The Why-I-Am-a-Vegetarian Post

[silburygirl]

Because I've had one of those weeks in which people ask me why I'm a vegetarian (and gaze at me as though they've just noticed the second head sprouting from my shoulder) about ten million times and I have a long, rambling answer

Comments

[kribu]

*coughs* Well, my personal theory is that when times are tight, killing animals rather than making them useful is rather counterproductive...

That theory works with animals who give something - cows for the milk, chickens for the eggs. There is no point (speaking from a purely practical level) in raising pigs for any other reason than meat. And back then, any meat we did get was pork - beef has never been very popular here, precisely because cows are kept for the milk. (And only pork leftovers anyway, fat and internal organs mostly, as the meat, together with most everything else produced here, was taken to Russia anyway.)

I'm a little weird as far as nature goes - the trouble is that I consider plants living creatures too. Not on the same level as animals, obviously, but... I don't cut living flowers, I don't like treading on tree roots, and so on. If I tried to actually live the way my personal ethics find right, I'd have starved to death decades ago, so it's always been a matter of compromise. I'm fairly aware I'm a hypocrite in many ways - if I had to slaughter my own food, I'd go vegetarian in an instant. As long as I don't...

Also, at least not being a vegetarian gives me some choice when eating out. It's a lot easier finding a meat dish that has no onion or garlic or leek in it (or where it can be picked out at least) than a vegetarian dish, it seems. Blegh.

As for you feeling better after giving up meat - I do suspect that people's digestive systems work differently. My vegetarian friend's the same way; he says he's been feeling a whole lot better since giving up meat in his teens - but he also never really cared for it in the first place. It might well be that there is more internal motivation to become a vegetarian when one's body doesn't crave or need meat products (or have an easy time dealing with them) to start with? The body knowing it's better for you? While for other people, it simply won't work, not easily anyway.

[shiv5468]

Frankly, I suspect that when you give up meat you have to think about what you're eating more, so you eat better. And a lot of junk food is ruled out automatically. Nothing to do with some people's systems needing meat or not.

[kribu]

I am sure that's true for a lot of people. I try to avoid junk food as much as I can anyway (no hamburgers, no fast food, lots of salad and fruit instead, only rye and wholegrain bread and so on), and eat fairly balanced food in general, but... let's just say I became a considerably nicer person again once I started eating as usual, i.e. adding a bit of meat back to the menu every now and then.

[silburygirl]

raising pigs for any other reason than meat.

Because they're adorable? Morale is important!

I'm a little weird as far as nature goes - the trouble is that I consider plants living creatures too.

Have you considered fruititarianism? :P

I eat things on the basis of whether or not they were scurrying around at some point, and try to minimise the environmental impact by buying organic and local things (reason 106,347 that I love where I live-mild climate and therefore lots of things don't have to be imported).

I also live in the land of the hippies and therefore have no problem finding veggie-friendly things wherever I go. Not to mention that when it narrows down my menu choices, I consider it a good thing as I am the least decisive person in the world!

As for you feeling better after giving up meat - I do suspect that people's digestive systems work differently.

I think it was mostly that I avoided meat as much as I could before going vegetarian, but didn't think to substitute it with anything else, which is apparently very bad for you. If I slack off on my protein sources, I find that I start to feel run-down, so it isn't as though I can just skip through life merrily without worrying...

[kribu]

try to minimise the environmental impact by buying organic and local things

See, I want to do that too. ;-) Hence the meat...

Seriously, most of the food here is imported. Cold climate, wet and poor soils (mostly marshlands or very thin soil on rocks) -> not a good place for crop growing. Crops tend to fail more often than not, even with the modern advances in agriculture. We can mostly just grow rye and potatoes here, and even those have to be supplemented by imports often enough; wheat is now done too but it has problems growing to full grain size. So it's always been largely pork and fish and grass and every possible variety of milk products here.

Oh, and I quite agree - thinking about what you eat is very important. I do think it's why a lot of vegetarians are often in better health than non-vegetarians - not so much because meat = bad ;-) but because they're more directly forced to think what and how they eat. I try to keep away from junk as much as possible (the unhealthy part of my eating has to do with sweets, not hamburgers or hot dogs) but it just doesn't seem to work without any meat products whatsoever.

[silburygirl]

Have you heard of this? Mostly common sense, but interesting nonetheless.

Have I mentioned that I'm glad that I live in a place with lots of different farms and different types of food? Of course, where I grew up, the only food industry to speak of involved beef and wheat, so I know where you're coming from.

but it just doesn't seem to work without any meat products whatsoever.

And if you like it to begin with, there's no need to give it up. I do not judge the carnivores if they do not judge me!

[kribu]

I've heard of the basic concept, yes. It absolutely makes sense, and I'd love to stick to it more.

I eat local as much as possible - anything to do with milk, bread and meat, and potatoes for most of the year; sadly that's about the extent of it. We get rotten apples one month out of the year or so and local strawberries for two weeks, and cucumbers and tomatoes in late summer... I'd be rather fruit-and-veggie-less if it wasn't for all that lovely Polish and Dutch and Spanish and Caucasian stuff on the market. :-D

I do not judge the carnivores if they do not judge me!

That's really the main thing, isn't it? I wish more people on both sides would stick to that! I've never really understood how it's anyone else's business what other people do or do not eat (unless it's other people they eat), especially as there are so many people out there with allergies and/or a genuine intolerance for something.

[silburygirl]

It's hard to eat all local all the time-I love berries more than anything (except perhaps cheese), and the closest place they can be shipped from in the winter is California... Some days, frozen just doesn't cut it, so I buy them fresh (even though they are ridiculously expensive).