when I drive past cows in the fields of the countryside, I roll down my window and yell out not mooooos, but bbq sauce flavors.

Prob not right in the head. I know.

We are talking about first world post industrial problems here. Try to stay focused.

Haha.

Vegetarian-vegan thread full of people wanting me to eat meat

As a vegan, I recognize that I don't have a traditional diet. Trying to argue that vegetarianism/veganism is wrong because there are not traditional societies who live that way is absurd. There are plenty of valid reasons to adopt such a diet. There are also plenty of ways to be healthy and get all the nutrition you need whether you consume animal products or not.

Humans are truly omnivores, in my opinion. We can get along on anything. The post article you reference refers to the development of the human brain from PREHUMAN ANCESTORS. The main argument made is regarding calories and efficiency in consuming those calories. The study refers to gorillas needing to eat for an additional 2 hours per day to get enough calories to support a "human" brain. Clearly, with the wonders of modern science, I can eat a fully balanced, calorie-dense vegan meal in just a few minutes several times per day. A *Gasp* vitamin or 2 on top of those meals and I don't even have to think about balancing those meals.

This to me is the point. I am able to make an informed decision that allows me to get everything I need without killing. Granted "killing" is part of nature. That's why it is silly to expect traditional societies still living with nature to adopt such diets. Those in the western/industrial world have little to no connection with a truly "natural" life, so the argument that my diet is "unnatural" doesn't mean much to me. Driving a car, living in a house, having heat, a computer, etc. etc. etc. is also all unnatural.

Speaking of nature and what a species is "meant" to do, I'm fairly certain feed lots, dairy farms, and gestation crates aren't natural environments to the animals subjected to them.

B12 is this big thing for promeat people, but it is the product of bacteria and can be made in your own colon. To be B12 deficient, you basically need to be malnourished, pregnant, or lactating.

I think if you're going to eat meat, it would be much nicer if you raised it and killed it by yourself, or, better yet, caught and killed it "naturally."


steve

So much LOL from you and your wilful misunderstanding of such an obvious fact or maybe you are just too dumb to understand it. Probably the latter.

Go ahead and stick with your self-created "moral" and "ethical" pseudo-philosophy. Morals and ethics are man-made constructs developed to impose control so, yes, I understand that you see yourself as superior. The thing is, it simply isn't true. I know that you can not accept that. Why would you? After all, you are superior, right?

EDIT: Not gonna bother replying to you Steve because you are just as deluded with a smug sense of superiority as this other dude is. Your post is so much LOL also. Try rereading it and place the same demands on being a vegetarian as you do for a meat-eater.

Why must I raise and kill meat but you have no obligation to farm and harvest your food? I'll tell you why Steve, because man has transformed the natural environment to mass produce vegetables and meat.

Keep on imagining that your food comes from some "natural", "organic" mom and pop farm that has no impact on the environment. The production of vegetables and meat both rape the land. This gives us both plenty of time to do nonsensical crap like this.

99 makes good points. I'm sure plenty of animals have become endangered or excint die to habitat loss from commercial farming.

The amount of nonsense displayed here is amazing, but it is good to learn that farming and killing carrots is the same as killing cows.

It is just about understanding that there are reasons behind personal preference, and no one is screaming "meat is murder" or treating carnivores as criminals, so wtf.

Can't decide which side is coming off worse ITT as there are strong contenders in all camps.

Since reading this thread I have become a fruitarian freegan and I think these are most ethically responsible ways to consume food.

Freeganism is pretty straightforward for me: I'll consume food--including meat--that has already been taken from the earth or the animal and would just be discarded if I didn't eat it. This gives me a very low environmental footprint and results in no unnecessary harm to any living things

Not so sure what to do about with futarianism. Fruitarians will eat only what falls (or would fall) naturally from a plant and can be harvested without killing or harming the plant, such as fruits, nuts, and seeds. However, some don't think humans should eat seeds, as a seed is a future plants. Lots of other variations, so I'm not entirely sure how to proceed; however, I'm confident that whatever way I choose to practice my fruitarianism, I will ensure that I am doing minimal harm to any living thing--plant or animal--while minimizing the impact of my consumption on the environment.

If all goes well, next year I will consider an even more ethical shift to breatharianism, and begin to sustain myself solely by prana

Please don't think I am judging any of you for not choosing to live in such an ethical manner. I realize there are many reasons people may have for deciding to choose their own comfort over the good of the planet and all living things

Namaste

That IS pretty crazy. I've never heard vegetarians or vegans spouting their philosophies unprompted before. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's never been known to happen anywhere in the world, ever. The nerve of those carnivores, shoving their opinion down your throat when you were just minding your own business!

FYI: you are not the boss of this thread.

Err, I'm a card carrying meat eater. It's just, you know, annoying to see someone arguing a position so goddamn poorly. It seems half of your position is the appeal to nature fallacy, and other half is filled with ad hominems. Not exactly the most intellectually flattering mix, is it?

So I'm a meat eater and have no plans to become vegetarian, let alone vegan (life without cheese is not a life I want to live).

However....

I'd like to learn how to include more vegetables into my diet, including how to make some fairly good/tasty vegetarian meals. Since I'm normally the one who handles the food shopping/preparing in my family, I could make dinners vegetarian once or twice a week and my boyfriend wouldn't care as long as he got his steak as well. The catch is that I'm basically a giant child when it comes to vegetables. I was raised in a family where the only vegetables we ate with any regularity were carrots and celery, iceburg lettuce, canned corn/beans, and frozen peas/lima beans.

As an adult I've basically made it my policy to retry anything I "hated" as a child, and learned that I don't actually HATE as many vegetables as I thought (like cucumbers and asparagus, although I still dislike raw tomatoes), but I don't know the best way to prepare half the stuff you see in the produce section in the most optimal way. So basically I've been adding cauliflower to my mashed potatoes and spinach in smoothies or stuff like that.

Also, I don't think I've ever tried tofu in my life.

So if anyone has links to their favorite sites (or recipes) for some really good, basic vegetarian dishes that would be appreciated. Here or PM. Stuff you think that even a kid or fairly fussy eater would enjoy.

Yes everyone that eats a vegetarian or vegan diet should go over to the cooking a good steak thread, because those wanting to cook a good steak need people telling them they are wrong for doing so.

Being a vegan and not eating a cow is as unnatural as making love to a cow.

Cows be for eating not cuddling.

This post reminds me of Tom Green sucking on a cow's udder for some reason.

reason to be vegetarian/vegan

sustainability

i do think being vegan is pretty silly but i do try to be mostly vegetarian(never going to convert fully tho) my buddies and his wife are vegan and often cook for me. things I prefer are tofu sushi, kale/fruit shakes, and tamales. I have found that their "pizza" is a god damn disgrace. pretty much anything attempting to imitate an animal product is terrible so i avoid those(tofu can be ok). my aunt is a vegetarian from southern india and i will +1 everyone saying to look into those types of foods, they dont lack flavor because of spices and are generally very filling.

should add i LoL veganism because its ok for illegals to pick your strawberries that were blasted with chemicals but not honey, goat cheese, or eggs?

Eating meat does bring up alot of cognitive dissonance, but so does using technology that uses slaves to mine for the minerals that make it possible. Should I give up technology too?

are the people making your iphone walking through knee deep **** to make it?

Iunno, prolly worse - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_minerals

My girlfriend has been a vegetarian since birth and my parents have recently become vegetarian. While I do still eat meat nearly every day I've decreased my portion sizes and now eat much more fruits and vegetables. I've eliminated fast food and sugary drinks from my diet and I've lost a ton of weight and just feel better every day.

I make vegetarian chili all the time and it is delicious. I'd like to branch out into more vegetarian cooking as I don't usually go much further than a big heap of steamed vegetables.

ya i guess i dont care about conflict minerals the same way i dont actually care how animals are treated. none of my reasons for reducing consumption of certain foods are the same as for why i wouldnt buy technology. im sure other people(especially those citing ethics) would disagree with me.

it isn't actually about you, though you seem to think it is.