Vegetarianism

[ally90]

Thoughts please...not sure if this is the right place to put it but for me its a moral issue.

I am not a vegetarian at the moment, I eat fish. However I have not eaten meat in 3.5 years. And I miss it so much. All my childhood memories of eating, the texture, the smell, the tearing the flesh from the bone...

But I think eating animals is wrong. I believe we as humans are above cheetahs, lions, monkeys etc we can live without meat, we can have beans and lentils etc that we can farm to survive on so we should stop this barbaric slaughter.

But I still love meat!!!

I know I'm a wishy washy hypocrite...I can live with the knowledge I'm eating meat...but it is always at the back of my mind and I'm not comfortable with myself when I do it.

So really mind versus body!! Mind says no, body says yes yes yes!

Anyone other veggies with this dilema? Or is it just me?

[QueenEagle]

You have to make a decision that is right for you. Then learn to live with the decisioin you make without feeling you have to justify to anyone else or feeling guilty.

[littlerach]

I've been a vegetarina ofr 16 years and wouldn't eat meat.
I have never had a craving for it.
I do cook it for dh and the girls as dh eats meat and the girls do too.
But I wouyld never ever try and convert anyone ot vegetarianism, it is a really personal choice.

If you eat fish already, is that much different to meat anyway?

[Lazycow]

dh has been a vegetarian for 10 years and he still has quite strong cravings for meat.

His reason is that he wants to live a life where he does the least harm possible and as he can live a healthy life without meat he chooses to do so.

I on the other tried being a vegetarian and lasted 18 months without fish or meat. I started eating fish again and then a year later went back to meat. I just missed it too much and I obviously didn't have a strong enough moral core to ignore the cravings

Horses for courses and all that.

[startouchedtrinity]

I've been veggie since I was about 18 - that is nearly twenty years! (wish I hadn't worked that out actually)

Anyway, for the first five or six yrs I wouldn't crave meat (except maybe bacon) but I would drool over cook books and feel I was missing out. But over the years I've got more creative as a cook, and I've just got used to it. I really, really don't miss it or crave it at all. The downside for me is that my dcs (who eat fish - in reality fish fingers ) aren't so adventurous in their tastes so I feel their diet isn't particularly exciting.

Had decent organic freedom food been available years ago I don't know if I would have gone veggie - probably would have as I was a mad animal lover and believed the 'if you love animals don't eat them' line. Think things are much less black and white now - am still totally against factory farming and hate the hypocricy of people who slag off hunting befor egoing to McDonalds. But if people want to eat ethically sourced meat then I think that is a good thing.

I feel very much lighter for not eating meat and a vegetable-based diet suits me. but there is a theory that people with certain blood groups should eat meat - I know group O is one.

At the end of the day only you can decide this. Do you cook lots of veggie meals or do you get stuck in a rut? And I know some veggie purists hate meat substitutes (I raraely eat them myself tbh) but my cousin swears by them. HTH

[ally90]

Thanks for all your comments. I've decided that I cannot go back to eating meat. I can make all sorts of arguments ie only organic, well looked after animals, not so bad for environment once a week, it would be healthy to get iron intake once a week, would have more foods to choose from...but cannot get over my core belief that its just wrong to eat another being. We're not allowed to eat humans...so why should we eat an animal?

Damn that Jamie Oliver with his bbq marinaded meat!

So thought about what Kerry M said about smoking (I diverged from the point though). If you quit smoking do you surround yourself with posters of people smoking? Do you go to the pub where you will be tempted? No, if you quit you take away as much temptation as possible. So I'm not going to get 'good food' BBC magazine anymore (too many tempting meat recipes) and I'm going to sell all my cookbooks (delia, gary rhodes, jamie oliver etc) and get in an only veggie cookbooks. I am strong enough to resist temptation when out for a meal and that is about the only time other than torturing myself with recipes with pictures that I feel the urge.

Am also going to stop eating fish as that is as someone said the same as eating meat. And having made the decision I feel lighter and happier in myself. Lots of good karma. And I'm also going to go further than before and get veggie wines/always veggie cheeses/veggie deserts/veggie worcester sauce (when I find a place that sells it. I'll do it gradually but I will get there.

And I will not be watching Jamie Oliver tomorrow night Esp if he has that bbq out again.

And maybe even get a veggie magazine delivered...any recommendations?

[littlerach]

Our local independant supermarket sells veggie worcester sauce. Thinkt he make is Life.
Didn't mean to offend you at all re fish.

[twotimestrouble]

Bear in mind too that there are loads of pretty good meat substitutes out there. I've been a vegetarian for 26 years and now don't miss it at all.

[NoBiggy]

There used to be some veggie magazines, but they all finished as aparently vegetarianism is now so mainstream that it doesn't need it's own mag.

I recently got the US Vegetarian Times from Borders (expensive as it's imported). But that was the first one I'd seen there for ages.

You may find a veggie group in your area - maybe get in touch and see what they can find you to read? You won't be obliged to join up!

[elasticbandstand]

i was a vegetarian for 14 years, came back to meat when i was cooking three meals, one for dh, one for ds and one for me, or some such excuse.
the only thing i missed was the chewy texture. nought else.

[startouchedtrinity]

ally, the only veggie mag I know is the quarterly one that comes with the Vegetarian Society membership. However, the Green Parent has veggie recipes and an ethical stance throughout (if a bit smug )

It was only cookbooks that made me feel I was missing out. Not any more, I can quite happily look through them and even find ways of making some recipes veggie. It's just a matter of time I think.

[Othersideofthechannel]

I am tempted to eat meat again after 20 years to make life simple. I have been eating fish for 6.
But I just can't face the idea.

[lljkk]

I think some people are more biologically designed to eat meat, they miss it more and maybe even sometimes suffer without it.

I have no moral objections to eating meat (tho' I was vegtn for other reasons for 16 yrs). But I feel very guilty for eating milk products -- I hate the way cows are separated from their calves in commercial production. Still, can't quite give up milk in tea and cheese in general.

[NiftyNanny]

I am veggie too, but still eat eggs free range as ethically sourced as possible - soil association have good policies - and milk, trying to get organic to assure it's from a decent farm. If I was tempted to eat meat I think I'd make sure I knew lots about how it had been treated before I could even go near it.

Glad you made a decision you're happy with, but as someone pointed out, there is a bigger grey area now re. farming. Supporting a local organic shop / farmers market where they'll explain how they treat the animal and so on, that's making a statement about how you think animals should be treated.

I must say, I consider this often too as my DP eats meat but I am just too squeamish, I see "corpse" not food and it just doesn't feel right!

Tesco (gasps) used to do a great veggie magazine once a quarter, free that you picked up in store. I google a lot of recipes but tend to make things up as I've gotten more confident in the kitchen. The Cranks Bible is great.

I resent veggie cook books that are all pasta and quiches - come on, if you can't get your head around throwing different things in a quiche to get a different flavour, then you've got to be a pretty rubbish cook! Likewise pasta, ideas are welcome but do you need a book to tell you that garlic, olive oil and tomatoes go well together?

Has Nigel Slater ever written a book for veggies? I loved the way Appetite was written. Someone should do a veg version!

[FrannyandZooey]

I don't think i really miss it now (20+ years on)

I agree it can be a powerful longing - the saltiness, fattiness, strong savoury flavours, plus hint of sweetness etc

I gave up meat for ethical reasons plus have quite a strong physical aversion to idea of eating dead flesh - so the revulsion would always be there alongside the craving. If you have decided to stay strictly vegetarian and are struggling with it, I would concentrate on that aspect of it - I feel very squeamish about the blood / bones etc - repulsive really.

[1sue1]

Is your problem with meat-eating that you disagree with eating animals, or the way they are farmed/killed?

If its the letter, go organic.

I am veggie and have been for over 20 years. Don't miss it one bit.

Surely compromising your integrity for something to eat is not right?