Vegans?

I eat lamb from our butcher, we see them wandering the moors before they arrive in the shop. I eat free range organic chicken. I eat free range fish,never farmed. We probably eat meat or chicken twice a week, fish once or twice, the rest is veggie. Our children all had a veggie phase and one of them had a vegan phase. All of them now eat small amounts of meat/fish/chicken.
I'm interested in a vegan diet and way of life. I struggle though with vegans who become aggressive towards those of us who don't share their views and diet. I've seen attacks on people who support animal charities on the basis they still eat free range meat etc.

I guess strict vegans wouldn't approve of "pet" animals.

My youngest daughter is vegan - a recent choice but at age 24 she is old enough to make her own choices and I respect her choice. She says she feels a lot happier not participating in cruel practices to animals. Of course she recognises that many farmers are not cruel but even one cruel farmer or abattoir worker is too much for her. It is difficult to think how I will cater for her when she comes to visit but many middle eastern inspired dishes are suitable.
The thing I have a slight concern about is how we would feed our pet dogs and cats in the western world if humans stopped eating meat. Breeds of domesticated animals and fowl - sheep, cows etc would die out unless kept as pets. There would still need to be farmers or hunters who produced meat on a suitable scale for pet food. What would happen to the landscapes purely kept as they are by grazing farm animals snd possibly not suitable for cereals such as the Lake District? No easy answers but the number of vegans is growing.

For those who think that farmers treat their animals well.

www.viva.org.uk/faceoff/pigs/viva-takes-face-around-uk

Icanhandthemback my niece could feed her cat on dry food ,its perfectly good.Theres no need to give them fresh meat

I have been vegetarian for over 40 years and have never craved a bacon butty.
Vegan lifestyle is more than just what we eat.
When I had the vegetarian guest house, I remember a woman from Visit Britain coming to grade it. She showed me the report and had remarked on the wool carpets. I told her they were not, as it was a vegetarian/vegan guest house, and we did not use wool. She said she would never have known. That wasn't the point. To get the top grading you had to have wool carpets, which is why she put it on the comments. I told her she ought to discuss it with her management, as it was important to vegans.

My daughter in law makes delicious cakes and meringues, using the liquid from cans of chick peas.

paddyann cats are obligate carnivores so it would be remiss of your friend if she didn't feed her cat chicken meat. As humans who can easily choose whether to eat meat or not (and should be respected for their choices) we have no right to inflict our lifestyle on our pets who should be fed a biologically appropriate diet for their species.

I must admit I used to take the micky out my "vegetarian" sister who, before coming so, had resisted every vegetable my mother had ever tried to feed her. I think she lasted about 2 years before giving in to bacon which led to a very slippery slope to the steaks.

I'm a meat eater & have no intention of giving it up or fish. I was brought up in the country & have been around farming all my life. Farmers treat their animals well (on the whole) as they want the best price at market.

I have no objection to people choosing to be vegetarian/vegan/piscatorian (eat fish but not meat), that is their choice but please don't lecture me on my choice.

My DD turned vegetarian for a while as friend she was house sharing with was "veggie", but when she came home she would always eat chicken (family joke "vegetarian chicken") . DD is now back to being a meat eater, just a short blip in life, she missed meat too much.

I have a friend who has been vegetarian for over 40 years but he still craves a "bacon butty"

Each to their own. No one person is right. My sister and neice are vegetarian. My sis cooks meat and fish for her husband and son.
I enjoy meat.
The palm oil issue in banknotes isn't about vegetarianism imo it's about deforestation. I wholeheartedly disagree with deforestation. Doesn't mean I want to eat an orangutan!

I think there is a vast difference between a meat eater preparing a vegetarian meal, (surely we all eat meat/fish free meals some days) and asking a vegetarian/vegan to handle and cook fish/ meat for carnivores. I'm a carnivore by the way.

We have children in all "food camps". I don't find cooking (Sunday meal) difficult. To me it's all in being considerate to their preferences and making lots of sides.

Lots of cheap sides and breads.

Finding in it harder to eat meat after watching countrywide especially last Sunday cooking that whole lamb. I do like meat but when I see lambs,and calves I do get sad, stupid I know.
My d is a veggie and has been since she was 16 her class had to do an oral exam and one girl did a speech about animal welfare and slaughterhouses and my d has never eaten meat since.

I would never expect a vegetarian or vegan to cook me a meal with meat or fish in it

Mindful lyrics????

In this country at least, adults are free to make their own choices within the law (I added that last bit because some forum members can take things literally! ?) Choosing to be vegetarian or vegan isn't always undertaken mindful lyrics though. Just rejecting meat isn't necessarily a healthy choice unless complete protein sources are substituted, especially where there are growing children to be considered. Vegans seem to be better informed. In the words of Yosemite Sam, "Suffering succotash!" (a complete protein dish ?)

I'm not vegetarian or a vegan but will cater for them if they are a guest in my house, however, I would rather upset them than endanger the orangutans even more by cutting down more of their forest to make £5 notes.
I also don't believe that either a veggie or vegan diet is healthier than mine but have no objections to others believing it.

Yes me too roses et al.

Agree with your posts paddyann and dharmacat respect for others works two ways.

I was vegetarian for around 15 years ,now I eat a small amount of meat ,but never pork or fowl ,even when I was vegetarian I would cook meat for my family and friends .Its MY choice to not eat meat I wouldn't dream of asking others to follow my choices.My lovely neice is vegan has been for 30 odd years BUT she'll poach chicken for her CAT .....now go figure that !

Sorry, durhamjen, gave a wry smile at your comment "How can you say you respect people being vegan but expect them to cook meat for you? That is no respect at all."
How does this equate with you expecting guests to eat vegan/vegetarian meals with you? I accept that if I choose to visit a vegan cafe/ guest house then that is how I expect to eat but that is not the same as dining in a social setting in other peoples' homes.
However, if any of our vegetarian friends (two sets) come for a meal they expect us to provide a vegetarian option (which I gladly do), but they would not dream of serving us with a meat option in their homes - where is their respect for us?
Seriously, I do understand your views and I eat only chicken and fish, not a vegetarian, but cook mainly vegetarian dishes.

I've been vegetarian all of my life, my family too. When pregnant and breastfeeding all of my children, midwives constantly harassed me to eat meat/fish.
My sons are well over 6 feet tall and have never needed to see our GP apart from private medicals for work or rugby injuries.
What I have real dilemma about is that we have Halal abbatoirs in this country where animals have been Ill treated. I was very distressed by a documentary on the subject, which I had to turn off.

I do not eat meat simply because I do not like the taste. When I was a child I used to give any meat on my plate to my dog who always sat under the table waiting for his daily treat.
I still do not like the taste of beef in any shape or form, lamb is a bit greasy for my taste & pork makes me very ill with upset stomach. So I do eat fish as my Doctor told me I should but eat a lot of Soya & Quorn products.
It is all personal choice & I do not try to persuade anyone else to eat as I do.

Each to their own when it comes to choosing whether to be vegan or other. However .....the £5 note issue. We all know about alleged cocaine traces (urban myth...not sure)more or less being on all of our paper currency. I am anti-drugs but It doesn't put me off using my fivers, tenners and twenties to purchase the necessities of life. I'm sure our plastic cards are not wholly ethical to some either.....where do we draw the line?

If people didn't eat meat there would be enough grain to feed the world...

Let me say first I am a meat eater so have no particular drum to bang, but the stance of dairy eating vegetarians has always puzzled me. In order to produce milk the cow must calve, you might keep the female calves to increase the herd but the male ones will have to be killed or kept for meat. So if not harming animals is your reason for being vegetarian, dairy in your diet doesn't make sense does it?