To believe that eating meat should be illegal?

[BySpoonyBlueScroller]

The environmental damage and animal cruelty outweighs the cultural or personal benefits. AIBU to think it’s time to outlaw meat production?

Of course they wouldn't just ban it...there would probably be rioting!

Like most restrictions to our freedom, it comes in via the drip drip effect so we're basically frogs in the boiling water...excuse the pun.

So I predict lab grown meat will come in and very slowly they'll phase out real meat by making it totally unaffordable and heavily taxed...until it disappears completely

Humans are omnivores, we eat both meat and vegetables. Eating meat is not something we should give up, it's largely through eating meat that we have evolved to be the dominant species on the planet. In the hunter/gatherer days it was essential to eat meat to survive - hunting animals for food was a much better investment of energy than foraging for plants, in terms of energy spent in the pursuit versus nutrition gained.

The idea of banning meat is ridiculous. There are many things that are far more damaging to the planet that should be banned before meat. Air travel, streaming services (the amount of energy they use is ridiculous), work, all those things should be banned before meat is.

As PP have said, the first step to saving the planet is to shrink the global population. We need to cut it back to a few hundred million people. We need to revert back to a local world rather than a global one, we should grow our own food in this country and not interact with other countries. Isolationism works well until it is ended.

I am not veggie or vegan. I do try to eat less meat, and we have plenty of veggie meals, though I do eat a fair amount of fish.

I feel guilty about this, as I care about animals and the environment.

However, I am just not convinced that an entirely vegan diet is good for humans - especially growing children. Especially fussy kids, as one of mine is. She'd probably be happy not eating meat - but if she also couldn't eat fish, eggs or dairy, I honestly think she'd be malnourished.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Yes, you're being downright unreasonable. Eat what ya like. Leave the rest of us be 😬

Ban eating meat

What else would be banned ?

Alcohol ?
Sugar ?
Certain medicines?
Smoking & vaping ?
Petrol, diesel ?
Aerosols ?
Pets ?

Will people be eating seaweed, tofu & insects in pill form ?

Some people cannot afford to eat meat in the world

Meat is a luxury for some

So it is in a way already banned for them

Be thankful, that you have the means to change your diet if you needed to

Chicken legs, pork chops, liver are very cheap and are excellent sources of micronutrients, indeed liver is only second to oysters for being the most nutritionally dense food

But people prefer pizza

No problem at all.

I think we should make stupidity and goadiness illegal, but it'll never happen. Oh well!

Many of the things on your list are heavily taxed and can't even be advertised...so the government has subtle ways to attempt to cut down consumption

I had romantic notions about animals which were entirely unfounded in reality.

These illusions were quickly squashed by fact when I moved to a farm, which came furnished with 50odd beef cattle, 600 sheep, a load of dogs, some geese and a few pigs and a cat. Pigs are disgusting, I don't even like looking at them and the smell of pigs is revolting too. They can also bite through bone, much worse than a dog bite (thankfully I have not been bitten) and any particularly rambunctious pigs and bullocks went on the block first. This is how it has been for centuries and why we have domestic livestock, by killing and not reproducing from aggressive animals.

I liked the geese, I didn't eat those. Same for the dogs.

The first meat I ate was sausages.

What’s going to happen to all the cows and sheep and chickens? Are they just going to be let free to fend for themselves?

all the pastures they live on will have to turn over to food production otherwise we will all starve.

Smoking is a good example of how they can reduce consumption without an outright ban. So cigarettes are heavily taxed, it's illegal to advertise them, they are in plain packaging, they are hidden in shops...and I think they've changed the law so if you're born after a certain year, you'll never be allowed to buy them.

I don't understand your logic. If a vegan eats chocolate it doesn't negate the environmental impact of their veganism. A vegan who eats chocolate will have a more positive environmental impact than if they ate chocolate AND meat, so I'm not sure why you think you've come up with a gotcha here. Why is doing something but not everything more deserving of criticism than doing nothing?

@5128gap That wasn't a 'gotcha' at all. It was a comment on the environmental argument for veganism as expressed in many posts here. I'm not against veganism per se, I just don't like the virtue signalling instead of looking at the pros and cons of each side's arguments.

Such a depressing thread. The usual 'whataboutery'.

Some people are vegan. Some are vegetarian. Some people eat fish, but no meat. Some people are trying to eat less meat and / or dairy. Get over it! ANYTHING anyone can do is a step in the right direction - even if it's just deciding to only eat meat twice a week, rather than every day or whatever. Anything helps.

It is not a 'given' that we will be nutritionally deficient without the certain forms of meat deemed 'essential' in Western diets. Utter nonsense. Hindu people never ate beef - billions of them. Billions of non-pork eating Muslims. Billions of vegetarians worldwide who, on average, are far healthier than meat-guzzling individuals.

The amount of meat consumed (and wasted) globally is obscene. It HAS to change and people who don't yet grasp this will just have to catch up.

How would you police it?

'We'?

All things being equal (so talking solely about the item of meat), eating meat is the most efficient way to consume the protein you need.

Based on the avg woman needing 45 gr daily, that makes about 150 gr of chicken, but 900 gr of peas.

Any other on here who has posted about getting their child to eat sufficiently will probably tell you that coaxing them to eat 900 gr of any substance is most likely on a hiding to nothing.

Most meat in the UK (or at least in Scotland) is also grass fed. Cattle that is, chicken is a guess, could well be batteries in Scotland also, dunno. Reckon the calcs for, for example water needs, of peas v cattle can be done also.

Which is really useful when food is in short supply, or as you say, for children or other people who for whatever reason have restricted diets. The vast majority of people in our society have no need for such efficiency though. Meat, which efficiently packs in not only high levels of protein but also calories and fat, for many western people is so efficient its an excess. People who consume lots of meat, because its so satiating will also often have it at the expense of other nutritious foods, veg, beans, pulses etc. Of course people on here will robustly claim otherwise, but its common sense that if you're eating steak you'll have room for less veg.

Edamame beans are great for protein and also contain antioxidants.

Nobody needs meat every day. That is just ridiculous. People are eating way too much (particularly) processed meat and the toll on public health is obvious.

Absolutely not. Meat is too tasty.

Steak has 27g of protein per 100g
edamame has 11g of protein per 100g

Also edamame lacks some of the essential amino acids that assist muscle development

Also, it contains anti nutrients which further stop the absorption

animal and plant protein are not the same,

Awful

Nothing to do with the seed oils and sugar hey?