Why are you vegetarian? And advice needed.

[biggirlknickers]

I walked passed the back of our local abattoir yesterday morning and I haven’t touched meat since.

The sounds of sheep bleating, a cow calling, men shouting and a couple of loud pops that I suspect may have been a bolt gun.

The sight of a van with empty meat hooks just waiting for the next carcasses.

The smells of a farm - but knowing that it wasn’t a real farm.

I think I’ve just become a vegetarian.

So tell me, why are you a vegetarian?

And what advice do you have for me as a newbie?

My main concern is that DP and DC all eat meat. Meals are hard enough to plan already with fussy children and busy lives. Secondary concern is that I know after a few days I’m going to start craving it! I really don’t want to give in.

If I can’t face the reality of what goes on in an abattoir I have no right to eat meat.

I’m a life long vegetarian and life long dairy free (cultural thing), I do however eat eggs, but only from certain places, so I avoid eggs when eating out. My son is the same (milk allergy also) and my husband is a vegetarian. I personally couldn’t have a relationship with a meat eater, just as I couldn’t date someone who had a puppy mill or pets in poor condition.

I personally think killing animals to eat is abhorrent, however what I find even worse is the conditions animals are kept in. I always find it odd when we have threads on here about slaughter, yet those same posters who are meat eaters are generally happy to pay people to inflict cruelty on those animals for their entire life.

If someone eats animals they are choosing to pay someone to carry out animal cruelty, it really isn’t any different to someone pay me to kick my dog on a daily basis.

If you wouldn’t do it to your own pet, why pay someone to do it to a chicken, pig etc?

There is also the environmental impact of the meat/fish industry.

Fishing is hugely damaging, some people attempt to ease their conscience with line caught tuna, erm, the bait on those lines is from trawling. Or we have dolphin ‘friendly’ people genuinely believe these measures prevent other species from being harmed.

Meat and dairy production is also a problem, a huge amount of land is needed worldwide to grow animal feed. Lots of animal products are flown/shipped around the world, tuna from Asia, beef products from South America, chicken from Asia, lamb from New Zealand, pork from Denmark.

No one in the UK needs to eat a tin of South American corned beef, just as no one needs to eat a ready meal with Asian chicken or Danish bacon.

If people want to continue eating dead animals they need to choose higher welfare and actually look at individual farms by scanning the product code. If people can’t afford it everyday thats fine, just eat it once a week instead. We do not need meat/fish everyday, I’ve never eaten it.

I'm veggie, actually pretty close to vegan especially when out, due to severe allergies although I never did eat much meat. However we are a vegetable farm but have a few sheep mainly for the kids and we are useless when it comes to market time and have lots of "pets" now. Dh and dd1 are confirmed carnivores but dd2 has recently joined me because she doesn't want to eat animals and has taken a great interest in the ethical side after seeing neighbouring farms in the area and the animals going away etc.

I’m veggie for 18 months largely in reaction to the Australian wild fires caused by climate change. Was a carnivore and I started with veganuary but ultimately moved to vegetarianism for various reasons.

My husband and two kids aren’t veggies and I’ll cook them meat (within reason). Kids are young enough that we still eat separately but with DH I tend to mix the week with some meat for him (Kiev or steak) and a veggie option for me (nice quorn product). On other days when I cook properly I do lots of Indian recipes (Zaika) or things like the Bosh chilli.
An easy win is Huavos Rancheros so I always have eggs, cheese, guacamole etc in the house.

Started off just not liking the taste or texture of it.

My secondary school bus left from the village butchers before it opened every morning. There were regular deliveries. The sight and smell of carcasses being carried past made me never want to eat them. Why veggie sausages etc are made to taste like meat is beyond me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m married to a meat eater, daughter is a meat eater. I don’t mind cooking meat, but I’m really careful where it comes from (local farm, mainly).

Oh and some swaps of you are craving something “meaty” or comfort food:
Sausages: Richmond vegetarian
Bacon: this isn’t bacon
Breaded chicken: quorn products
Burgers: don’t bother just do amazing things with mushrooms and cheeses or… quorn again
Sausage rolls: Greg’s vegan obvs but also M&S plant kitchen
Pies: don’t go high end, they are disappointing, pukka leak and potato

35 years a veggie
reason 1. MiL started saying how nice the bouncy little lambs were in the field next to her house, then have us lamb for lunch. ( "just kill it and I'll eat it raw", not appreciated by MiL)
reason 2. I started to get stiff joints, especially the base of my thumbs so stopped meat and haven't had the problem since.
MiL long gone, and hands pain free.
I don't miss meat and have only eaten it by mistake, last 15 years to my knowledge.
I do eat eggs and fish, NOT tuna. Though I do try and limit both.

I’ve been a vegetarian for 17 years and I will never go back. I’m not happy to eat something that has died for me when I am perfectly fine surviving without eating meat. DH and DDs aren’t meat eaters but all eat veggie most nights when it’s a ‘one pot’ meal.

I honestly can’t say I’ve missed the meat but I miss the ease of eating meat if you get what I mean. Being a vegetarian is hard work and a big commitment to do properly. I don’t eat any animal product that has resulted from animal death - no meat, fish, sweets with gelatine, etc. I would love to be a vegan but I already have such a limited diet that being vegan just can’t work for me completely at the moment.

Some foods I love:

• Quorn nuggets (so delicious!!!)
• Linda McCartney sausage rolls
• LM mozzarella burgers
• LM rosemary sausages
• Leak, potato and cheese Pukka pies (as a PP said, the meat equivalent pies are grim!)

Good luck and welcome to the club. You’ll be hated at parties but stick with it.

Hubby and I stopped eating meat 8-years-ago after watching the Netflix documentary Vegecated. We had only eating organically produced (due to better animal welfare standards) meat for a long time before that. That documentary pushed us over the edge. It’s all about animal welfare for us.

We were surprised to find that, after the initial adjustment, we have never missed meat. There are so many vegetable products with very close consistency to meat out there now. The common one to crave us a bacon sandwich. Quorn bacon is fab. It tastes like smoked bacon and is very close in consistency. Just avoid looking at it more than you have to because it looks like shoe leather LOL! There are several excellent minced beef substitutes. My favourite is Richmonds. They also do excellent meat free sausages that genuinely taste like Pork sausages! We use something like this, maybe twice a week. Over time we’ve come to enjoy meals just made with varying kinds of beans etc.

If you can find Vegecated, maybe get your DH to watch it. You never know. I thought it would just be me who gave-up meat completely, but when I turned to my hubby and said that, he said he felt the same and we’ve never looked back.

Good luck 👍

Because I can be. Simple as that really.

Vegetarian for 30 years

@purpleleotard

35 years a veggie reason 1. MiL started saying how nice the bouncy little lambs were in the field next to her house, then have us lamb for lunch. ( "just kill it and I'll eat it raw", not appreciated by MiL) reason 2. I started to get stiff joints, especially the base of my thumbs so stopped meat and haven't had the problem since. MiL long gone, and hands pain free. I don't miss meat and have only eaten it by mistake, last 15 years to my knowledge. I do eat eggs and fish, NOT tuna. Though I do try and limit both.

Please don’t refer to yourself as a vegetarian if you eat fish. You are a pescatarian.

I have had so many issues where people have assumed I eat fish when I’ve said I’m vegetarian because of people not using the term pescatarian. Many a meal missed due to this.

I never enjoyed eating meat and then watched a documentary about abattoirs. I became a vegetarian 21 years ago. It is a commitment but I just don't like meat or crave it in any way.

DH is pescatarian. If he was on a desert island he couldn't kill an animal with his bare hands so he doesn't eat them. He would have no problem killing fish though

We eat a lot of fish, also Mexican with the quorn chicken pieces is really good. If I do burgers I just do veggie burgers for him. Quorn mince makes good chilli but disastrous bolognaise.

If we have roast chicken DH either cooks himself something else entirely or has some quorn chicken fillets and the veg / potatoes I've cooked.

What makes it easier logistically he is not bothered about cross contamination, so I can cook burgers all on the same grill, and he'll happily have the same gravy etc.

DH and DDs aren’t meat eaters but all eat veggie most nights when it’s a ‘one pot’ meal.

*are meat eaters

Must proofread!

I'm veggie since I was 14, both my kids and my husband eat meat, both kids are relatively fussy. I just produce multiple versions of the same or similar meals. Generates extra washing up but as I've always done that its not a big deal.

What makes it easier logistically he is not bothered about cross contamination, so I can cook burgers all on the same grill, and he'll happily have the same gravy etc.

I am very much not ok with that. Veg cooked in meat fat or gravy with meat stock is a massive no and using the same utensils that have touched meat is a big no too.

I've never liked the taste or texture of red meat, used to really like chicken but one day I just decided I didn't want to eat it any more. I'm also plant based, but mainly as so many dairy products don't agree with my stomach! I'm not vegan though as sometimes I do have cheese or whatever, but rarely. DH eats meat, i tend to just say if he wants meat he can cook it, or I'll add it if I can tweak what I'm cooking easily.

I would say see how you go, find foods you really enjoy to go with your favourite meals, if you do slip and have something be kind to yourself. Any steps you take are good. There's more choice than ever both in the supermarkets and cafes etc, try new things and remember why you started.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing

What makes it easier logistically he is not bothered about cross contamination, so I can cook burgers all on the same grill, and he'll happily have the same gravy etc.

I am very much not ok with that. Veg cooked in meat fat or gravy with meat stock is a massive no and using the same utensils that have touched meat is a big no too.

This a good example of finding your own way. Either of these 2 are fine, it's what you are comfortable with. If people say you aren't a veggie then don't worry, gatekeeping is tedious and you're far more likely to stick to it if you draw boundaries that work for you.

Definitely stick with it! Come and tell us what you're craving and we'll suggest you an alternative.

I've never liked meat even as a child. When. I moved out for uni, I pretty much stopped eating meat. I had it very occasionally until about 5 years ago when something just turned my stomach. I told DH (boyfriend at the time) that was it, I was stopping completely. I've never looked back and never missed it.
But just the same as you, I couldn't bear the idea of an abatoire, so I'm not going to support it.
DH doesn't bother with it at home, he has veggie parents and isn't fussed. The children can choose for themselves when they're old enough, but hopefully it will be in the knowledge of how it ends up on a plate.

We tend to use beans/lentils/chickpea a lot but like pps have said - Quorn alternatives. I love Quorn nuggets so does my three year old...

I became vegetarian as a teenager, over 30 years ago. Initially it was because I didn't like any meat, but a love of The Smiths helped.
I don't eat meat alternatives often, although greggs vegan sausage rolls are delicious. In terms of things to consider, I would say stop thinking about what will replace the meat , make vegetables and other protein sources the star of the show. Be adventurous in what you cook too, it's very easy to get into a margarita pizza/ tomato sauce pasta type rut.

Started as a soppy animal lover never eating rabbit or duck because of fluffy pets. Then it extended to include all animals, cute or not. I’m vegan now.

If I hadn’t done it years ago, I would now for environmental reasons.

I would say as a newbie, you don’t have to change everything all at once. You could start by cutting down, trying to include more meat free meals anc finding things that work for your family. There are loads of threads about how to either be a lone veggie in a meat eating family or for family friendly veggie meals.

I have had so many issues where people have assumed I eat fish when I’ve said I’m vegetarian because of people not using the term pescatarian. Many a meal missed due to this

This. I was once even served fish at a wedding breakfast- everyone else had cheese and onion tart for a starter but they’d gone to the effort of serving the vegetarians salmon…. Weird af.

I just gradually stopped eating meat. The ethics were at the back of my mind, but I’ve always been a bit weird about the texture- anatomy class at uni didn’t help!

Over the years I found myself avoiding meat and choosing veggie dishes because I prefer them. Then meat started making me feel really ill as I rarely ate it, so now I’m completely veggie.

Rest of my family eats meat- i just separate off a portion before I add meat, of do me a veggie version. Fortunately dh will happily eat veggie so if the kids are out or already eaten he’s happy to have what I am.

Eating out is great as there are so many lovely veggie dishes out there I get to try.

Because I don’t want to put dead things in my mouth.
I especially don’t want to have my food beaten, abused and frightened before I consume it.
I don’t want to eat anus, vaginas, eye balls and toe nails when I have a sausage roll or a burger.
I hate blood.
If I don’t have the balls to raise and kill my own animals, I don’t want others doing it for me.

Richmond veggie sausages - DH had no idea they weren’t meat.
Quorn cottage pie

I don’t tend to eat things (other than above) that resemble meat that often. I like spicy foods, salads, breads, potatoes, crisps, vegetable burgers, pasta, chilli, and pizzas so I find it quite easy.
I do eat eggs- friend has ex battery hens and they can lay some fab eggs so we have those.
I’m not a huge fan of milk either, so happy with oat milk.

Veggie for over 35 years - left home at 17, BSE happened & through that I discovered the horrors of intensive farming and with just myself to feed it was easy to stop eating meat.

You were considered a freak 40 years ago, but it is easy now. I don't miss meat at all because for most of my life I haven't eaten it. DH is veggie too - he stopped eating meat when he started courting me, over 30 years ago . We raised our children pescetarian but they are fully veggie now they are adults.

I've never cooked meat for anyone, I would have no idea how to do it - can't your DH cook himself & the family meat if they want to eat it?

I didn’t know Richmond did veggie sausages until this thread. Off to add them to my next shop!