To have a bacon sarnie?

[Ravingstar]

This is a ridiculous question I think but here goes….

I used to be a massive meat eater - ate meat several times a day. Don’t have loads of enjoyment and food is a deep but almost singular pleasure for me. BUT three years ago i became vegetarian pretty much overnight - just felt really bad that animals were being slaughtered for meat and suddenly thought how would I feel if I was going to be killed. So I just stopped eating meat. Everyone was shocked.

thing is I miss it so much. I don’t really enjoy vegetarian food. It’s ok, I eat it and make do but I would really love a bacon sandwich. I’d love a burger. I’d also love to eat a carbonara.

If it was an issue of welfare, I think I could justify having a meat based dish but I literally feel terrible about any animal dying and the fear it must feel. I’m trying to find ways round it but I don’t think there are any. I don’t really know why I’m asking here. I just saw a thread where someone mentioned a bacon sandwich and I just thought god I really want one.

You're a wrong un you are.

@Ravingstar would you eat roadkill? not squashed badger

I lived in the countryside for a few years and there were always dead pheasants on the road (stupid creatures!!). It was my understanding that it is not legal to take a bird that you knocked down yourself, but if you were the next car, it was OK.

These were birds that were stunned and killed instantly (not run over and squashed). They were the same birds that game shooters would shoot and eat. We had to prepare them in the same way - hang them for a few days, pluck them, butcher them.

Better for us to have some meat and a big pot of pheasant stock than for them to be run over repeatedly on tarmac.

If you can get your head round eating meat in that context it might help with your desicion making around other meat.

I also had the opposite dilemma with my vegan dc. I hate, hate, hate fake meat. It is basically a concoction of petrochemicals. imo if you want to eat plant based then eat real plant/vegetable/seed/pulse things. But last Christmas my vegan dc wanted fake bacon when we had real (ethically sourced) bacon. I bought it for her because I love her. But yuk!!!

Nope. English mustard is the correct answer!

That is why some of us only eat high welfare meat.

Funny story @Ravingstar

Years ago my friend (vegetarian) and her young daughter were visiting. I was making veggie lunch for us, but was also prepping my own dinner for later. Little Anna asked what I was making - chicken. "We don't eat chicken", she said. "I know, but I think that there is as difference between a chicken that has lived a happy life in the woods and the field and the sunshine, and a sad chicken that has lived in a barn, or even in a small cage."

Little Anna pondered. "Ah! So you only eat the sad chickens and let the happy chickens live a happy life?"

Have one! But please make sure it’s U.K. higher welfare bacon - Waitrose is very reliable. Any pork products from Denmark, Germany or the Netherlands will be cheaper, but almost certainly because they’re factory-farmed.

I think you need to ask yourself what you are craving, as you are probably missing something. Protein? Flavour?

Saying that, I tried being veggie in my late teens and bacon and burgers I just couldn't quit.

It’s entirely your choice OP, but it doesn’t sound like you would feel ok about it if you did.

I have been vegan for many years now and I really couldn’t eat any animal products. I’ve sometimes craved eggs or a certain chocolate but I wouldn’t actually eat them. There is no food to me that is worth it.

I don’t think mumsnet will help you much. This is a very personal decision.

Could you allow yourself high welfare meat occasionally?

If you would feel too guilty, then don't. Most of us have food cravings that we can't give into, or can't give in to as often as we'd like, whether for ethical reasons, health reasons, allergies, intolerances, cost.

Bear in mind that eating it would give you enjoyment for however long it takes you to eat a bacon sarnie - about 10 minutes max in my case - and ask how you'd feel afterwards. If afterwards you'd feel satisfaction, then fine, if afterwards you'd feel guilt, it's not worth it for 10 minutes of pleasure.

I won’t have a bacon sandwich this month so you can have mine. I probably have one every 6 weeks or so.

This is a very helpful way to look at it. I think this is why I haven’t caved so far because I think I would feel dreadful and really upset afterwards and possibly even during the eating of it so it’s just spoilt the whole thing for me really.

I think my issue is more just that I’ve lost something I really enjoyed doing…I know it sounds mad but I just really get a lot of pleasure from eating and that derived from meat dishes. Now I don’t go out much as I don’t really like the vegetarian options and at home I just make do but it’s cut out a big source of fun/pleasure for me - I know that sounds really sad! I roll my eyes at myself.

I might try the vegan pastrami although like a PP said I have an aversion to eating a lot of these highly processed chemicals.

now If only I could feel the same way about smoking.