To love eating meat but hate the fact of killing animals?

[AWholeLottaNosy]

I know this is totally contradictory but have been thinking about this lately and feel very conflicted about this. I love steak, bacon, roast chicken, sausages etc but I feel sick at the thought of animals being killed. We're so divorced from how these products get to the supermarket that I don't think we even make the connection with these things and what has to happen for them to get there. I feel hypocritical about this ( and I'm not a young, idealistic person either), don't know what to do! Also don't know how my body would cope without having all that protein either...

Sorry for confused post, just wanted to put my thoughts down and wondered what other people thought!

Oh God I hadn't even thought about leather! Another can of worms definitely opened...

I can really identify with a lot of the sentiments expressed on this thread.

I have never been a vegetarian, but can feel myself edging much closer to it these days, mainly because I have doubts about the ethics of some of these intensive farming methods used in mass production.

I normally buy my meat from the local butcher, who knows exactly where it has come from, it is mainly free range and it much nicer than supermarket crap. There is also a good local farm shop, where they rear their own animals as free range, and they are good too.

I am wary of buying chicken if I can't be sure it is free range because I dislike the way they have often been battery farmed and barely ever seen the light of day. I always buy free-range eggs for the same reason. Hens were never meant to be jammed into small cages with barely any room to move. It is barbaric. I like to think/hope when I buy meat that the animal concerned did at least have some semblance of the life it was intended to have.

I have seen Quorn recently, as my student daughter seems to like it (has turned vegetarian whilst at uni). To me it just doesn't look appetising, and when I tried a little bit I wasn't sure I liked the texture.

It is a dilemma. I could yet turn largely vegetarian, and would need to research it properly.

Sorry nosey just thinking that it might be an area that some people might feel more comfortable making small changes with. I think every littl helps do any consideration of these issues us positive. Just do what you can and don't beat yourself up

I have a reaction to quorn, so can't eat it and nor can one of my DC. I don't really have any wish to replicate eating meat though.

I have a reaction to quorn, so can't eat it and nor can one of my DC. I don't really have any wish to replicate eating meat though.

I used to eat meat (and enjoy it) when we reared, shot or caught it ourselves (mainly mutton, venison and shellfish), but when that was no longer an option I gradually moved towards becoming vegetarian. DD2 has been vegetarian for years. DH and DD1 both eat meat.

Can't stand Quorn. It's not "vegetarian" food, it is a highly-processed meat substitute. Don't like anything about it - the way it is formed to look like meat, the texture, the fact that it is originally fungus. Soylent Blue or Red, if not Green

I don't really understand 'meat substitutes' tbh.

I ate very little meat in my 20's because I couldn't afford to eat the sort of meat I wanted to that often. It was only when I met DH in my 30s that I started eating it more regularly.

But for me cauliflower cheese or a cauliflower, paneer and chickpea curry would always get my non meat vote. Lentils too, I just love them.

I'm a vegetarian. I wish I had the courage to become vegan (there is a lot of cruelty in dairy and egg production) but, well, I love my eggs and cheese too much.

So the best I can suggest is follow the advice people have already given on this thread: eat meat from animals that have had a chance to lead a reasonably stress-free and contented life, and cut down on the amount of meat you eat, so you only eat it, say, three or four times a week. (Another point about meat is that the meat industry contributes heavily to global warming, much more than, say, the aviation industry. So you'll be doing good in more ways than one.)

A big can of worms opening up here OP :o

Personally we are, and always will be meat eaters (apparently that's why humans have forward facing eyes and canine teeth, but I digress)
We buy mostly from a new local butcher who sources beef and lamb from the fields around our village. In fact I often walk through the fields where the animals are grazing. Chicken I buy from Waitrose, as well as organic milk. Eggs from a small holding up the lane to us.

We eat less meat, preferring to pad the meal out with veg etc in order to make it more economical, but it is categorically not a cheap way to eat.

Our diet is also supplemented with game and wild venison, shot either by DH or a friend of ours. This way of life is only possible due to our location and contacts. Buying shot game from a butcher is prohibitively expensive

I have been vegetarian for over ten years and I'm in the process of cutting out dairy too.
I love the taste of meat and dairy!
The reason I don't eat meat is because I'd hate to have any part in making another sentient being in pain or scared. It doesn't seem right to put a living creature through that just because of greed.
Quorn is great if you need a met at substitute, and it's quick and easy to cook. The sausages are very sausage-y!
I do think though that every little helps and just cutting out animal products for one meal a week is great. Or having soya milk in your tea instead of cow milk. Or buy free range meat from a local farm shop.
I would say though that it's important to arm yourself with the facts. Read sources from both sides of the argument. Knowledge is power! I found after I did do I couldn't go back to meat eating, and I'm happy and proud to have no part in that.

Ps humans aren't made for eating meat: compare our teeth to that of a lion.

I just want to say how much I respect all of you meat eaters who admit to feeling bad/conflicted about your choices.

No one is perfect; we are all compromisers/hypocrites when it comes to ethical living, but I almost never meet a meat eater who will admit to any feelings of regret. I am a very non-proselytising vegetarian (almost vegan), and I occasionally get people making self righteous comments or lame jokes about meat. No one is ever honest enough to say what you say.

Personally we are, and always will be meat eaters (apparently that's why humans have forward facing eyes...

Sorry to pick out your digression, TheFantasticMrsFox but I think until we abandon use of laptops, tablets and TVs, our eyes will never evolve from facing forward

Try and phase some meat out first. I turned veggie at 16 and LOVED meat, if it moved, I'd have eaten it. I just couldn't justify it to myself anymore. I was really surprise how much I didn't miss meat and at 34 can genuinely say I have never considered going back.

I totally get where you are coming from OP. I feel guilty as well but I do enjoy meat (which I know makes me a hypocrite)

So I insist in buying meat that is from the UK and is free range and I study the label from where the meat has come from.

Perfect example - some lovely looking chicken dishes in Tesco. Source of meat? Brazil, Holland etc. not a single pack was from the UK. I refuse to buy it (despite DP complaining)

I love Chicken Kiev, it's my guilty pleasure but I will only buy the free range British chicken breast version and not the "contain shaped hen meat" which most supermarkets sell and yes my choice easily costs double.

I believe buying a whole chicken for £4 (Asda and Tesco I am looking at you) is fundamentally wrong.

I always buy a British free range whole chicken and yes they cost about £9 upwards depending on size.

I never let DP go food shopping because for him it's about cost and I dread to think what he'd buy

Veganism is the only way imo. We have so much information available to us, you cannot deny the pain and mental torture we inflict when we choose to consume animal products. The animals suffer so much because of our arrogant assumption that we have the right to use them and take what we want from them, murdering them when they have served their purpose.

I completely agree Brummie - without sounding like GP , it is about eating consciously.

We don't need chicken from Thailand or wherever for a cheap sandwich, a banana, a few oatcakes and a yoghurt is a nice lunch for me.

I am happy to eat meat that has been raised properly in the UK but preferably within a few miles of my home. I can live with that. Also, to go back to a previous poster (farmer's wife up thread) who wrote a lot of sense - we need to support our rural farmers otherwise who knows where we will be in 50 years.

I am not far off 50, when I was little all our meat came from farms within a 5 mile radius, chicken from Thailand was completely unheard of thankfully.

Sorry ifyourawizard, I couldn't remember or see your name when I was posting.

I've never really bought the "if you couldn't face killing an animal you shouldn't eat meat" argument on the basis there are lots of jobs I couldn't face doing but I'm dependent on someone else doing them (couldn't be a surgeon, bin man, soldier etc!)

Personally I have much more respect for people who consciously think about the impact of their consumption (be it food, clothes etc) and make informed choices which might include eating no meat or being selective about eating meat. In contrast there seem to be a lot of vegetarians who seemingly make the choice for ethical reasons but don't follow that thought process through (eg mass produced eggs and dairy are at least as bad as mass meat production in many ways).

I know some people just feel uncomfortable about eating the flesh of another creature, which is fine by me, but not when they dress it up in holier-than-thou arguments which they don't apply consistently to other aspects of what they eat and consume.

The only way to eat ethically is to be vegan imo. I became one at the age of 39 (18 months ago) and have never looked back. Much healthier too. Was a total meat-and-two-veg girl before then, but I watched Forks over Knives, and Earthlings and I just couldn't justify it anymore. Went totally vegan, from being a carnivore, overnight. The connection just clicked for me and that was it. Yeah I loved meat and dairy but it simply isn't ethical, no matter how the animals are raised. It really isn't hard, in fact I absolutely love what i eat now, and a few months after I became vegan my hubby followed suit (after thinking at first that I was totally mad). Vegan food ROCKS!

'A can of worms' would probably be an acceptable and sustainable source of protein, if you think about it.

Maybe curried or stirfried?

I love animals, and I eat them. I have also killed animals that I have eaten.
Frankly, a humanely killed animal killed for my meat does not move me that much. Not to paraphrase a famous book and serie, but "every man (and animal) must die".

Do you know the amount of territory that would be needed to grow soy, or any plant-based substitute for protein if everybody was a vegetarian? You could say goodbye to a lot of forest and wild-animal habitat. Just saying....

Unfortunately many people are far too divorced from where their food comes from. They will decry farming methods they see as 'inhumane' but then go to Tesco and but a value chicken (just google 'broiler chicken' if you want to see how they are produced), imported meats from overseas are not usually great either. This doesn't really add up to me!
Do people really think these animals have had a good life? No, they haven't, they're produced to the bare minimum welfare standards (which are appalling) or even worse, imported from abroad where animal welfare standards are nothing short of barbaric.

I personally have no problem killing animals or eating them. What does bother me enormously is ensuring that they have had a good quality of life before slaughter.
I am a farmer, I produce meat as well as crops on my farm. I do not supply any supermarkets with meat, it all goes through a network of local butchers and distributors so I get a lot more money for it. This is mostly ploughed back into the business enabling me to let my animals live good lives which is important to me.

We are evolved to eat a certain amount of meat in our diets - that is why we have canine teeth.
If you like meat but struggle with the 'guilt' then find a good local butcher or farm shop where the meat comes from a local farm. Buying locally you can ensure that you are getting meat which has had a good life and has been slaughtered in a humane fashion.

frenchMind I think as significant a problem is the amount of grain production which is required to sustain the beef and pork industries. Global increase in meat consumption is environmentally detrimental. Though that is not to say all meat production is environmentally inefficient - a lot land used to graze animals would be unsuitable for any other form of agriculture. Whereas rainforest in Brazil is being depleted for beef production and soy production - both equally problematic.

Reducing meat consumption globally is environmentally important but it doesn't stand to reason that vegetarianism is a necessary part of that.

It's a massive myth that protein is a problem for those who don't eat meat.
It's a massive myth that leather's a by-product.

I was born in a rural setting, brought up hunting by a family full of meat eaters. Couldn't deal with it, turned veggie best thing I ever did.