AIBU to ask why it’s unacceptable to eat Veal, but Lamb is fine?

[Wills]

I’ve just returned from a holiday in France where Veal is as common as Lamb yet back here Veal is a big no no but lamb is acceptable? I’m not keen on Beef or Veal, just interested in what the difference is in terms of eating baby animals?

Although some countries do, we shouldn’t really consume carnivores.

I can’t remember the science behind it but basically you are more likely to get diseases from eating carnivores (or other humans) than herbivores.

Its also much easier to raise docile sheep than dogs that can bite back.

So "I see sheep on my way home" has no bearing on basic shop bought lamb meat. It has everything to do with it. Where do you think all the Welsh lamb goes? Into the ether?

I agree.

If you’re going to eat meat, then eat it from a farm as close to you as possible.

Often the conditions the animals are kept in and the treatment in the slaughter houses are usually better in the UK than in other unregulated countries.

The actual transportation of the live animals is usually the cruelest aspect of meat production, so eating meat from a local farm reduces this aspect.

The youngest a lamb will be ready for slaughter is 4 months if it is continental breed. Most lamb is 8-12 months unless you are sainsburys and then anything under 2 years counts as lamb. Really sheep aged 1-2 are hogget and over 2 are mutton. Most start life indoors and then move outside, but may be back inside for finishing.
Its a much better meat from an ethical and environmental point of view than chicken

We've got lambs here. They were born in April have spent all year in the fields with their mothers (and their father too actually). They are now nearly as big as their mother. They will be eaten in November. Totally different to veal rearing.

Lamb isn't actually the cute tiny lambs you see skipping around the field. They're much older bigger and weaned. To most people they would look like a sheep. You can't buy 'sheep' at the shops though it's broadly referred to as lamb or mutton (mutton being older). There are other categories I think for different ages but I've never seen them for sale in the uk.

It isn't different to rose veal reared in the UK.

I don't eat lamb, so tbf I wouldn't know where most supermarket lamb comes from (no particular ethical reasons, I just don't like it. Though I do fairly frequently consider vegetarianism for ethical reasons, but it would currently complicate life too much, increase the amount of food waste we produce and probably get too expensive).

I'm pretty sure that the UK stopped having veal calves raised in dark crates a long time ago.

"For me a better question would be why lambs but not puppies; why pigs but not dogs..."

Taste and meat. Carnivorous animals as a general rule have awful tasting meat (at least to us Brits) and dogs have very little meat compared to a chunky 12 month old lamb. Also culture is a big factor. Dogs were never food chain livestock in the UK, just like cats weren't so it's not in our nature to see them as food.
Horses weren't really used for our meat either as the aim of a horse was to keep it alive as long as possible for working meaning that horses dying were generally old with meat that didn't taste the best. More than suitable to be fed to the hounds though.

Most lamb is reared outside in fields. Veal, in the past in the UK and continuing on the continent, was reared in dark crates to keep the meat white and tender. Some butchers in England have rose veal which is calf meat reared in the same way as lamb.

Veal raised 'sous mere' is kept with its mother. Also known as Rose veal, I think, because it is pinker.

Lambs aren’t actually babies when they go for meat. I keep sheep but not for meat; I don’t like it anyway and couldn’t even touch it now we keep them. They are great fun.

I wouldn’t touch veal either.

We're a hungry nation.

I don't think crated veal is legal in this country any more is it? If we're going to accept the fact that we want milk and dairy products, we should be encouraging the consumption of non crated veal-otherwise we're wasting an enormous quantity of food.....

Traditionally veal calves are kept indoors and only fed milk ... quite different to lambs who are leaping around the fields

Don't know if I'm wrong here but I thought that veal was a product of the dairy industry - calves being born to dairy cows and if not raised as veal calves then the male calves are just shot ? I may be wrong but every time I think about it I know that I really shouldn't eat dairy , but am kind of in denial as I'm not actually eating the animal . No excuse really .

That’s usually called ‘rose veal’ now and is seen as ethical veal by and large

I buy yeo valley dairy products as their bull calves go into a beef herd and are not slaughtered at birth.

It’s not legal to farm crated veal here but it is still imported

I think Italy, Holland and Denmark are big producers of crated veal, so if you see ‘milk veal’ or ‘white veal’ on a menu, that’s almost certainly what you’re getting

Rose veal or anything that comes from a British farm, will have come from much higher welfare farms

And it always annoys me that people won't eat lamb because they are fluffy, but if you were going to choose the highest welfare meat in the UK or would probably be lamb.

Wait until you hear about pate de foie gras. Personally it won't eat real, pate de foie gras, lobster or crab

@Coyoacan I suspect many of us will have no difficulty in avoiding pate de foi gras. Or lobster and crab. But I do think we need to have a conversation about veal.

That’s good to know.

For me a better question would be why lambs but not puppies; why pigs but not dogs...

Well dogs are carnivores and they tend not to taste good...