Well I'm an avid Veggie, and I subscribe to the Linda McCartney ethos - 'never eat anything with a face'

We can get all the nutrients we need without eating our fellow planet dwellers.

It National Vegetarian Week 8-14 July - yummy nut cutlet or beanburger off the barbie anyone?

5000 people a week in the UK are joining the veggie revolution and dropping meat completely from their diets.
There are about 4 million vegetarians in the UK - 7% of the adult population.
10 million people in the UK no longer eat red meat.
An amazing 12% of young people are vegetarian.
In the last ten years, the number of vegetarians in the UK has more than doubled.
(Stats courtesy of the Vegetarian Society Website)

I agreee with all those comments - but I also agree with everyone's right to choose.

I like eating meat. I enjoy the taste and the ready protein source. (It's way tastier than Whey protein).

Yes, when I stop and think about it, I do feel bad about eating "animals", but not bad enough to actually stop me eating them.

I also follow the guideline of not eating anything that I personally couldn't have killed. So no Tiger, Bear etc. Kinda like a self imposed caveman ethic, don't tackle anything that would eat me before I could eat it

Mmmmm meat. Pretty much sums up my views. My girlfriend is vegetarian though and I eat way less meat now that a few years ago. If I am making pizza or curry at home then I will always make veggie versions, which I don't think are in any way inferior to ones containing meat. Also, will happily eat Quorn sausages and burgers rather than meat ones, and even nut roast for a Sunday roast.

On the other hand, I'm not too keen on eggs, cheese or tofu, and I don't think an entirely meat free would provide enough nutrients for me (I'm sure it could, but I'd have to be a lot more clued up/less lazy!). And I like steak, roast beef, fish etc too much to quit altogether.

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by MonSTeR
I also follow the guideline of not eating anything that I personally couldn't have killed. So no Tiger, Bear etc. Kinda like a self imposed caveman ethic, don't tackle anything that would eat me before I could eat it

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How does that work then? Are we talking anything that you couldn't kill with a electric stunner and some sharp implements, or in a one on one fight? 'Coz Cows are pretty big and mean, I'm pretty sure that one could do me in a straight scuffle. And a pig too. Maybe i could take a sheep, but even that would be a close one...

I do like meat but I used to be a vegetarian.

I'm considering becoming a veggie again though-think it's to do with Buddist influence!

I think that everyone has the right to chose

(all though I won't be eating any meat in the next couple of days-just had brace tighened! )

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by Avenger

How does that work then? Are we talking anything that you couldn't kill with a electric stunner and some sharp implements, or in a one on one fight? 'Coz Cows are pretty big and mean, I'm pretty sure that one could do me in a straight scuffle. And a pig too. Maybe i could take a sheep, but even that would be a close one...

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Basic hunter-gatherer stuff really, I know how to make a spear and some traps and so on, but genius that I am, I still haven't worked out how to make a plasma rifle So somewhere in the middle I guess.

i like meat..big fan of beef, chicken etc. so not much chance of me becoming a vegetarian at the minute. I don't have a problem with eating meat personally, but get where vegetarians come from in not eating it. My brothers vegie

Another meat eater here , I have always thought I would like to be veggie but sorry me likes me meat far to much

I'm a meater, but I know some very good vegitarian recepies

I eat meat I like it. I feel the same as Monster though about killing it.

Well I would like to be a veggie to, because I love animals, but I'm skinny enough as it is and I think if I was cut meat out of my diet completely I'd waste away!

So I'm afraid I'm gunna have to stick to eating it

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by Green_Amber
Well I'm an avid Veggie, and I subscribe to the Linda McCartney ethos - 'never eat anything with a face'

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What about Tellytubby toast?

I went veggie for about half a day when i was 12 after seeing a van unloading at a butchers. However I now don't really care now and could probably cope with killing an ainimal for food if i have too, i'll also eat 'cute' animals too. I like meat so i won't stop eating it - but i also don't see anything wrong with being a veggie unless you're one of the sort that tries to get everyone you meet to stop eating meat. or if you'll eat beef coz cows are 'ugly' but not lamb because they're 'cute' (I do know people like that)

Even though 12% of the country are 'vegetarians', I'd say 7% do it because it's become popular and really cool to be one, not because of beliefs. If people want to be 'veggies', then that's fine, but they should NEVER preach, I can't stand 'veggies' who preach.

Are 'veggie preachers' so naive to believe that if they stop eating burgers it would save the cow? At best it means the burger is simply thrown away, so not only have they failed to save the cow, they made the death pointless! Yes you can have a balanced diet without meat, SO??? You can exclude many vegetarian items and still have a balanced diet.

And as a 'veggie' you should NEVER force others to bend to your will, by never serving meat or refusing to go in a McDonalads or Burger King. IT'S YOUR CHOICE not to eat meat, not everyone elses, so don't expect others to change for you!

Sorry, two of my friends are 'veggies' and one is so blatently a 'poser veggie' but I alway know another guy who is a 'preacher veggie'. Hope a cow sits on him

I'm a veggie only because I don't like the taste of meat.
I have no big thing about meat being 'murder'.
Cows are bred specifically for food, so why shouldn't people eat them?!?

The only thing I take issue with about animals being killed is with stuff like fur or ivory
These animals are killed specifically for their skin or tusks & I do consider this as murder.

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"How can we eat anything with eyes?" (Will Kellogg).

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by Green_Amber
Well I'm an avid Veggie, and I subscribe to the Linda McCartney ethos - 'never eat anything with a face'

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I'm sure the oysters will be thanking you for that one.

If nothing else the force of rhetoric in that collection of quotes is impressive.

I like the taste of meat. We cannot yet (if ever) accurately reproduce the flavour and texture of meats using non-meat sources: if we could I would think it more unreasonable to be omnivorous.

I do not think humans and animals can be compared in the manner in which Albert Schweitzer and Robert Louis Stevenson, particularly, imply. If we were not to eat animals we still would not treat them equally with other human beings - we acknowledge a difference between our species and it is partly this difference which allows us to think of them differently and... well, eat them.

I'm not sure how significant other people find this, but it strikes me that only two of the given quotes directly address the morality of eating meat; I'm not sure if the others mean to imply it, but largely the writers are concerned only with their own emotional reactions to the eating of meat.

Cool!

Ok, before I get into rant mode, I'd better explain a few things before people think I'm telling them what they can and can't eat.

Firstly, I'm a born again meat-eater. I spent the best part of ten years as a vegetarian. Some of the things I will say below are part of why I no longer am. However, I have never had a go at anyone for being a Vegetarian (except people who eat fish and call themselves Vegetarians, but that's because they're being silly).

Everyone has a right to choose their own diet. But getting moral on my *bottom* for eating meat does wind me up, especially as most of the ethical arguments for Vegetarianism really don't stand up to scrutiny. That doesn't mean it's wrong to be a Vegetarian for emotional reasons - just be honest about it and don't get all superior about it.

However I wouldn't go as far as Kieran. I've done that whole 'won't go into MacD's or BK, not even for fries'. I still would rather not go into MacD's if I could help it. That's as much a personal choice as anything. I also think it is fair to argue with people as to why they shouldn't as well, as long as you accept at the end of the day that everyone has a right to differ.

Anyway, back to those quotes. Personally, I find a few of them pretty muddled thinking, especially the quotes from Da Vinci, Schweitzer, Thoreau and Stevenson. I'm not sure that Shaw's fits in with the rest, but then I'm biased towards Shaw and wouldn't want to think ill of him (although Da Vinci was pretty hard to swallow for the same reason).

The rest are personal, emotional responses to the concept of eating meat - which is fair enough. Their choice, and I respect that. But the four I listed above go too far. They make ethical judgements that are inconsistent. Why should we ask more of our eating habits than we do of animals? If I don't eat meat, on ethical grounds, than should I stop my cat from eating a mouse or a bird? If animals are my equals, shouldn't I expect them to behave to the same standard as me?

And are we talking about all animals, or just the cute ones? What about tapeworms? Should I treat their death as equivalent to a human's? Or mosquitos? Tics? Lice? Some ex-flatmates of mine found an ant's nest in the wall of their house and called in the exterminators. Does that make them Nazi style genocidal murderers? What about rats, or other pests?

Where do you draw the line?

Personally, I think we should all be allowed to decide for ourselves what we can emotionally cope with eating. There is no rational argument for eating one animal over another, or even for eating vegetables (or dairy products) over meat. The decision is a personal and emotional response and should not be treated as anything else. There are rational, self-preservation/interest, reasons for making an exception of humans, but I have yet to find one for anything else.

So as far as I am concerned, feel free to eat whatever you like, as long as it ainÂ’t human or a pet I love. The first is rational, the second emotional. And there ainÂ’t nothing wrong with that.

THe best arguments I've heard for vegetarianism are that A) humans can survive on a completely vegetarian diet and only ape the eating habits of carnivores because they can, being so resourceful (some peopel argue otherwise), and B) eating meat is wasteful because it uses up much more farming land to feed animals for human consumption than it would to feed humans directly. I particularly like the last one, but don't think many brits will be cajoled into going veggy just to squeeze in a few more immigrants/let trailer trash have even larger families... :sad:

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by Jayjay

Anyway, back to those quotes. Personally, I find a few of them pretty muddled thinking, especially the quotes from Da Vinci, Schweitzer, Thoreau and Stevenson. I'm not sure that Shaw's fits in with the rest, but then I'm biased towards Shaw and wouldn't want to think ill of him (although Da Vinci was pretty hard to swallow for the same reason).

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The Shaw quote interested me. Could you tell me its context? Did it refer specifically to the eating of animals?

(I must admit to not having the same respect for Shaw that you do... the man didn't like Shakespeare )

I'm another ex-vegetarian. I was veggie for about 7 years and I even tried to be vegan for about 6 months, but I couldn't give up cheese. One of the main reasons I went back to eating meat was that at the time I'd just started my first full-time job and I was living in a really cold house, and I just started to crave meat. I've always been of the opinion that if you *really* crave a food, that means your body needs something that's in it, so you should eat it (that works very well for chocolate BTW).

However, I may have stopped being vegetarian but I still have very strong views on animal rights. I don't believe that it is wrong to kill animals for food. We have evolved as omnivores and while it is possible to live healthily on a vegetarian diet it isn't as easy. However, I have a *big* problem with animals being made to suffer in the course of becoming my dinner. I object intensely to factory farming, to battery egg production, to injecting animals with artificial growth hormones so that they produce more meat, to breeding some animals (ie turkeys) for size to the point where they can no longer reproduce without assistance, to feeding herbivorous creatures the minced-up residue of their own kind...

So, now I am no longer a veggie, I have a different philosphy of eating meat. I will not buy meat that isn't at the very least free range. For preference, I buy organic meat. I'm still hoping that one day I can find a butcher's where I can buy my meat knowing that they could tell me what farm the animals came from. And of course this costs more. So we eat meat three times a week, maybe four if you count a bit of bacon in a quiche or what have you. But I know that I am doing what I can to support the farming methods I agree with.

However, I don't preach. I used to be a preachy vegetarian (actually, I used to be very preachy about a lot of things, but that was a long time ago). If I go out to dinner I'm not going to worry about where the food comes from, but if you come round to mine don't expect to get Bernard Matthews Turkey Drummers. I may take the time to explain my point of view, but if you don't agree, that's your choice. (Although I used to refuse to go into McDonalds, and I would certainly never have cooked meat while I was a veggie, and I still stand by that. If you don't eat it, why cook it?)

Sorry - kind of digressed into a long rant there. My views on the quotes? I see nothing wrong with the Schweitzer. As I've said above, I think we need a code of ethics with regard to animal welfare. I just don't think that necessarily precludes eating them. I wouldn't be too against the Shaw - again, it is an argument for ethical treatment. The others? As Jayjay said, muddled thinking. A combination of emotional response and anthropomorphism. And I agree that while emotion is a perfectly valid reason not to eat something, it isn't a reason to try to impose that on everyone else.