not feeding "meat" to niece and nephew when they stay for one night

[SuzzieScotland]

Been vegan for 9 years and never have meat in the house.

Should I be expected to provide a special meat meal for a 3 and 7 yo when they stay over? Rather than just what I would eat, they would be getting a balanced diet and 10+ fruit veg portions.

Brother in law has kind of suggested it would be unhealthy not to have meat for 24 hours...

Zippey giving veggie food to a dc is cruel? I think you need to reevaluate what that word means.

The hitler line does have me doubting zippey's authenticity.

Anyway OP obviously your BIL is an idiot and is not a good example of the meat eater's advanced brain development.

Ah, Godwin's Law. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

I was always of the impression Hitler was a vegetarian too.

Anyway, shocked that so many find that a difficult menu for a child, agree with pp tho that possibly a cows milk wouldn't be too much of a bend for the wee one.

Out of interest ask your BIL what exactly he expects too

Well hitler did claim to be a vegetarian (after about 1940ish) other people claim they saw him eating sausages.

Not that it has anything at all to do with the nutritional value of the ops menu

Are they used to a lot of meat?
I agree they will survive but I can understand if they are fussy eaters (as many children at that age are) and are used to lots of meat.
I'd be more worried about the no dairy and other animal products than meat specifically as there are limited things you can feed DC on (without going away from things they are probably used to if they aren't vegan)

it is sad that the cherry tomatoes make that dinner healthy in your bils house.

Not that Hitler has anything to do with this but he had a rather dodgy digestion and it was suggested to him by his doctor that he should cut out meat from his diet. There is no recorded evidence of him ever stating that he was vegetarian, requesting a vegetarian meal or promoting vegetarian food. However there are a lot of contemporary accounts of him eating meat.

Haha I was just thinking "Godwin's law" too!

Also, I don't really understand the argument that vegetarians = evil because Hitler was one

Myra Hindley, Ian Brady, Rose West, Fred West, Peter Sutcliffe, etc all meat eaters does that make meat eaters evil

30 servings of veg a day?? I think your serving size must be smaller than suggested as that is a lot of food!

Oops, done it again and didn't realise the bottom of a page wasn't the end of the thread.

Would you be happy to offer cheese? Milk? I'm sure your diet is very balanced but cheese and milk might offer more familiarity to your visitors who are then more likely to eat it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler_and_vegetarianism

Not that it matters, but I can totally understand why people think he was or claimed to be or pretended to be.

Either way I would be embarrassed if any of my children created a fuss about meals provided when they are guests (unless the op is a shockingly bad cook who burns everything and uses the wrong sort of pepper in vast quantities).

Children benefit not just from a nutrition perspective by being exposed to a very wide range of food types chances are they will surprise their parents by eating it all and by the time they go will feel less weighed down by processed stodgy pretend food crap and BIL will have to eat his hat

I've not eaten meat for 29 years and I'm still very much alive!

no, no little, you are a ghost, on the internet. can't possibly be alive and healthy at all..

I would love to see a thread about vegetarianism/veganism that didn't end up being about Hitler! Fuck's sake.

I agree with most, your BIL is being ridiculous. We aren't vegetarian (I am lapsed, but I'd love to go back one day and take the family with me - maybe when my daughters are older) but we do have several days in the week that are meat-free. People have this idea that vegan food is foreign and scary but there's loads of meals that are incidentally vegan without making a big deal of it - I'm sure these children wouldn't be freaked out by a nice plate of puttanesca (without the anchovies obviously) or a sesame and ginger stir fry.

Zippy if I put meat on DD plate she will not touch it. She doesn't want to eat animals.

It would be cruel to make a 4-5 year old eat something she feel so strong about.

Arf & cruelty.

Do u think all vegetarians serve is a plate of soggy veg?

Vegetarian food is delicious!!

ican good for your dd!! :)

@ not &

YANBU and I'm a meat eater (although have cut back considerably and often make vegetarian meals). I would be more than happy for DD to eat vegan or vegetarian for a couple of days but she would miss her milk and cheese.

I would say for little children cows milk (organic) would be better than almond milk if they are not used to drinking it. Could you maybe make that one compromise for them?

Almond milk tastes nothing like cows milk and has a much thinner consistency. (I have tried all cows milk alternatives as it doesn't agree with me) You could maybe get away with a sweetened soya milk but don't be surprised if they won't drink it. My DD is 4 and will take sweetened soya milk (sometimes) but didn't like almond milk at all.

If the children are used to eating processed crap then they might not eat vegetables at all so you could have a hard time feeding them. Suggestions others have made like beans on toast / jacket potatoes / tomato pasta sound good (and healthier versions of the processed food they will be used to) Maybe porrige oats made with water for breakfast?

When I mentioned Hitler was a veggy, I didnt mean to imply that Veggy = evil, which is why I mentioned Ghandi in the same sentence to counteract the implication.

I have thought about this and have conculded that it is probably NOT cruel to bring up a child as a vegetarian - many 3rd world countries have mainly vegy diets, and their children are perfectly happy. I would just be unhappy that my child was missing out on a "normal" lifestyle eg McDonalds/KFC, a nice roast, spagetti carbonara.

For the OP though, one day of vegginess is fine, no harm or foul.

There are probably many veggie meals you eat but don't think about Zippey.

Toast, eggs, cereal, salads, cheese sandwich, pizza, pasta, soups, jacket potatoes.
We have at least 3 veggie main meals a week without even thinking about it.

I'm another one thinking it would be nice if you could offer cow's milk. Sometimes when DCs expect something to taste a certain way, and it doesn't, they can really take agin it, iyswim? If I gave DS almond milk instead of cow's milk he would freak (he does have food issues/ASD though). Otherwise I think your BIL should be grateful for the childcare!

Tesco coconut milk drink - tastes like semi-skimmed. It's the only plant milk I can drink a glass of.