Plant based eating and veganism

Yes it’s all about choices and we are privileged to have those choices. We can feed our appetites in numerous ways. Not sure about moral superiority though, does that come in a family sized bucket?

We’re all lucky to have the choice of what we will or won’t eat anyway. We wander into any supermarket and can choose whatever we want and indulge our appetite or our moral superiority.

It’s worth remembering parts of the world where there is no choice. If there’s food then you eat it. If not you go hungry.

I decided to become vegetarian in January this year and while researching healthy ways to be meat free I came across a film of how dairy cows are treated. It really disgusted me - as did my (wilful) ignorance for all these years.
No more dairy products for me since, I am proud to be vegan and am enjoying learning all sorts of new recipes.
Once you've seen the cruelty, it cannot be unseen.
'If slaughter houses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarian' (Paul Mcartney) . Add dairy farms to that!

I love almond and cocunut milk, a carton lasts me ages and I don’t miss dairy milk at all. I have a weakness for cheese??‍♀️ so I now just don’t buy any as the vegan ones I have tried really didn’t hit the spot. I have had to go cold turkey (excuse the pun?) on cheese?

I have often thought about being vegetarian, but I'm afraid I'm a bit too black and white.I know that I would find it extremely difficult to,give up dairy produce, and it seems to me that the dairy industry is worse than meat production morally, so,I continue to eat meat, albeit from local,organic sources. I never eat chicken unless I've bought it myself and know where it's come from, ( as far as is possible), and eat local free range eggs. I feel far more guilty consuming milk and cheese than eating e.g. free range pork and lamb, and wish I was strong minded enough to give it up.

Yes I make lentil and vegetable mix, and add marmite, or pesto. Very flavoursome and filling.

we used to make Bolognese with lentils when daughter became vegetarian. And now, I use half lentils and half mince and lots of other veggies- trebling the number of meals it makes.

Quorn not Quote!

Quote are starting to make more vegan products you have to check the label. I use puy lentils instead of mince, I usually add a teaspoon of marmite if making shepherds pie or spaghetti sauce, has B vitamins and gives a savoury taste.

That's quite sneaky!

Some Quorn is vegan others use milk in the making

What is not vegan in Quorn? I always thought it was.

the cow that had the calf 2 days ago was separated from the herd and taken away today- as I was out in the back meadow- no idea what her fate will be, and the thanks for her valiant efforts.

Our DD1 became a vegetarian aged 15- after we were invited by a cousin to be part of the giving birth by their pet Guerney. It was very moving- the cow did all the panting and breathing, as we are taught to do at pre-natal classes- and then came to rub her head and lay it on the shoulder of my cousin's wife- and then did the same with DD1- whom she had never met. When the calf was born- DD1 was asked to name it- and she called it 'Button' - and the next morning she said- I'll never eat meat again. It caused her all sorts of problems, as she absolutely loved meat (unlike most vegetarians or vegans I know) - and she was often torn.

We learnt together how to ensure she would get all the proper nutrients, choosing ingredients and cooking properly.

I have been vegetarian for around 38 years. I am rarely ill...I never get colds. I am close to being vegan. Have to say I am having trouble finding a good vegan cheese so do eat a little cheese and the odd egg. Mind you, it has been been a month since I had a whole egg... Quorn is not vegan and I do have that. I take a suppliment most days so that I get B12 and D. I will work on at least finding a good vegan soft cheese to put in my favourite soup when I make it. If I can do that I know I will be close to being vegan. Finding something to replace quorn will be difficut though...

www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/lab-grown-meat-is-in-your-future-and-it-may-be-healthier-than-the-real-stuff/2016/05/02/aa893f34-e630-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.37fea3f0b8d7

Meat grown artificially instead of on other animals.

One of the problems of vegetarianism is poverty. For instance oat 'milk' is delicious but expensive compared with ordinary cow milk or even organic cow milk.

I will try olive oil spread after reading these comments.

Muscle tissue is now being made in a laboratory and will be commercially available some time.

Is there a website or some reliable source of info that informs about how much protein a person needs?

Yesterday I made quite a decent tinned- kidney bean stew with potatoes onions etc etc and put eight portions in the freezer. Does flatulence eventually stop?

Yes Hannah, I remember staying at my Uncles in Ely, right next to The Cattle Market, as a child. I hated seeing all the terrified animals being pushed on and off the lorries, and being there all day, having been separated from their families. And off to an awful end.

I've managed without meat (or quinoa!) quite happily for many years. Mentally I think I'm fine (though some would obviously dispute that)

If I became vegan, I could live off my allotment I suppose.

I'm from a farming family. Mixed farming, back in the 40s. I stopped eating meat at the age of four after seeing wailing animals being loaded up for slaughter. No special veggie recipes back then, not to my mum's knowledge anyway. I was given the two veg and a lump of cheese. My schooldays were a nightmare when it came to lunchtimes, always having to repeat that I don't eat meat.
I've survived though, into my seventies without meat, although I admit to occasionally eating fish and have also tried a small slice of turkey at Christmas. It does feel alien to my palate though, the texture is unpleasant to me, I feel the body of the animal. However, I've always eaten eggs and dairy, as a child it was raw unpasteurised and still warm from the cow. No intensive farming. Our animals lived and grazed in the fields, but were brought in during the depths of winter and their diet supplemented with hay and silage. Most farms these days don't operate that way, they need to produce much higher yields, but smaller organic farms are growing in number and I still look for organic produce.
I realise that my childhood farm which was the norm then, just isn't practical now with the increased population, but if we all ate less meat, butter, cheese etc it would probably be better for us, the environment and the animals.

Abuse of the vulnerable, without any necessity, can never be a matter of 'personal choice'. Using animals for food involves extreme abuse, and is, therefore, inexcusable for anyone wanting to live a life based on the values of basic decency.

Dear Gerispringer.
I agree with you one hundred percent. Well said.

At one time I did not agree with veganism, however my son has been one for the last fifteen years. His GP says he is a perfect specimen. There are so many choices out there and vegan fish fingers are yummy. My 88year old mother swapped her turkey for a vegan roast this Christmas. A friends daughter said a prayer at the dinner table, ending with " Thank you for all animals that have given there life so we can eat them"
I try and have meat free days as often as I can.

Gerispringer Very true! And I get quite aggressive cross questioning from some people I meet about why I choose not to eat dead animals ??‍♀️

I live in the Swiss mountains- traditonal farming, cows with bull in the grass fields- no additives or anti-biotics, and local slaughter. And yet - male calves are most of the time taken at birth to be raised for veal or beef, and females taken to become milk (cheese, yogurt) producers.

It is brutal - even when done 'well'. Many farmer friends here and it is the way it is for them and most of them do treat their animal with respect and even kindness, in their own way. But listening to that cow crying and waling for hours last night, distraught looking for her calf she had just given birth to - was, and always is, heart rendering. know I could not take a calf ... knowing that would happen- sometimes twice a year per cow.

So veganism is perhaps a step too far for many- but it is totally logical and honest- and in modern day, if well researched- very healthy (as said, I am a meat eater- try to eat less and less and better quality- and I am a real cheese lover - our local cheeses are fabulous.)

It s funny that if you say you work for an animal charity everyone thinks you must be a real animal lover, but if you say you don't want to eat animals people think you are a weirdo and have some sort of mental dysfunction.