Foods that we eat...

Because they are just so YUMMY!
I can easily totally separate the animal and the meat product.
If I did get put off, I
Imagine that it would be more like ‘yuk’ a stinky pig than ‘oh look at piggy wiggy’s cute tail”
I don’t eat fish with its head on though - but shrinking it’s just Yuk!

When I was younger I could never eat lamb without (in my mind's eye) seeing an innocent little animal gambolling about. Eventually, years ago, I stopped eating meat and have felt more comfortable ever since.

Dear Farview ...... when you say ‘but just would be interested to know how people can look into animals eyes..a little lamb,calf,young deer,a chick etc..and then eat one...how in a person's eyes is it different to their pet..dog,cat,etc...I'm really not 'getting ' at anyone.’ You actually are getting at people!

I don’t eat meat, etc, but I have never found it helpful to be manipulative when discussing my diet choices with others.

Would you force a cat to be vegetarian, I’m appalled when a cat chases and catches a bird or mouse ...but they are doing what comes naturally to them . We are , as humans , a part of that food chain...so we eat other species... it’s nature. But if we do eat meat we should also be prepared to see it slaughtered . We also need to make that operation as humaine as possible. I eat less meat than I did as a young person, but for health reasons , not for altruistic reasons toward animals. Yes I can look these animals ‘in the eye’ as you put it.I have no feelings of revulsion...but their treatment before death should be as humane as is possible . I know maybe I’m old-fashioned ...and future generations will no doubt think us barbarians... as we do with people who watched public hangings...it’s sll a matter of time. Vegans and vegetarians are just ‘ahead of the game’ in that respect! Well done you.

I do not eat a lot of red meat, purely because I am not fond of the taste. I have raised my own chickens, pigs and cows and we have eaten some of them. I have never sent any of the animals we raised to an abattoir we killed them all on farm and yes I have looked into their eyes. Some of the views written here I find a little amusing, not eating anything with a face? Spitting out chicken because someone said it had been killed? Ignoring the fact that supermarket meat is actually from animals? Does this help?
I wonder if in a far distant future someone will find out that plants are also sentient creatures and vegans and vegetarians will also have to justify their choices

What a lot of tosh. What do vegetarians think will happen to the animals if we don't eat them? They will be killed anyway. No farmer is going to care for livestock if he can't sell them for meat. Do we really want our domesticated animals to go into extinction?

I don't know sometimes how to think about it. It is an interesting thought. I guess sometimes thinking about the food chain, etc. interesting topic

Some strict vegans believe that people should not have pets because animals are not put on this earth for our amusement or entertainment. PETA takes this stance. www.peta.org/about-peta/why-peta/pets/

I've never been a huge meat-eater and we now only eat meat two or three times a week. I'm lucky enough to be able to get beef that has been born, raised and slaughtered within about five miles of where I live and have total confidence that the farmer who raises them cares deeply about her animals. They are sometimes pastured on land I can see from my house, land which is unsuitable for anything but grazing, as it's rocky and steep and gets flooded. Only 5% of Scotland's land is prime agriculural quality so this is the best use for it.

I mostly eat vegetarian when I'm out and about although I dislike faux-meat products and don't eat those. Linda Macartney sausages made me feel very poorly for a day! I also can't eat soya products. I'm happy with vegetables, grains and so on. I buy Scottish organic milk & eggs.

I don't really care what others eat, as long as they grant me the same courtesy,

I’m a meat eater not every day, eat far less than used to but don’t have a problem with others being vegan or vegetarian I eat fish twice a week, and will continue to do so,

I am another who finds vegans and vegetarians eating meat fake foods odd. Surely if you abhor meat and everything to do with it then why eat food that replicates it? Isn't that equally abhorrent?

SarahC there are more and more farmers breeding organic and Pasture for Life beef, which eats no soya, maize or other feeds, just grass and hay. Grassland absorbs more carbon than crops and pasture farms which are not overstocked and do not drench the land with pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers, other than that produced by the cattle are getting close to being carbon neutral. methane disappears naturally from the atmosphere far faster than carbon dioxide.

I deduce that you live in Australia, so perhaps Pasture for Life farming isn't practiced there. The movement is still small in the UK, but growing fast. Six months ago I could only find one Pasture for Life farm close to me. I looked yesterday and there were half a dozen.

I have a cat, and yes, I feed her meat, because, as janipat says, she needs it, and I don't feel that, in an urban environment, she would be able to get sufficient by hunting.

Do any of our vegan or vegetarian posters have pets? Do you feed them meat? Cats are obligate carnivores, dogs not. But cats could be left to hunt their own meat I suppose.

What an interesting question! And I do believe you just want our answers not judgment either way so here goes, I do believe we are top of the food chain and I was never really aware of any other view for many years . The rise in vegetarian and vegan eaters does make you think though about alternatives. I probably have a couple of meat free days a week but that’s usually because my daughter will cook me something lovely. I have no ethical reason not to eat meat . Would I kill and butcher an animal myself? Probably not but if survival depended upon it then I think I would !

Why ask then qualify it and tell us what we can say !
Very passive /aggressive ...
I love animals but those who live with us are the ones we cuddle
The ones bred for food we do not 'look in their eyes'
Its a bit like,
There is a bridge collapsing so i grab my child -
Don't care about other persons child
Anyway ...
Can i get back to my bacon sandwich now ?

I agree with your post, MamaCaz. As a vegetarian myself (though I do occasionally eat fish) I would just like to say that it's only vegans who need to take a supplement (B12).

Also, Novak Djokovic is mostly vegan, though he also occasionally eats fish, and it hasn't done his health any harm!

I don't have a problem eating meat per se, (though I have drastically reduced how much and how often I eat it), and imagine that I would eat dog in a near-starvation scenario, as long as it wasn't my own pet.

What I am finding increasingly difficult to accept is the whole concept of 'farming' animals, where they are born purely to be eaten, and however good (or not!) that life between birth and slaughter, that doesn't sit comfortably with me any more.

If we turned back the clock to a time when we didn't have this huge range of foods readily available which can provide all the nutrients we could possibly need, to a time when a bit of meat from time to time was an important addition to our diet, I think I would be prepared to both (attempt to) kill and eat a wild animal, however cute!
Not an easy thing to do in a wild environment, so each animal would have a fair chance of survival, just as they do against other predators.
That feels a lot more natural and acceptable to me than farming.

That, I imagine, is the only way that we humans ever got meat before farming, so it is very unlikely that it would have been a regular source of food for us.

Providing we are not harming one another why the need to justify our lifestyle ie why we eat this why we won't eat that.

Brought up in a farming community, no problem with eating meat.

I love food and I don’t eat anything with a face. It’s not hard especially nowadays.
I can’t understand why meat eaters can’t understand why non meat eaters might want to eat meat without cruelty? Seems obvious. The only thing wrong with meat sausages and bacon was the cruelty now we can enjoy them made from plants. Simples. Greggs vegan sausage rolls are lovely.. quorn make them. Linda McCartney pies are delish. And look at Paul appearing at Glastonbury next year at 78. Shows how healthy a vegetarian / vegan diet is.
My horror is seeing a lorry of animals on the road going to the slaughterhouse and catching their eyes. I weep every time. Really. It’s Hateful. In times to come it will be seen clearly as barbaric act especially as we know how sentient and long lived they should be. And chickens so cheap. Horrific. Anyone can buy quorn chicken pieces etc so easily. It sickens my heart daily. The cheapness of their lives. I agree with OP

I find myself gravitating to less meat more by laziness than design. However, the only vegetarian/vegan people I know seem to take supplements and this makes me wonder about the inadequecies of a limited eating regime. I don't want to resort to any sort of pills.
Bradford Lass, you're a treasure/tonic for me pretty much on a daily basis. More power to your elbow!

Brought up on a farm - so yes, yum, yum. Maybe that's the hunter V gatherer? - Natural selection, resources etc. But, I could not imagine myself killing someone in a war situation, but someone is doing that somewhere in the world right now.

Hmm - interesting debate. Environmentally, the beef industry is not great - huge amounts of methane (sorry, don’t have exact figures) as well as significant damage to the substructure of soils by their hooves. Looking at the figures, the agricultural industry is one of the highest producers of carbon. I’m fine with game (rabbit, venison, wild boar, pheasant) as they are reared in the wild. Over here there is quite a debate over using kangaroo meat far more. Less damage to the environment, low fat, high protein and free roaming. I only use organic eggs as the amount of chemicals chicken are given is in concentrated form in the eggs produced. I probably, thinking about it, really ought to be using organic milk too. I agree, it’s not just about meat, it’s about the provenance of it and animal welfare standards involved in production.

Also want to say and sorry if a bit contentious but I love a visit to a lovely country farm shop, with everything including a good butchery that has the full provenance of the meat on sale. Often a cafe, plants, etc..do veggies miss out on these places?

There's another compelling reason to eat less meat, especially red meat. Raising animals for food is slowly killing the planet. For the sake of our grandchildren, cutting meat down at least, is for their futures too.

I think BradfordLass has put it very well. Another point is that the animals we eat are specifically bred for eating and those that want to enjoy a fully rounded diet don't usually look the live animal in the eyes then kill it. They are not pets. The wellbeing of the animal is important and what they are fed on means the taste of the procuct varies considerably.
Putting ethics to one side I think a vegetarien or vegan diet is very restrictive in terms or variety & availability, I enjoy vegetarien food as well as meat and often combine recipies a wide range of menus that contain quality healthy food and avoid anything that is overly processed .