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.

I beg to differ, they taste delicious which is pretty much the point

Because I enjoy it. And I enjoy meat free meals far less.

Farmers would do crops instead of raising animals and once the animals they have die, they won’t breed anymore. Different breeds of livestock will go extinct because they aren’t needed anymore

Not this again! I live in a country where agriculture is more important to the economy than it is in the UK, and have known many people who work/have worked in meat processing plants. None of them suffer terribly with their mental health.

I don't eat much meat - we eat 2-3 items per week - but:

1. It tastes really good
2. It's not an UPF, whilst veggie immitations are
3. The only meat I buy is local, outdoor reared and high welfare, from a farm I am welcome to visit at any time

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.

None of them have rotting meat in their guts for weeks.

This really isn't true! Digestion makes short work of meat by breaking it down into its constituent amino acids and lipids.

I have had health issues for a long time now and amongst them, oxalate ones. Oxalate is primarily found in plants, not in meat at all. It's a poison, but humans and other animals can store it away in our bodies so it doesn't hurt us, or we have oxalobacter in our guts to process some of it. However for some folks, switching to a high oxalate plant based diet can bring on oxalate dumping which is very painful and makes life miserable. For those folks, they need to keep to a low oxalate diet and some become carnivores.

I have also met online people who cannot tolerate a carnivore diet as it makes them ill. Ditto people who try veganism and again, they become ill. Some of us biochemically/genetically are unsuited to one extreme or the other. I wouldn't want to see either extreme forced upon people.

Without a doubt we know it's better for the environment, we know it's better for our health

This is absolutely not true.

I am still amazed that people think cows farting is suddenly worse for the environment than stripping hundreds of acres of land and mono-cropping which kills the soil, the insects and every ounce of wildlife that dare enter the area, and then throw in the synthetic fertilizers and insect killers (which are also known carcigens) and people still believe this is better for your health and the environment.

Eating meat is the only way to get vital amino acids and B12, iron, Vitamin A, Creatine - however many times people are told this, somehow they think that the non-absorbable versions of this or minute levels that are found in non-meat foods will somehow compensate.

Also a veggie who converted back to meat 3 years ago. Nothing tastes as good and fills me as well. Beans and pulses give me the shits

Oxalate is primarily found in plants, not in meat at all. It's a poison

99% of plants are inedible. People seem to be under some illusion that plants are these nondescript passive things - when in fact every single plant has some form of defence mechanism to stop it being eaten. In reality, the only plants that are designed to actually be eaten are fruits and berries. Both of these are designed to entice things to eat them so we can shit out their seeds.

You’re wrong
the cruelty is horrendous
do you even know what they do to the animals to make those things?

According to my nutritionist,

Theres the issue. Anyone can be a so called ‘nutritionist’.

It’s a dietician you need of your want advice.

Your ‘nutritionist’ is incorrect.

We would need far less mono culture agriculture if we didn't eat meat
!
Yet again someone doesn't understand how most meat is produced

Because humans are selfish! Their taste buds take preference over environmental benefits and animal welfare.

@Dinosauratemydaffodils , not picking on you - you just happened to be nearest. I only object to the terms because it conjures up the idea that vegetarians only eat certain dishes.

I don't particularly care for the sort of vegetarian dishes that I repeatedly see on menus - things like mushroom risotto, butternut squash risotto, nut roast...

The poster upthread who said she cooked vegetarian dishes with meat stock, is probably a better example of who I should quiz. These are the people who cook you a vegetarian dish that isn't vegetarian

That is such bullshit. Utter absolute bullshit.

I am 100% sure you have no idea how farming works

Yes I do

I saw my outspoken vegan in law sneaking a Mars Bar into his mouth last week.

😁 was brilliant

It's what I was brought up with, it's what I'm used to, it's what I know how to cook, my slightly fussy eaters both eat it and combined with our lack of allergies and intolerances, it means never having to worry or fuss when going out to meals or being hosted at a party.

Eating meat is highly convenient.

@Makemyday99

Force feeding animals?
so how can you think it’s ok then?

@LuckySantangelo35
i think you’re missing the point of the other two posters here.
They don’t care about cruelty, they like the end result, what happens before it hits the plate is not on their agenda.

You do know that things have to die to eat any food that humans eat.

You take your pick really

Destroy all insect, rodent and gastropods to farm your high volume veg. Destroy all trees, hedgerows and the soil (and all that lives there)

Or kill one cow which will give enough calories for one human for a year.

I know which I prefer

I think I have some idea !

Because it tastes good, you’re wasting your time going down that route with me I’m afraid as I really have no feeling about it at all

@Makemyday99

wow
so long as it tastes good eh
some people…