And here's one you stroked last year........

But Harrigran surely there aren't any children reading this thread

They don't want you to know it. It is cheaper to buy from a single source and I suppose they take the view that non-muslims won't kick up a fuss.

Oh!! I didn't know that!! Greatnan

No, Jacey, the halal meat is labelled as such in most French supermarkets. I saw a BBC programme some time ago and it seems most meat in UK supermarkets, hospitals, care homes and schools is halal.

Question for Greatnan ...when you spoke of halal meat and buying it because it wasn't labelled as such ...would I be correct in thinking you were talking shopping in France??

I have eaten a lot of strange things on my travels, such as sea urchins, which just taste of brine. I have never had 'gippy tummy' even in The Far East or Egypt. I was born in 1940 and we ate what we could and nothing was wasted - tripe, trotters, chitterlings, sheep's head brawn (horrible.) I stil enjoy kidneys and liver and all the bits that the French make use of!
If those little lambs were not destined for the table, they would not exist.
I have cut down on red meat for reasons of economy and health but I still love roast lamb with mint sauce.

Yes, but that's probably healthy Harrigran!

One of my DDs is stick thin. The other one's not. Mind you, the thin one is amazing the way she can stick to healthy eating!

I wish people would not talk about eating corpses especially in front of children, youngsters are often put off food by adult prejudice. My father used to say that the chicken we were eating was rabbit and when we had pineapple it was turnip in sugar water, it was post war but how irresponsible was that ? I am happy to eat vegetarian but I eat meat too, I am not a big fan of fish but I do eat it. My DD is vegetarian and she is so thin she looks as if she would snap in a strong wind.

crimson - I know you don't really!

I think, technically, all fruit is seed food, so although a seed might germinate and grow allright in soil, those that have the fruit to feed on initially should do better. I can feel an experiment for Cubs coming on.

Yes. Apple murder is the logical conclusion if you regard all life as unassailable even as food which, if you are going to get soppy negatively emotional about lambs that are grown for food, is the next step. My own view is that all forms of life are food for other forms, including us. I think polar bears (and possibly grizzlies too plus, at times, the big cat carnivores) are partial to bit of human meat when they can get it.

Veggies, please note, I'm arguing for the hell of a philosophical discussion and no other reason. I'm not terribly interested in other people's eating habits so I'm not trying to convert anyone nor am I being aggressive.

Is the fruit of the apple the seeds' food? If you plant a pip it will grow in soil...
And to carry this train of thought to its next stop, if you throw an apple core in the bin, is that not tantamount to apple murder? You are depriving all those seeds of a new life.....

But every time you eat an apple, you are stealing the apple seeds' food! Criminal! So, logically, you can feel sorry for the apple seeds.

That kilo of grapes I mentioned elsewhere — they're seedless so I won't be depriving seeds of their natural sustenance. Phew! Maybe I should feel guilty about eating mutant grapes though.....

jings; I don't feel sorry for the apple, I just don't enjoy the taste or the texture any more, but they do say apples aren't as tasty as they used to be. Or perhaps it's just my ageing palate.... Or, perhpas if someone told me apples were BAD for me, in a chocolatey sort of way, I'd suddenly want to eat them all the time. Vision of crimson eating apple saying to herself 'I WILL eat this, it is good for me, I WILL..etc etc'

crimson you can't start feeling sorry for apples!

I have heard, and believe it is true, that some slaughterhouses only allow slaughtermen to work on the actual slaughter for a limited period to prevent their becoming hardened to it.
Faye, can I have a job in your government?

I'll vote for you Faye

I know I said I was bowing out of this thread but I have no self control! I also hate the fact that ritual slaughter is allowed and that halal meat is sold without labelling (I believe that only parts of the animal can be eaten while other parts are 'unclean', so the rest is sold on the general market, but I may be wrong). But we are kidding ourselves if we think that animals killed in the more traditional way ie stunned beforehand, are killed humanely - there has been plenty of evidence to the contrary with secret filming in slaughterhouses. That was the link I put in my first post. I would question whether it is possible for anyone to work in such a setting, killing animals day in day out, without becoming hardened to animal suffering and in some cases brutalised by it. I used to work with a teenager who got a job in a slaughterhouse straight from school and he used to delight in telling me the things the workers did to the animals. I did not give him the satisfaction of showing any emotional reaction but just told him I thought they were disgusting human beings and he should find another job (possible in those days)

Somehow, I don't think you'd be in power for long, faye!

I feel terrible when I see lambs playing together knowing that they are going to be eaten. Doesn't mean I want pets, it's just more work for me even though I like animals. I also know people who love animals and eat them too. If I ruled the world none of you would be eating animals....there now I have said it.

I ate loads of squid and octopus when I lived in Thailand because that's what there was. I think I've only eaten it once or twice since I returned to the UK 15 years ago. It wasn't as good to eat here, probably because it wasn't as fresh.

The corpse of a cabbage; cabbage carcass. Works for me. The connotations are of something that was alive and is no longer. Isn't it amazing how important our emotional responses to various food items are?

Dead body of an animal or a human - a carcass?

No, doesn't divert us from the topic

....just remembered that I can't eat kalimari and certainly not octopus, ever since watching a programme about cephalopods, which I think are the most fascinating creatures on the planet.

Going off at a tangent [as usual] but, I was eating an apple yesterday [try to eat my apple a day] and realised I just didn't enjoy eating apples any more. Couldn't wait to eat as much as possible so I could throw the core outside for Mr Blackbird.

I looked up several dictionary definitions - they mostly said 'a dead body, usually of a human' so I suppose it can be applied to animals as well. Otherise, what would you call the body of a dead animal? Not that the labelling affects this discussion.