The Grass-seed Radical: Thirteen Years of Vegetarianism

[dawn_felagund]

Thirteen years ago today my cousin Trish had her high-school graduation party. How do I remember this? Because thirteen years ago today, I also became a vegetarian.

I was twelve years old at the time, and for a twelve-year-old, those sorts of family parties are always boring affairs. So I brought a book--okay, a stack of books--with me for company

Comments

[sinneahtes]

It's much like with religion--hard to see how people are going to be tempted to change if you keep calling them dirty sinners and acting holier-than-thou. ;) What I can say is that, at least for someone who's been wanting on and off to be vegetarian since age 10, you do a lot more to tempt me than anyone who gets in peoples' faces about suffering animals--I don't think everyone in society would be sworn off eating meat just because they know how an animal has suffered (unless they see it for themselves), but there are definitely at least a few people out there who would like to be vegetarian but just don't know much about the food choices and don't have the initiative to go looking for them without a conversation starter like, "This is vegetarian, but tastes just like real chicken!"

[sirielle]

Try recipes here:
http://community.livejournal.com/vegancooking/
http://community.livejournal.com/veganfoodpics/
http://community.livejournal.com/vegetariancooks/
more groups in their profiles (and mine).

I keep it on my flist in hope it will make me go to kitchen and make something. I end up thinking that it should be possible to take out of screen some wonderful dishes posted on photos ;)

[sinneahtes]

Thanks! I always get tired of looking at restaurant menus' "vegetarian" choices and seeing them full of plants I can't stand (onions, peppers, pickles, radishes, etc... eeew), assuming the choices actually are vegetarian and don't have broth poured over them or something. I probably will end up being a vegetarian when I do my own grocery shopping, if only because I'm so opposed to whaling and sick of people defending it by, "What's the difference between eating one animal and another!" (I could explain the differences between eating a whale and a cow, but still.)

[sirielle]

There is a difference, of course, but in the end meat is meat. We can focus on eating or not intelligent species or perishing species, which I think would both describe whales.

Not always vegetarian food in restaurants is really is vegetarian here. I always ask what fat has been used and read the contains carefully - have seen vegetarian pizza with chicken and vegetarian dishes with animal fat or vegetables pre-boiled in broth O_o You probably know pierogi - one of Polish life savers when vegetarian dishes are not available, they tend to be decorated with scratchings which makes them uneatable for me,one more thing to make sure before I make order.

When I cook for myself - yes, it happens sometimes - I just get vegetables I have in reach and stew them, never remeber to follow any recipes.

[dawn_felagund]

I'd say that in terms of pure ethics (according to most animal rights activists), eating a whale and a cow are the same because they base consideration* on sentience and whales and cows are equally sentient. So according to many activists, they deserve equal consideration.

* Not rights, since this gets sticky: Do we give dogs voting rights because we give people voting rights? No ... but we gives dogs (or rats or chickens) equal consideration as humans when deciding whether to harm or kill them. Or animal rights activists would say that we should.

But from a conservation standpoint, there is a huge difference between whales and cows. I mean, we're talking about a common species bred and raised for meat or a threatened/endangered species that is being hunted to extinction. Animal activists like to draw the comparison between American beef consumption and the Korean practice of eating dogs, which horrifies and disgusts many Americans. They often try to put all animals on equal ground, but that's unfair simplification, I think, and the

[dawn_felagund]

Those are great links! I'll be checking out a few myself (and maybe emailing them to Bobby since he's the cook in the family. :^P) Thank you!

[dawn_felagund]

If you ever decide to try vegetarianism (even quasi-vegetarianism), Quorn makes the best fake chicken! Bobby (who still eats meat) claims that he can't tell the difference. All chicken dishes in the House of Felagund are made with Quorn.

(And around here at least, their products are now increasingly available in "normal" grocery stores.)

I think there's a lot of connections to be made between religious extremism and animal-rights extremism. While watching the documentary Jesus Camp*, there is a scene where a nine-year-old girl approaches a young woman in a bowling alley to "witness" to her about Christ. The girl is fervent but clearly uncomfortable; she know that she must do this (by the standards of her subculture), but it's aversive at the same time. I can't help but feel for the girl--even if she's a fundie--because that could have been me on the phone with that poor USDA Meat & Poultry Hotline operator!

* Which, if you haven't seen, might be worth checking out. Best horror film of 2006. ;)

[sinneahtes]

I'll keep Quorn in mind, thanks!

Oh, the topic of animals reminds me I was going to recommend a book I read a while ago and thought you might like if you find time to read it-- Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us. Memoirs of a field biologist who studies orca communication (some of her discussion on environmental issues can sound a bit... maybe not preachy, but somewhere along those lines, but I think she at least mostly talks about what she sees for herself). :)

[dawn_felagund]

I'll check that out! And I can even handle preachy on environmental issues, since I tend to be rather radical on these ideas myself. I might be the only person in Maryland who is excited by the thought of moving to a house without central air. "OMG, we have the chance now to be even greener! w00t!" :^P

[sinneahtes]

Haha, I'd love to live in a house without central air conditioning again. It's summer in New England--good gravy, after all that snow and ice and bitter cold in winter and spring, you'd think people around here would be appreciating not getting frostbite by leaving the doors open! :P

[dawn_felagund]

Tomorrow, it's supposed to be around 100F here. Yikes. So even though I wouldn't deal with your winters for a million bucks (I suffer during the two months or so that we in Maryland can call an actual "winter"), I might end up envying your summers a bit come this time tomorrow. ;)