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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be an unrepentant carnivore?

123 replies

GraceAwayInAManger · 07/12/2010 22:16

It's been done before, but I couldn't bring myself to read the threads as they would have made me cry - with longing!

I'm on the breadline, literally, and am a good budget cook. Lentils, five meals from a chicken, etc. BUT!! Today I spent some of my cold weather money on a joint of sirloin. I roasted it very fast, very hot. Brown on the outside & BLOODY on the inside. God, it's gorgeous!

Just eaten about half a pound of the stuff, and feel healthier than I have in months!

Fellow lovers of dead creatures, share your lascivious recipes here I'm ready to read and slaver.

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Asteria · 08/12/2010 21:47

Toughasoldboots not all farm animals are mistreated - those are isolated cases - it would be like saying that all children were abused. I live on a dairy farm and my family are largely farmers. If we got rid of all farms on the basis that some are mistreated, then that pretty countryside that we all like to wander through (and it's largely the countryside used for rearing Animals that is the prettiest - arable is not so aesthetically pleasing) would be lost! However if this country simply stopped importing, which would mean seasonal eating, and upped the standards of slaughter houses (which to be fair are generally very good) then everyone would be far happier - most importantly the animals.

jellyrolly · 08/12/2010 21:49

Toughasoldboots I didn't see the news but have seen similar. A lot of people do care but the problem is, you start sounding like Heather Mills if you articulate it. Best thing is just to live how your own conscience dictates, that's going to be different for everyone.

Original poster

GraceAwayInAManger · 08/12/2010 21:50

That wasn't a suggestion for your New Year's roast, Claire I do beef at the hottest oven - 220deg on mine - for about 20 mins a pound, no extras (this does the spuds about right, too). But I like mine rare in the middle. For a medium-type roast, set the oven to about 190deg, and give it an extra half hour. CAVEAT - off the top of my head. Check a recipe book!!

OP posts:

Toughasoldboots · 08/12/2010 21:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

GraceAwayInAManger · 08/12/2010 22:19

Toughasoldboots: I chose happy meat when I could afford it. The price differential is 3:1. Thus, I am grateful for unethical Polish livestock warehouse farms. Sad for the livestock - but still grateful they exist. It's enjoyable because I am biologically evolved to eat meat. Especially in winter - when, in old-fashioned farming communities, the diet consisted almost entirely of meat that had been slaughtered to save feed costs.

Since I don't live on a self-sufficient third of an acre (or know how to farm, even if I did!) I have to buy my meat. Evolution lags behind social change. I rely on cheap-meat farmers for what my body needs.

It looks very simple to me. Regrettable, but simple.

My next few days' dinners, courtesy of this thread:
Thurs: Pork ribs
Fri: Slow-roast scrag of lamb (mutton, heh)
Sat: Pork & mutton stew
Sun: Another beef roast
Hear me roar

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Santassnowyoldclothcatpuss · 08/12/2010 23:55

"Is it better to have a short life full of pain than no life at all then? I would be happy for there to be less/ no farm animals then."
So Tough, you'd rather they became extinct? That's very ethical!

melezka · 09/12/2010 00:08

Squirrel is nice.

SnowyGonzalez · 09/12/2010 00:08

Well said, Marianne, that's one key reason why we don't eat ethical meat every day.

Morloth · 09/12/2010 00:43

I am very very lucky in that all our lamb comes from our family station. My brother is bringing me my half a sheep this year, really looking forward to it after being away so long.

He rocks up for Christmas with a carcass, all nicely chopped up and wrapped and ready for the freezer.

Original poster

GraceAwayInAManger · 09/12/2010 01:29

Heaven!

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Ariesgirl · 09/12/2010 09:00

SpeedyGonzales I completely agree with you. The "it's cruel and unethical but I just don't give a damn" attitude is making me very .

As is the comment "Lion sounds really intereting, as does kangaroo". Lions in the same bracket as kangaroos - are you having a laugh? It may be "natural" to eat meat as we a have incisor teeth, but would it be natural for a human to hunt and kill a lion? Er...no! Besides which, it's an endangered species, whereas kangaroos are not. By that reasoning I would have no problem eating rabbit, but would draw the line at eating panda or gorilla, which I suspect would be the common view. Makes me chuckle grimly when people happily say they would eat shark - sushi, yum yum! - but they would squeal with moral outrage if you served them up panda or orang-utan on a plate. All of them are endangered creatures.

Morloth · 09/12/2010 09:11

If the Lions are farmed then I don't see a problem with eating them. If the meat is coming from endangered wild populations (which from a quick google appears to be a possibility) then that sucks. TBH I kind of feel the same way about Tiger farms in Asia, if the animal is actually farmed and the entire carcass is used, i.e. meat, bones, fur for something and not wasted then I don't see any difference between a Tiger and a Cow. And as that excellent Mitchell and Webb sketch points out Cows are not exactly an endangered species are they? Because they are damned tasty and we want a lot of them about.

I would be astonished if humans have never hunted lions for meat at any time in our history. One of the things that make us great survivors is that we can (and usually will) eat anything if necessary.

If I/my kids were hungry enough and I could bring down a lion to feed them, then I wouldn't hesitate for a moment (other than to figure how exactly to do so). Once again, I have no need to eat Lion because I can afford lofty ideals.

BlathIceSkate · 09/12/2010 09:58

It would have been pointless to be a vegetarian when I was a child - my Father was the manager for the local abbatoir so any money used to buy vegetables was earned killing animals anyway! Plus, Grandad owned a butchers shop which I used to help out in at weekends so meat was pretty much a family staple.

Toughasoldboots, I'm sure the report you saw was horrendous. Some people can be very cruel. But it's important to remember that just because the slaughterhouses shown were awful, it doesn't mean that they're all the same. There are bad slaughterhouses in the same way that there are badly run restaurants that don't care about their 'customers' and cruel teachers that bully students and awful care homes who treat their residents terribly - and there are also good ones. Not all slaughterhouses are the same and only the bad ones will have been shown on the report you saw. There are slaughtermen out there who care about the welfare of the animals they see and who do their job with care and empathy.

I buy the best quality meat I can for my family and have no qualms about eating it. Obviously, these animals need to be killed and as humanely as this is done and as happy as the life before has been, it's still killing which is sad, but I feel necessary as humans were made to eat meat. Things like Foie Gras and Veal I avoid because of the treatment of the animal before it dies. Given a choice between a steak and Veal, I would chose the steak because that way I get my meat without the guilt attached. We don't need Foie Gras especially so the extra cruelty that goes into making it seems unnecessary to me no matter how tasty it might be.

Ariesgirl · 09/12/2010 10:14

Morloth, I also doubt whether humans have never hunted lions to eat in the course of history. But we don't have to nowadays, do we? And when tiger populations hover on extinction, farming them for their meat seems kind of wrong to me, when there are so many other un-endangered animals to farm. Seems kind of of like a status symbol - "Oh I've eaten tiger. It's ok though, it was farmed," whereas for other, less exciting people, the most interesting meat they have ever eaten may be "only" ostrich or buffalo. Because farmed tiger, by necessity, must be incredibly expensive.

I think I'll stick to rabbit as an unusual meat dish!

AGiantFanatic · 09/12/2010 10:17

I'd eat a Panda....

Ariesgirl · 09/12/2010 10:19

Why?

AGiantFanatic · 09/12/2010 10:27

Well, I've always liked Chinese food

Ariesgirl · 09/12/2010 10:31

Badoom tush.

Walked into that one, I'm afraid...

AGiantFanatic · 09/12/2010 10:33

I just couldn't resist!

I am SO sorry!

I WOULDN'T eat a panda though!

Ariesgirl · 09/12/2010 10:48

I'm sure you wouldn't. I've heard they taste of bamboo and pretty much nothing else.

SirBoobAlot · 09/12/2010 11:17

I like kangaroo. Its beautiful if its cooked right. Same with horse. Admittedly the first time I tried a bit (tentatively cutting off less than a cm from my Dad's steak aged 7) I couldn't get really get past the idea it was a horse. But since then have had it a few times, and its lovely. I also like veal, on the few occasions I have had it. The first time I ate that, no one told me what it was until afterwards, and, well, once you've eaten it once...

I wish I could afford to buy high quality, well cared for meat at all times, but I can't. I buy organic when its reduced. Most of the meat I buy is reduced in fact.

TBH, the animal is dead whether I buy it or not, so I might as well enjoy it. As human beings we are designed to eat meat, and to take the benefits from consuming it. No point feeling bad about it.

Morloth · 09/12/2010 20:56

Perhaps if tigers were farmed they would no longer be endangered?

Though I am not volunteering for the job of big cat farmer, can you imagine how fucking dangerous that must be?

I couldn't eat a cat, but that is an irrational aversion. If I am willing to eat a cow why not a cat? Doesn't make any sense but it is one reason why I am hesitant to condemn people who do.

Original poster

GraceAwayInAManger · 09/12/2010 21:31

Good point there, Morloth, about farming endangered species.

I have eaten cat, which I found out when the cheap takeaway near my college was done by the food hygiene people! We noticed lots of small bones in the curry, and joked about "rat biryani" ... turns out we were one letter wrong

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