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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have a bacon sarnie?

37 replies

Ravingstar · 10/12/2025 20:49

This is a ridiculous question I think but here goes….

I used to be a massive meat eater - ate meat several times a day. Don’t have loads of enjoyment and food is a deep but almost singular pleasure for me. BUT three years ago i became vegetarian pretty much overnight - just felt really bad that animals were being slaughtered for meat and suddenly thought how would I feel if I was going to be killed. So I just stopped eating meat. Everyone was shocked.

thing is I miss it so much. I don’t really enjoy vegetarian food. It’s ok, I eat it and make do but I would really love a bacon sandwich. I’d love a burger. I’d also love to eat a carbonara.

If it was an issue of welfare, I think I could justify having a meat based dish but I literally feel terrible about any animal dying and the fear it must feel. I’m trying to find ways round it but I don’t think there are any. I don’t really know why I’m asking here. I just saw a thread where someone mentioned a bacon sandwich and I just thought god I really want one.

OP posts:
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Original poster
Ravingstar · 11/12/2025 21:51

NineteenSeventies · 11/12/2025 18:35

Could you allow yourself high welfare meat occasionally?

If you would feel too guilty, then don't. Most of us have food cravings that we can't give into, or can't give in to as often as we'd like, whether for ethical reasons, health reasons, allergies, intolerances, cost.

Bear in mind that eating it would give you enjoyment for however long it takes you to eat a bacon sarnie - about 10 minutes max in my case - and ask how you'd feel afterwards. If afterwards you'd feel satisfaction, then fine, if afterwards you'd feel guilt, it's not worth it for 10 minutes of pleasure.

This is a very helpful way to look at it. I think this is why I haven’t caved so far because I think I would feel dreadful and really upset afterwards and possibly even during the eating of it so it’s just spoilt the whole thing for me really.

I think my issue is more just that I’ve lost something I really enjoyed doing…I know it sounds mad but I just really get a lot of pleasure from eating and that derived from meat dishes. Now I don’t go out much as I don’t really like the vegetarian options and at home I just make do but it’s cut out a big source of fun/pleasure for me - I know that sounds really sad! I roll my eyes at myself.

I might try the vegan pastrami although like a PP said I have an aversion to eating a lot of these highly processed chemicals.

now If only I could feel the same way about smoking.

OP posts:
MakeMineAMilkyTea · 11/12/2025 18:38

I won’t have a bacon sandwich this month so you can have mine. I probably have one every 6 weeks or so.

NineteenSeventies · 11/12/2025 18:35

Could you allow yourself high welfare meat occasionally?

If you would feel too guilty, then don't. Most of us have food cravings that we can't give into, or can't give in to as often as we'd like, whether for ethical reasons, health reasons, allergies, intolerances, cost.

Bear in mind that eating it would give you enjoyment for however long it takes you to eat a bacon sarnie - about 10 minutes max in my case - and ask how you'd feel afterwards. If afterwards you'd feel satisfaction, then fine, if afterwards you'd feel guilt, it's not worth it for 10 minutes of pleasure.

WhenTheStarsLightUpTheRoom · 11/12/2025 18:35

It’s entirely your choice OP, but it doesn’t sound like you would feel ok about it if you did.

I have been vegan for many years now and I really couldn’t eat any animal products. I’ve sometimes craved eggs or a certain chocolate but I wouldn’t actually eat them. There is no food to me that is worth it.

I don’t think mumsnet will help you much. This is a very personal decision.

BlueberryOats · 11/12/2025 18:29

I think you need to ask yourself what you are craving, as you are probably missing something. Protein? Flavour?

Saying that, I tried being veggie in my late teens and bacon and burgers I just couldn't quit.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 11/12/2025 18:26

Have one! But please make sure it’s U.K. higher welfare bacon - Waitrose is very reliable. Any pork products from Denmark, Germany or the Netherlands will be cheaper, but almost certainly because they’re factory-farmed.

moderndilemma · 11/12/2025 18:24

Funny story @Ravingstar

Years ago my friend (vegetarian) and her young daughter were visiting. I was making veggie lunch for us, but was also prepping my own dinner for later. Little Anna asked what I was making - chicken. "We don't eat chicken", she said. "I know, but I think that there is as difference between a chicken that has lived a happy life in the woods and the field and the sunshine, and a sad chicken that has lived in a barn, or even in a small cage."

Little Anna pondered. "Ah! So you only eat the sad chickens and let the happy chickens live a happy life?" Grin Grin

Pearlstillsinging · 11/12/2025 18:23

MarbleDrive · 10/12/2025 23:38

I think you either close your mind to the cruelty and suffering, or you are a vegan.

Pigs are intelligent, emotional and sensitive and I’ve read awful things about the horrific conditions they suffer. I think few of us would eat meat or dairy if we knew the realities of the industry. It’s easier not to think about it.

That is why some of us only eat high welfare meat.

Parky04 · 11/12/2025 18:22

OilyRoundTheCogs · 11/12/2025 15:14

Neither. Mayonnaise is the answer.

Show quote history

Nope. English mustard is the correct answer!

moderndilemma · 11/12/2025 18:18

I also had the opposite dilemma with my vegan dc. I hate, hate, hate fake meat. It is basically a concoction of petrochemicals. imo if you want to eat plant based then eat real plant/vegetable/seed/pulse things. But last Christmas my vegan dc wanted fake bacon when we had real (ethically sourced) bacon. I bought it for her because I love her. But yuk!!!

moderndilemma · 11/12/2025 18:13

@Ravingstar would you eat roadkill? not squashed badger

I lived in the countryside for a few years and there were always dead pheasants on the road (stupid creatures!!). It was my understanding that it is not legal to take a bird that you knocked down yourself, but if you were the next car, it was OK.

These were birds that were stunned and killed instantly (not run over and squashed). They were the same birds that game shooters would shoot and eat. We had to prepare them in the same way - hang them for a few days, pluck them, butcher them.

Better for us to have some meat and a big pot of pheasant stock than for them to be run over repeatedly on tarmac.

If you can get your head round eating meat in that context it might help with your desicion making around other meat.

Damnloginpopup · 11/12/2025 18:03

OilyRoundTheCogs · 11/12/2025 15:14

Neither. Mayonnaise is the answer.

Show quote history

You're a wrong un you are.

SpinelessBastardsAll · 11/12/2025 15:33

Scrowy · 10/12/2025 21:52

I'm a farmer (a proper one with a few thousand sheep and a couple of hundred cows) - I only eat locally bred and butchered meat so I can be certain that what I am eating had a good life and a good death.

It's expensive but that's how it should be if something alive has died to become food.

Animals suffer brutal deaths in the wild at the claws and teeth of other animals, or through disease or injury. At least humans generally try and do their best to minimise any suffering when they do choose to eat meat.

All I can say is I have seen animals slaughtered and although upsetting to watch I have never once felt that in the circumstances I observed that the animal suffered or was in any fear. I've happily eaten said animals afterwards usually quite happy in the knowledge that they had a good life.

So go to the local butcher, ask about where their bacon comes from, they should be able to tell you which farm and which slaughterhouse. Enjoy a bacon sandwich knowing that the bacon you are eating came from an animal that free ranged through woods and wanted for nothing during its short but valuable life.

I don't know what slaughter houses you have been in but the three I have worked in are brutal. Pigs are gassed, and chickens are suspended upside down and lowered into boiling electrified water.
The free range 'high welfare' animals were in the same kill line as those caged and barned. We kill 10,000 hens every hour and 9,000 pigs a day. Didn't see one die that wasn't in fear.
Your local processing plant sounds like an oasis of calm and kindness!

OilyRoundTheCogs · 11/12/2025 15:14

Damnloginpopup · 11/12/2025 01:11

The only real quandary is red or brown sauce?

Neither. Mayonnaise is the answer.

AutumnAllTheWay · 11/12/2025 14:11

I have no useful answer to your question but have now asked hubby to get bacon on way home and looking forward to a bacon sandwich 😀

Renamed · 11/12/2025 13:45

Duplicate

Renamed · 11/12/2025 13:45

I appreciate it’s not a real answer to your question, but I just had some really good vegan pastrami- it was perfect with cheese mustard pickle etc. if you crave a hot fried filling on buttered bread with tomato have you tried halloumi?
No judgment if you have bacon, eat what you want

Kelvinator1 · 11/12/2025 07:20

Google a recipe for Tofu bacon - far better than the shop bought bacon substitues and is delicious in a sarnie with a fried egg!

Muffsies · 11/12/2025 06:30

I eat fish one a week (a pan-fried fillet in my 'bacon'), and I have meat on special occasions. I appreciate it more by having it less often. Could you find a local farm shop or butcher to get your meat? Then you'll be supporting sustainable and higher welfare farming. You'll get the best of both worlds and actually be doing some good.

Are you getting plenty of fresh vegetables, beans, nuts, cheese, eggs and mushrooms in your diet? Veggie food shouldn't be boring, there are plenty of flavours, textures and high-protien options that shouldn't make you feel like you're missing out. On the other hand, humans were designed to eat meat and fish, you can live healthily without, but I did introduce fish once a week for health reasons whilst I'm going through the meno.

youalright · 11/12/2025 03:12

Damnloginpopup · 11/12/2025 01:11

The only real quandary is red or brown sauce?

Definitely red and loads of butter

Damnloginpopup · 11/12/2025 01:11

The only real quandary is red or brown sauce?

Marble10 · 10/12/2025 23:46

I’m similar to you OP. I can just about manage chicken but I am close to not even being able to eat that. Feel so sad when I see the transport vans (I live in an area where there are plenty of farms).
I can’t eat pork/lamb/beef and to me it just doesn’t even taste nice after seeing the poor treatment of
animals. However I do still have leather items (shoes/clothes/sofa) but for some reason can separate that feeling so realise I may be hypercritical there.

MarbleDrive · 10/12/2025 23:38

I think you either close your mind to the cruelty and suffering, or you are a vegan.

Pigs are intelligent, emotional and sensitive and I’ve read awful things about the horrific conditions they suffer. I think few of us would eat meat or dairy if we knew the realities of the industry. It’s easier not to think about it.

Copperoliverbear · 10/12/2025 23:35

Eat meat from the local butcher, higher welfare.

Naws · 10/12/2025 23:26

Ravingstar · 10/12/2025 23:04

Thank you. I really appreciate all your responses; they’re very kind and sensitive.

I think I could happily eat meat that came from animals that had a high standard of life and didn’t suffer and would happily pay more; for lots of reasons, I think we should pay more for better standard welfare and to ensure farmers earn properly - but I just can’t convince myself that animals don’t feel any fear before they’re killed or that they should be killed so I can eat them.

I get what you're saying but dairy farming can also be pretty cruel, so if you're consuming dairy products, the pig is going to be no less distressed than the cow who helped to make the bread and butter and the milk in your tea/coffee.