Vegetarianism

[pingugirl]

I have been contemplating it for the past few weeks. However really I've been looking for reasons to justify why I should continue to eat meat. I have been eating natural and organic meats for months now. I started to wonder if my eating was worth the life of another. The thought of it made me uncomfortable to the point of picking out pieces of

Comments

[cloquewerk]

I understand your point about eating what you are served, but I think it depends on the situation. If my host were totally oblivious to vegetarianism and if my refusal of meat would be offensive in some way, I might consider it--if I were a visitor in a foreign country, perhaps. I think, though, that in this society, given the growing number of vegetarians and people who are reducing the amount of meat they eat, there is less of an excuse for a host to not be familiar at all with a guest's diet. I certainly don't mind suggesting ideas (for instance, to my gf's mom, even though she does occasionally cook vegetarian meals and doesn't realize it), but if someone invites me over specifically for supper, knowing I do not eat meat, and then serves meat... well... I would question why I would be interested in becoming acquainted with someone who doesn't respect their guests' beliefs. Think of someone inviting their Jewish friend over and serving pork chops... the reasons for that diet might be somewhat different from my reason for being vegetarian, but it seems just as rude to me.

Any increase in vegetarianism (or really any change in popular practices) occurs fairly slowly, and any real reduction in the demand for meat is correspondingly slow. The reduction in consumption would probably be felt by a reduction in the birth rate of domestic animals, so the number would go down generation to generation. I doubt that there would suddenly be a bunch of cows out there that no one would bother butchering. A sudden drop in demand might lead to some waste, but it would have to be rather sudden.

No, I don't eat fish, although my girlfriend does (she eats lacto-ovo vegetarian plus seafood). I can see certain differences between fish and land animals, but not enough to give it my personal ethical stamp of approval. I was sorely tempted while in Barbados a few months ago though. :)

And finally, information is important when switching anything big like a diet. I know vegetarians, often those trying it out in the teenage years, who gave up meat but had no idea how to (or even that they should) replace the lost nutrients. But there are probably more books written on proper nutrition of vegetarianism than any other non-standard diet. That's why I eat a lot of Indian food actually--vegetarianism was first popularized over there by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. They've had a lot of time to develop nutritious vegetarian food. I get a lot of protein, for instance, from lentils, chickpeas, beans, and rice. I do eat soy, although these days only a couple times a week. Soy is pretty contentious right now, with a lot of emotional responses on both sides (vegetarians wanting to claim that it's a wonder food, and the meat industry wanting to claim that meat is much better & safer), but it hasn't seemed to affect sexual development too much in the East, if population size is any indicator. ;) I realize many Chinese people, for instance, would eat both meat (or fish) and soy, but I figure that if you get a lot of protein from other sources, it can't be too dangerous, although I have no proof either way, and there's nothing close to consensus amongst experts.

Phew, that was long, sorry. I'm in a talkative (so to speak) mood these days... must be a result of my gf being away on a business trip...