To ask why people are so against giving up meat?

[NewCracker]

Just that really, why are people so against giving up meat?
Without a doubt we know it's better for the environment, we know it's better for our health, we know it's better for animal welfare and it's actually quite expensive. But still as soon as you mention to the greater public about cutting their meat consumption, they get defensive and almost offended.
Would you ever consider giving it up, if you do consume it now? If not, why not?
I'm expecting some hate, this is MN after all, but I am genuinely just curious. Not trying to rattle feathers.

We've cut down massively but it's so hard to find protein rich alternatives (not UPF fake meat) that aren't dreary pulses or lentils where you need a massive portion to get enough protein. We get it from a local farm shop which helps me feel better about environmental impact

I'm sorry but if your health suffered in just 'a few months' you must have had an underlying health condition. I've been vegan for over 5 years and had nothing but health benefits. This is verging on scaremongering imo.

Agreed. The poster either has underlying health issues or it’s made up to suit a meat eating agenda whilst pretending to have been vegan. Either way, not the reality of a healthy vegan diet.

One of my children was a poor eater as a toddler. She was virtually a vegan as she hated all meat, cows milk, yogurts, eggs etc. She still never got ill and that was a developing child and it went on a lot longer than a few months!

I’ve been vegan for over 20 years and I’ve always been healthy. I was borderline anaemia in one my pregnancies, not in the others, but eating a little more iron sorted it.

I love the taste of meat. I love beef and lamb and chicken.
I don't eat processed meat as that is bad for ones health.
I eat less meat than I used to and I'm happy reducing my meat consumption. I eat more vegetables, mushrooms, fruit, nuts and grains.
I eat fish three times and chicken twice each week, eggs nearly every day and red meat once, sometimes twice.
I do not eat added salt, not much flour or bread and little sugar.
I eat grass fed, locally produced red meat.
Their grazing is not as bad for the environment as grain fed meat.
I like the iron and protein source for my health.
I like the protein source for my young family, and offal/cholesteral for developing children's brains.
Fake meat has salt and other flavourings and fillers that I do not wish to put into my body. I do not tolerate Soy.
Almond production is very bad for the environment, as an example, and people swap Almond juice for cows milk in coffee; not all change is for the better.
I love happy farm animals, promote them being treated well before a pain free death and I also see the benefit in eating wild game and using all of a dead carcass for leather, doonas, glue etc. in the name of not wasting resources and enabling long term sustainability of animal living and being farmed for human consumption.

I agree op. I've seen first hand the suffering that animals endure in slaughter houses.

I eat some meat although not a lot - say once a week

You don't have to give it up totally as part of preventing climate change . I also have very little dairy as part of that

My body responds best to occasional meat/ I can't seem get everything I need from a fully vegetarian diet despite my best effort

I have to say it's not main meals but sandwich lunches that are hardest - cheese is diary for not so good , peanut butter with jan or marmite gets boring after a week , I don't want UPF meat replacements for my heath - any suggestions welcome

I think the key here is balance. I used to be vegan but actually it was orthorexia and I got very ill. A balanced diet with some meat is probably best.
Red, processed meat at every meal not so much.
The meat and 2 veg diet that has gone out of fashion is probably the healthiest diet.
I still don't think it's bad if farm animals go extinct. They won't of course...they would still be bred for petting zoos. Poor buggers!

Because it keeps us full and gives us energy to lead our busy life like no other foodstuff.
Because we don’t know what exactly is in these weird replacement meats - humans do best on natural, unprocessed foods.
Because so many vegan and vegetarian alternatives are unethical in their growing, production, shipping etc.
Because if everyone stopped eating meat and the fields of cows, pigs, sheep disappeared then the eco system around these farms - hedgerows of insects and the resultant birds - would also disappear and we need these to fertilize our fruits and vegetables.

We limit our consumption, eat ethically and from a local farm/butcher source.

Veggies on this thread have been called
Fat
Depressed
Old looking
Sallow
Saggy 😁
Course the general British meat eating public is incredibly slim, toned and cheery.

Eat what you want, but really no need for that.

people wouldn’t go vegan overnight so this is a non issue.

we would stop breeding as many and they would gradually not be replaced as more people transitioned to a vegan diet.

absolutely nuts to me that meat eaters believe they are doing the animals a favour. Cognitive dissonance at its absolute best.

This thread shouldn’t be surprising as people who choose to go veggie and vegan on average have a higher IQ and are better educated. So maybe they find it easier to see past mass marketing, cultural but cruel norms etc and have empathy for other animals on this planet as well as understanding the environmental and other concerns.

If everyone gave up meat, what would we do with all the meat from the deer/rabbits that needs to be shot? Would you be happy to reintroduce wolves to help keep the population down?

How would we fertilise our crops without using synthetic chemicals which is bad for the environment?

How would we maintain grassland habitats and other habitat that aren't suitable for growing crops? Are we happy to have Lapwings, nightjars and other ground nesting birds go extinct? No one are going to keep cattle/sheep if it is uneconomical to do so.

Firstly I like meat. But with food allergies I find meat very easy to simply just eat because generally as long as you literally eat meat out a packet it's usually got nothing else in it (yes obviously I still check every time but say buy a steak, that's generally what I get) I try very hard to avoid processed or food additives and I
think makes being a vegetarian much harder as even the chips I buy in the supermarket have crap in them now! And yes I could do everything from scratch but then we're back to meat, it's bloody easy to shove in a slow cooker all day and have a big meal ready at the end without much effort.

meat helps me a lot with cutting down carbs and carbs don't keep me full enough to last without binge eating elsewhere. I have also suffered from low iron levels and have been told best way to solve this is to up vitamin c and eat red meat.

Although I’m vegan, I don’t usually get involved in these threads as they always turn nasty, but I’ve commented now so thought I may as well comment on the actual question OP asked.

My partner eats meat, although he’s cut down to about twice a week. He has given up dairy and eggs completely. He says he eats meat because it’s what he has always done. He says if he thinks about it too much, he can’t really justify it to himself so he just doesn’t think about it. He’s seen lots of footage (taken by me and the group I’m involved in, so knows it isn’t propaganda) of animals being mistreated on farms, inside slaughterhouses and us giving water to animals being transported and he is visibly upset. He still eats animals though. We mostly don’t talk about it unless he asks what I’ve done in terms of campaigning if I’ve been on an outing and he’ll usually ask to see my footage. Then he’ll not eat meat for a while.

My children were offered meat as kids but have chosen to be vegan/vegetarian as have lots of their friends. Most people we know that eat meat have reduced the amount they eat over the years. Even my in-laws whi used to eat meat every day now gave a few vegetarian meals each week. Attitudes seem to be changing. Slowly.

I always find it amusing that when I suggest cooking vegetarian dishes for dinner my partner pulls a disgusted face followed with "what about the meat?". However when I make a veggie dish and don't point it out he's perfectly happy to lick his plate clean without a fuss 🤣

I don't buy it and eat meat free when I have the option.. but I'm not privileged enough to turn down free food, or dismiss other peoples cooking which I'm very grateful for. If I had an actual allergy I would, but it feels rude and demanding to refuse food and my family go without on that basis.. just as I wouldn't expect families in poverty to go without for animal welfare whilst their own children go without in the process.

ong as you literally eat meat out a packet it's usually got nothing else in it (yes obviously I still check every time but say buy a steak, that's generally what I get

I don't understand this. When I roast a cauliflower, its got nothing else in it either!

@ForTheAnimals your partner eating meat only twice a week is a much better aim, I think, than everyone giving up meat.

@TravelDazzle , If you fed him chips, beans and egg, he probably wouldn't notice that there was intentionally no meat.

Obviously not the case for everyone.. it's just when I've had to use budget shops/ those no waste places, I'm always given meat.. and It feels wrong to turn my nose up and refuse it or just bin it

Because your claims are not exactly real . Because I see no real benefit go either my Heath or the environment. Because I think giving up a whole good group us absolutely ridiculous and because I love food , including meet. Culturally food is so much more than just sustenance to the body .

If industrial food production ended overnight, it would take the majority of the population approximately six to eight weeks to become adept at the hunting, dispatch and butchering of smaller animals and not much longer to get the hang of the larger ones.

It's a fundamental animal instinct. To eat. To survive. Scruples only apply when one has the security of knowing where one's next meal is coming from.

I agree - 'low meat' rather than ' no meat'.
We eat meat only once a day - and out of that, half the meals are meat 'flavoured' rather than the centerpiece. Such as a stir fry with chicken chunks.

I like meat. Always did, growing up it was so expensive it was a treat, and I looked forward to those days!

So I wouldn't give it up completely.

But eat less of it? Absolutely.

I found something similar when I hosted BBQs/parties.

I am an ovo-vegetarian and have friends who are both veggie/vegan and meat-eaters.

I kept the veggie/vegan nibbles labelled and separate and from any meat products.

Along came the meat-eaters, looked at the veggie/vegan food and said 'that looks interesting' and put some on their plate. By the end of the 'do' they'd hoovered up all the veggie food and left the mini-pork-pies and cocktail sausages etc.

So now it's veggie/vegan only at my events !

Too much meat is bad for your health
Red meat seems to be carcinogenic
And people who eat meat rich diets tend not to eat a wide variety and sufficient quantities of vegetables

Meat , especially beef ( and associated diary ), is bad for the planet partly because of the methane that double stomach animals produce but mostly because of the reliance on growing food for the animals. You need significantly more agricultural land to grow a calorie of beef than a calorie of bean . Agriculture has a huge carbon footprint I think from the petrochemical fertilisers . And it uses water

There isn't enough marginal land ( that will grow cows or sheep but not crops) to produce anything like the amount of meat we eat today - it heavily relies on food supplements

"This thread shouldn’t be surprising as people who choose to go veggie and vegan on average have a higher IQ and are better educated"

Your post above actually proves exactly the opposite, I have never read so much claptrap in all my life. 🤣

I have m.e and fibromyalgia- I’m not a massive meat eater but my symptoms get a lot worse if I cut out animal protein completely. A lot of people with my conditions find the same thing.

I eat meat, because I like it. I eat more fish nowadays, because I can afford to. I also like to eat food sourced locally, or at least in the UK, where possible because the CO2 involved in airfreighting flowers, veg and fruit around the world is completely avoidable by using local produce. I also avoid processed and ultra processed food. So that means eating seasonally, and it also means using unprocessed ingredients to make meals.

Eliminating meat/chicken/fish would make avoiding airfreighted veg/fruit and processed food impractical, for me. Other may make different choices. Given climate change, labour cost and water shortages, I think outsourcing fruit/veg production to the the third and developing world (have you seen the conditions on some of these farms and overseas packing plants ?) just so we can eat green beans and avocado all year round is a worse choice than eating locally sourced meat and game alongside local fruit and veg in season. I’ll use frozen fruit / veg, but not airfreighted fresh. I chuckle now that vegans/vegetarians have changed to the climate argument to support their cause, as it’s something that’s been front of mind for me for 20 odd years. There are few vegetarians who can say they avoid all airfreight fruit and veg though.