chicken. Day two, cold chicken salad. Day three, chicken soup (stock from the bones, with the last scraps of chicken with a pile of vegetables). I think that if you are going to eat meat, you need to have respect for the fact that something died to feed you. Therefore you should be using every pick of it.

I've had a lot of 'my own business' ideas over the years, and one of the things I'd love to do is open a back-to-basics grocer/butcher, which would be all about local produce, small suppliers, organic produce and seasonal production. I don't think my life, personally, is remotely improved by the alleged 'convenience' of fast food and year-round produce that fits in with my allegedly 'hectic high-stress lifestyle'. Because I've chosen to eat meat, I've made sure I'm acutely aware of the less-publicised aspects of the meat industry.

This includes the waste byproduct of the dairy industry in the form of male calves. To be brutal, I couldn't believe the day I discovered male calves are simply incinerated or disposed of. I'd rather see them in the pet food industry.

Washout

Ive always been the beliver that the human body was not designed to eat meat.

The first obvious sign to me is the make up of our teeth and our hands.
suppose the following. If we as humans didnt have the intelligence we do and had the same intelligence as animals would be able to catch and pierce through the hide of animals and then to eat it. without the use of things such as fire to cook and implements to eat with I dont believe that we would be able to.
Thats my own basis on it. I know meat eaters will also say that we do have the intelligence and we are the top of the food chain.

Then there is the whole protein arguement. as a vegitarian i get plenty enough protein in nuts as well as things such as pulses and beans.

Some ppl do say that our teeth do compare to that of carnivorous animals but you show me which animals. a lions? a tigers?

when i saw this thread i did a quick google and came up witrh the following link.
http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/natural.html

I could get into my own personal moralistic and spiritual beliefs of being a vegitarian but from a scientific point of view alon i just odnt believe the human body is designed to eat meat.
Even when you look at things like food pyramids from a health point of view, they state that you should consume plent of fruit and vegtibles and small amounts of meat and the meat for the sake of protein but when protien is available in other food sources then why eat meat altogether?

ill prolly get abused from meat eaters but this is just my own point of view.

Tar.Aldarion

from biology books i have read humans have the same chemistry and biology as herbivores,from hands,feet,teeth to intestinal tract.our closest animal relatives,apes,have nearly 100% vegetarian diet eating small animals that they see moving around now and again.some like the silverback with it's damn frightening teeth are completely vegetarian.protein arguement is pretty weak as people from various places in the world have been vegan for over 5,000 years and things like prunes have more protein than lamb etc.A lot of people eat more meat in a day than is recommended for them to eat in a week or two and it's not even a great deal of meat.

Peanut

ANarcho-Munk wrote:

That'd be just completly wrong and sick and playing god.

I dunno I think it would be pretty amusing :rolleyes: *evil laugh*
Besides, it's not as if we're not playing god as it is.

It's a great question though about where to draw the line as to what is acceptable to eat - the unconcious consensus at the moment seems like "stuff that isn't cute", which seems a bit lame to put it mildly.

Doctor Benway

ANarcho-Munk wrote:

That'd be just completly wrong and sick and playing god.

Oh dear. I suppose I better cancel the experiments then.

Seriously, though, the reason I used that example wasn't because I thought it was particularly likely or even, necessarily, desirable. It was to explain that I didn't think there was anything inherently wrong in eating flesh or something that used to be alive (or even 'cute'). It was the suffering that goes hand in hand with meat-eating that I don't believe can be justified when there are alternative sources of nutrition available. The (extreme, admittedly) suggestion that I made was an easy way of showing how, IMO, it might be possible to eat meat that would be acceptable as it wouldn't cause suffering.

Also, I don't think the 'playing God' argument stands up to close scrutiny, but that's very off-topic.

taibhse

,apes,have nearly 100% vegetarian diet eating small animals that they see moving around now and again.some like the silverback with it's damn frightening teeth are completely vegetarian

There is actually recent evidence to show that chimps who they thought were completely vegetarian will attack monkeys and eat them for food. Some have even been seen to be cannibalistic.

I am a veggie though because imo it's wrong to eat animals. If you couldn't kill it yourself, why pay someone else to do it for you? The meat industry is so horrific, so wasteful and self-righteous. I hate the idea that people simply have a "right" to eat meat and that animals are simply "below" them.

Tar.Aldarion

taibhse wrote:

There is actually recent evidence to show that chimps who they thought were completely vegetarian will attack monkeys and eat them for food. Some have even been seen to be cannibalistic.

what's that from,link?,i didn't think it was in their nature to be like something out of 'congo' unless it was a territory or family protection thing.

kestrel

i actually saw that too. it was on David Attenboroughs 'Life of mammals' i think- i found it really disturbing to see a group of chimps hunting some small monkeys. the chimps went out on hunting parties and chased down the prey. it think they used tools to kill it (i'm not sure) it was way too human, and it really made me ill to watch...evolution is progressing at an alarming rate.

The Sweeper

They didn't use tools to kill it, they just tore it apart. Apparently sometimes chimps take a hankering to monkey-meat and will hunt - I'm sure it's a colobus monkey in that footage.

I believe human beings are successful because we're designed to be opportunists. That should mean we will hunt, gather, scavenge and farm. It should also mean that both flora and fauna are on our list of digestibles.

Doctor Benway

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

I believe human beings are successful because we're designed to be opportunists. That should mean we will hunt, gather, scavenge and farm. It should also mean that both flora and fauna are on our list of digestibles.

You're jumping from an 'is' to an 'ought' there (don't you know your Hume? ).

Just because we can eat meat, it doesn't mean we should eat meat, especially if there are other alternatives available.

Tar.Aldarion

we can digest cardboard too,do we eat that?

bounty

hmmmmmm giant carrots

Doctor Benway

bounty, have you ever thought about doing stand-up comedy? You reallly should, you know. You're a genuinely very funny person. You're far funnier than anyone on television at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if you became successful incredibly quickly. If you start now, you could well be a Perrier contender next year.

Really, you're wasted on here.

Thordon

I dont eat meat because I dont think animals are here to serve us, we're supposedly intellgent beings, we know we cause the animals to suffer, but we just dont seem to care.

Some excuses like 'I believe its natural to eat meat', natural doesnt mean right.

We know better, stop making excuses.

Peanut

Thordon wrote:

...
Some excuses like 'I believe its natural to eat meat', natural doesnt mean right.

'Natural' doesn't mean anything in fact...

bounty

Doctor Benway wrote:

bounty, have you ever thought about doing stand-up comedy? You reallly should, you know. You're a genuinely very funny person. You're far funnier than anyone on television at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if you became successful incredibly quickly. If you start now, you could well be a Perrier contender next year.

Really, you're wasted on here.