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 dislike being preached at, as do many others. People will make their own decisions and the more they are pushed, the more they will pull back I think.

UHPF is a bigger threat to public health IMO, and can and has led to many diseases including diabetes and obesity.

THIS! 👏👏

@Fernbreeze Ok, I'll bite. You have said previously that you do not want any facts or stats or arguments because you have a phd in ecology and you know everything there is to know on the subject. You wave your phd at us if we should be impressed. There is no way anyone on here will change your mind because you do not seem to think there is anything left to learn that you haven't already learned and your opinions cannot be changed regardless of what information you are given. So there is no point in anyone spending time trying to convince you otherwise. BTW there are plenty of vegan ecologists.

Oh right so you want to put a stop to meat production, but you refuse to answer a fundamental question of what is the replacement and how the areas you remove it from are managed to not affect our ecosystem and damage the environment and affect climate change.

So basically you want criticise but not provide a solution? all the while you are part of the problem by even existing as a human that cause the issue in the first place.

I don’t eat much meat at all but I do need some (I assume you mean red meat?). I am prone to anaemia and owing to digestive issues I cannot digest it from other sources.

I mentioned it once and once only so not waving it about, bit of hyperbole on your part.

So do you have anything to bring to the table surprise me, non one has answered anything either myself or other meat eaters have asked yet your all avoiding the questions.

Your reply to me offers nothing of substance only a dig at me personally, but its water of a ducks back, as you were.

100% people are so naive to think that if they don’t buy/eat meat then they’re not buying into the industry..this is the daft mentality of most vegans

Well the cows I eat have a very good life. And I can't eat quorn or many meat replacements. They give me terrible stomach cramps and diarrhea.

And it's got to be better for the environment to eat meat that lives in the same village as me rather than plastic wrapped, highly proceased crap that's been shipped around the world three times.

It never ceases to amaze me that so many veggies/vegans try the guilt angle…needless animals slaughtered/tortured blah blah blah, I wish they would understand that I simply do not care enough to stop eating meat, for someone to feel guilt they need to care

@Fernbreeze I genuinely don’t see why it’d be my responsibility to rethink the world, if I were a vegan.

If I go teetotal, do I have to find a job for my local brewer? If I quit my heroin addiction, do I need to send you the new plan for the poppy field that used to supply me? If I discourage air travel (like all the other oh-so-concerned omnivores in here), am I liable to retrain the pilots and find a new use for the airfield and put on replacement bus journeys? 😂

It does seem to attract a high level of defensiveness, aggression and sneering at those who make different choices.
There are threads on here every summer where people are furious that someone is having a meat-free barbecue, and others telling them not to bother and that they wouldn't bother going either. Like one meal without meat is going to destroy your health or threaten your human rights or something. And the very idea that food without meat might actually be edible.
I think people are also hung up on protein. You don't need all that much to be healthy, and many non-meat foods are excellent protein sources.
I'm not veggie or vegan but I wouldn't think of kicking up a fuss or boycotting a non-meat barbecue or dinner or anything. Or sneering at people who are veggie or vegan.

I wouldn't boycott a meat free bbq but I'd bring something I was sure I could eat as I've been in the situation before where there was nothing I could eat.

I haven't eaten any sort of meat for 30 years

I don't eat veggie bacon, veggie burgers, tofu or any similar meat replacements

I eat lots of fruit & vegetables

I do eat dairy (friend owns a dairy farm)

I do occasionally eat fish

I am not any healthier than anyone else

It is my choice & I don't try to persuade other people

I drive

I fly

I don't have pets

I work FT

Do I win some sort of brownie points ?

Your situation is quite rare, though, as are those of the other people on here who eat meat or give their children meat for similar reasons.
I'm talking about people with no concrete issues who just seem to feel that something terrible would happen if they had one meal without any meat products.

No one has explained why farm animals going extinct is a bad thing? Is it just coz they are cute and fluffy...but not cute enough to stop eating them?
They are hardly contributing to biodiversity are they?

I wouldn’t cater for a veggie or a vegan unless the courtesy is extended to meat eaters by them

If god didn't want us to eat animals he wouldn't have made them taste so good.

@MarkWithaC how do you know people don't have "concrete" reasons that they're just choosing not to share with you?

Never heard of conservation grazing then? 🙄

@hamstersarse
I do actually agree with you that animals should not have their throats slit when still conscious. I don't eat halal meat for this reason and I do not agree that we allow halal practices in the UK. All animals should be stunned

If done correctly I don't have any issue with killing animals by having their throats slit. It's instantaneous. What's really wrong is that consumers are not given the choice not to consume halal meat if they are meat eaters. Meat should be labelled if it's halal and it's not always.

I also think meat should be labelled with details on where the animal is from and where it was slaughtered. Supermarkets have the power to ensure this happens but don't as it suits their interests. They used to make up fake 'English' sounding farms to make people believe that animals are raised and killed in a quaint British farm but I'm not sure if they still do this.

I'm a meat eater but I'd like more choice about what meat I eat.

The lack of useful labelling on fruit and veg isn't much better. I'd like to know how old fresh fruit and veg that I buy is for starters. Some 'fresh' apples can be over a year old when you buy them. It's not necessarily an issue but I'd like to know.

I don't want to give up meat because I enjoy the taste. I have tried vegetarian sausage and bacon, and found the texture and taste really unpleasant.

That said, I would consider eating less meat - having some vegetarian meals, but avoiding the soya meat replacement products.

It's delicious, we are designed to eat a varied diet including meat and because a lot of vegan alternatives are just as bad for the environment.
Farming - pesticide use killing all the insects, not to mention drought from watering all those crops.
Palm oil - destroying rainforests
So there's no easy solution and I have no guilt so will not deprive myself of something I enjoy that's good for me (in moderation).

Look, I've been vegan for many many years, but people like what they like. There are still plenty of things I'd be against giving up even though there are good reasons for shunning some of them!
Never ever to have crisps again... Eep.

It tastes really good. If you've never tried it, give it a go and see for yourself. Humans are omnivores. Lots of vegan and veggie substitute food tastes like cardboard. I get red up with the moralisers banging on and so will keep on eating it.