Vegetarians / Meat-Eaters

[CrackpotForeigner]

I can't see the fuss about hot dogs. What's wrong with ground up pigs' ears subtly blended with fat, salt, starch and thickener?

As for the vege debate, my view is that being vege is the right thing to do for environmental and other moral reasons. And then on the other hand, eating a bit of meat is the right thing to do for health reasons and because it tastes good. I eat meat, but hey, at least I have the decency to feel slightly bad about it. There's a proverb that springs to mind here about evil existing because of supposedly good people doing nothing, though.

[Voinjama]

There is something primally enjoyable about tearing into a chicken. IF only our house could sustain chucking chicken legs over my shoulder and throwing beer into my face.

Veggies are missing out.

Something to do with the days when men used to hunt for their meals back in the cave man days, I have read something about it before. Someone can probably explain it better then me.

Not sure if this was the explanation you were referring to but nevertheless I'll give it a try.

Very briefly put, eating meat was back in prehistoric times probably evolutionarily advantageous as it was much denser in energy than vegetables and plants, since protein and especially fat contain more calories per gram IIRC than carbohydrate.

Of course we could go down the "cow" route and spend our time grazing on grass to meet energy requirements but natural selection never endowed us with the biological mechanisms to process stiff plant matter and hence justify vegetarianism back in the day.

I.e. we did not evolve to be veggie-lovers.

Need to read more books on this.

Yeah it was something like that. It is mans basic instinct to eat meat and it was also advantageous in terms of the energy store it gives which increases your chances of getting or keeping a mate. I remember reading about it before, quite interesting stuff.

[legov]

:confused: If you're eating meat you might as well chose something better than McDonalds/Nando's/hot dogs.

and what is better than those items for a virgin meat-eater?

they are the tastiest (& unhealthiest) items to eat.

also the Bacon sandwich as mentioned above.

The common factor in the three things you list is that they try to find flavourings to cover up the base product. There are so many better things out there.

Possibly you mistake the abundance of salt for taste. It's the usual takeaway trick. Never mind subtle spicing and careful cooking, chuck more salt on it and fry the **** until it's dark brown. So you're right about the unhealthy bit.

Burgers are so overpriced. Fatty meat that you couldn't sell on its own, minced up and reformed and oversalted and slathered with things to create either a fatty or sugary or slightly hot sensation in the mouth, but falling far short of things which do this so much better.

The Nandos chicken thingy relies heavily on a none-too-subtle hot sauce, and the "party atmosphere" further discourages people from taking the food too seriously. It's ok of its kind. I've had it twice in the last 15 years, and it's been acceptable if overpriced for what it is.

Both of these rely heavily on marketing, branding, and "ambience" to build their customer base, because it certainly isn't about the food.

If you really wanted to showcase some meat for a veggie, these would be among the very last places you should think about.

But it all fades away compared to hot dogs. Oh my god. Reconstituted mechanically recovered meat, eked out with rusk, pressed into a shape inside a plastic casing, boiled and then held in a hot bath for hours on end, served with boiled onions (they can't be arsed to fry them, let alone caramelise them to add some flavor), stuffed into the very worst kind of fake bread. And then the token offering of a watery mustard and a sugary ketchup. Urrghh. I can feel the puke rising even thinking about it. The smell. The slippery, squeaky noise these "sausages" make as they slide against each other. The dubious hygiene of the vendor. Repulsive.

Mmm salted vegetables

[YLN]

I've decided to give vegetarianism a go. I've tried in the past and not had much success, but I reckon I'll stick to it this time. I've read a bit of this thread and it's not that I think by not eating meat I'm going to make a difference, I just know that we'd all be far more comfortable on this planet if we all saw eating the meat of other animals in the same way that we see the idea of eating human meat. If everyone was veggie, we'd be better off, so I'm going to start. Be the change and all that. 

 

I saw Bickster argued that the animals wouldn't exist if we didn't like to eat them. Well that may well be true, but at the same time they're not going to be up in Cow heaven looking down and thinking if only they ate meat I could be down there getting force fed and slaughtered. Mainly because there's probably no such thing as cow heaven, but also because a life as a beef cow is quite unpleasant.

 

And yes you're thinking, well I know that the cows and pigs suffer really horrible lives before they're stunned and killed, and when I hear stories in the Mail about dogs being hurt or neglected I get really angry, so I probably have the correct moral outrage to become a vegetarian, but on the other hand I like eating meat and life is easier when you eat meat versus not eating meat. And that second thought will cause cognitive dissonance and you'll aggressively ignore the first thought probably with some sort of dismissive, 'bloody hippies', or 'bacon tastes good' rhetoric. Do you want me to tell you that that's ok? Well it isn't. Eating meat makes the world a worse place to live.

 

I'll probably be tucking into a burger by this time next week, but that's not ok and I don't want to. How am I going to tell my dad? He'll be crushed

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I can't really defend my position as a meat eater, so the truth is, I don't care enough to change.

[ArteSuave]

Pretty much what CED said. If I was going to take a moral stand I'd probably have to go full vegan as the lives of battery hens and dairy cows are also pretty shit. I'm just too darn selfish to inconvenience myself and compromise my health like that.

Edited August 6, 2014 by ArteSuave

[tonyh29]

Fact - veggies always look unwell and they smell of asparagus or sprouts

Meat eaters look healthy and don't look like they have spent 3 months in Belsen

And if that's not enough then Troy Mclure is your friend ... Eat a cow because he would eat you if he could

[maqroll]

[Ikantcpell]

I eat alot of chicken and fish, i sometimes eat red meat but only when iam at a friends house or a party and thats the food they serve, but i would never touch a hot dog unless it was wrapped in a condom.

 

And iam not to fond of ground meat either, especially kebab.

[snowychap]

...i would never touch a hot dog unless it was wrapped in a condom.

I think you're going somewhat off topic here.

[tonyh29]

I've eaten dog

It's not that great tbh

Guinea pig however was pretty decent .... Just a bit on the small side

[AVFCforever1991]

What breed?

 

Edited August 6, 2014 by AVFCforever1991

[PieFacE]

I've decided to give vegetarianism a go. I've tried in the past and not had much success, but I reckon I'll stick to it this time. I've read a bit of this thread and it's not that I think by not eating meat I'm going to make a difference, I just know that we'd all be far more comfortable on this planet if we all saw eating the meat of other animals in the same way that we see the idea of eating human meat. If everyone was veggie, we'd be better off, so I'm going to start. Be the change and all that. 

 

I saw Bickster argued that the animals wouldn't exist if we didn't like to eat them. Well that may well be true, but at the same time they're not going to be up in Cow heaven looking down and thinking if only they ate meat I could be down there getting force fed and slaughtered. Mainly because there's probably no such thing as cow heaven, but also because a life as a beef cow is quite unpleasant.

 

And yes you're thinking, well I know that the cows and pigs suffer really horrible lives before they're stunned and killed, and when I hear stories in the Mail about dogs being hurt or neglected I get really angry, so I probably have the correct moral outrage to become a vegetarian, but on the other hand I like eating meat and life is easier when you eat meat versus not eating meat. And that second thought will cause cognitive dissonance and you'll aggressively ignore the first thought probably with some sort of dismissiEditve, 'bloody hippies', or 'bacon tastes good' rhetoric. Do you want me to tell you that that's ok? Well it isn't. Eating meat makes the world a worse place to live.

 

I'll probably be tucking into a burger by this time next week, but that's not ok and I don't want to. How am I going to tell my dad? He'll be crushed

Good man! I especially like the bit in bold. A lot of people just don't think about this kind of thing and it's refreshing to read someone who does.

 

And ignore everything Tony says on this subject, cos well, he's completely full of shit

 

I was brought up in a vegetarian family, there's 8 of us,  I've never poisoned my body with he flesh of a dead animal, and we're all incredibly healthy human beings who have suffered no kind of illnesses, we look just like other humans and we definitely do not smell.

Edited August 6, 2014 by PieFacE

[tonyh29]

 

I've decided to give vegetarianism a go. I've tried in the past and not had much success, but I reckon I'll stick to it this time. I've read a bit of this thread and it's not that I think by not eating meat I'm going to make a difference, I just know that we'd all be far more comfortable on this planet if we all saw eating the meat of other animals in the same way that we see the idea of eating human meat. If everyone was veggie, we'd be better off, so I'm going to start. Be the change and all that. 

 

I saw Bickster argued that the animals wouldn't exist if we didn't like to eat them. Well that may well be true, but at the same time they're not going to be up in Cow heaven looking down and thinking if only they ate meat I could be down there getting force fed and slaughtered. Mainly because there's probably no such thing as cow heaven, but also because a life as a beef cow is quite unpleasant.

 

And yes you're thinking, well I know that the cows and pigs suffer really horrible lives before they're stunned and killed, and when I hear stories in the Mail about dogs being hurt or neglected I get really angry, so I probably have the correct moral outrage to become a vegetarian, but on the other hand I like eating meat and life is easier when you eat meat versus not eating meat. And that second thought will cause cognitive dissonance and you'll aggressively ignore the first thought probably with some sort of dismissiEditve, 'bloody hippies', or 'bacon tastes good' rhetoric. Do you want me to tell you that that's ok? Well it isn't. Eating meat makes the world a worse place to live.

 

I'll probably be tucking into a burger by this time next week, but that's not ok and I don't want to. How am I going to tell my dad? He'll be crushed

Good man! I especially like the bit in bold. A lot of people just don't think about this kind of thing and it's refreshing to read someone who does.

 

And ignore everything Tony says on this subject, cos well, he's completely full of shit

 

I was brought up in a vegetarian family, there's 8 of us, and we're all incredibly healthy human beings who have suffered no kind of illnesses, we look just like other humans and we definitely do not smell.

 

meh ...  you've probably just got used to the smell that's all

[maqroll]

I've decided to give vegetarianism a go. I've tried in the past and not had much success, but I reckon I'll stick to it this time. I've read a bit of this thread and it's not that I think by not eating meat I'm going to make a difference, I just know that we'd all be far more comfortable on this planet if we all saw eating the meat of other animals in the same way that we see the idea of eating human meat. If everyone was veggie, we'd be better off, so I'm going to start. Be the change and all that. 

 

I saw Bickster argued that the animals wouldn't exist if we didn't like to eat them. Well that may well be true, but at the same time they're not going to be up in Cow heaven looking down and thinking if only they ate meat I could be down there getting force fed and slaughtered. Mainly because there's probably no such thing as cow heaven, but also because a life as a beef cow is quite unpleasant.

 

And yes you're thinking, well I know that the cows and pigs suffer really horrible lives before they're stunned and killed, and when I hear stories in the Mail about dogs being hurt or neglected I get really angry, so I probably have the correct moral outrage to become a vegetarian, but on the other hand I like eating meat and life is easier when you eat meat versus not eating meat. And that second thought will cause cognitive dissonance and you'll aggressively ignore the first thought probably with some sort of dismissive, 'bloody hippies', or 'bacon tastes good' rhetoric. Do you want me to tell you that that's ok? Well it isn't. Eating meat makes the world a worse place to live.

 

I'll probably be tucking into a burger by this time next week, but that's not ok and I don't want to. How am I going to tell my dad? He'll be crushed

I gave up red meat about 10 years ago. Pork about 5 years ago. Chicken about 2 year ago. I eat turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We get "kosher" turkey, cuz they say the animals don't suffer. Tastes incredible. I do eat seafood, but sparingly. Tomorrow night I'm going out to dinner with my cousin, and I'll probably end up ordering a scallop dish. Love scallops. But I can go months on a strict veggie diet. Lots of chick peas and pasta, fruits and veggies. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol (both hereditary) so my diet is good for me. Every now and then I will get cravings though. Just the other night my neighbor was cooking bacon, and you could just about see a cartoon scent waft into my apartment window. But then I really think about bacon and my stomach turns. 

[tonyh29]

 

I've decided to give vegetarianism a go. I've tried in the past and not had much success, but I reckon I'll stick to it this time. I've read a bit of this thread and it's not that I think by not eating meat I'm going to make a difference, I just know that we'd all be far more comfortable on this planet if we all saw eating the meat of other animals in the same way that we see the idea of eating human meat. If everyone was veggie, we'd be better off, so I'm going to start. Be the change and all that. 

 

I saw Bickster argued that the animals wouldn't exist if we didn't like to eat them. Well that may well be true, but at the same time they're not going to be up in Cow heaven looking down and thinking if only they ate meat I could be down there getting force fed and slaughtered. Mainly because there's probably no such thing as cow heaven, but also because a life as a beef cow is quite unpleasant.

 

And yes you're thinking, well I know that the cows and pigs suffer really horrible lives before they're stunned and killed, and when I hear stories in the Mail about dogs being hurt or neglected I get really angry, so I probably have the correct moral outrage to become a vegetarian, but on the other hand I like eating meat and life is easier when you eat meat versus not eating meat. And that second thought will cause cognitive dissonance and you'll aggressively ignore the first thought probably with some sort of dismissive, 'bloody hippies', or 'bacon tastes good' rhetoric. Do you want me to tell you that that's ok? Well it isn't. Eating meat makes the world a worse place to live.

 

I'll probably be tucking into a burger by this time next week, but that's not ok and I don't want to. How am I going to tell my dad? He'll be crushed

I gave up red meat about 10 years ago. Pork about 5 years ago. Chicken about 2 year ago. I eat turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We get "kosher" turkey, cuz they say the animals don't suffer. Tastes incredible. I do eat seafood, but sparingly. Tomorrow night I'm going out to dinner with my cousin, and I'll probably end up ordering a scallop dish. Love scallops. But I can go months on a strict veggie diet. Lots of chick peas and pasta, fruits and veggies. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol (both hereditary) so my diet is good for me. Every now and then I will get cravings though. Just the other night my neighbor was cooking bacon, and you could just about see a cartoon scent waft into my apartment window. But then I really think about bacon and my stomach turns. 

 

as a keen diver whose caught more than my fair share of scallops over the years and taken them home to gut and eat , i can tell you now  the scallops suffer immensely  .. you have to prise them open , ripping the poor thing then you have to use a knife to separate it from the shell ..all the while whilst it is still alive  ..often they are still pulsing (probably death throes ) when you chuck them in the pan

[PieFacE]

 

 

I've decided to give vegetarianism a go. I've tried in the past and not had much success, but I reckon I'll stick to it this time. I've read a bit of this thread and it's not that I think by not eating meat I'm going to make a difference, I just know that we'd all be far more comfortable on this planet if we all saw eating the meat of other animals in the same way that we see the idea of eating human meat. If everyone was veggie, we'd be better off, so I'm going to start. Be the change and all that. 

 

I saw Bickster argued that the animals wouldn't exist if we didn't like to eat them. Well that may well be true, but at the same time they're not going to be up in Cow heaven looking down and thinking if only they ate meat I could be down there getting force fed and slaughtered. Mainly because there's probably no such thing as cow heaven, but also because a life as a beef cow is quite unpleasant.

 

And yes you're thinking, well I know that the cows and pigs suffer really horrible lives before they're stunned and killed, and when I hear stories in the Mail about dogs being hurt or neglected I get really angry, so I probably have the correct moral outrage to become a vegetarian, but on the other hand I like eating meat and life is easier when you eat meat versus not eating meat. And that second thought will cause cognitive dissonance and you'll aggressively ignore the first thought probably with some sort of dismissive, 'bloody hippies', or 'bacon tastes good' rhetoric. Do you want me to tell you that that's ok? Well it isn't. Eating meat makes the world a worse place to live.

 

I'll probably be tucking into a burger by this time next week, but that's not ok and I don't want to. How am I going to tell my dad? He'll be crushed

I gave up red meat about 10 years ago. Pork about 5 years ago. Chicken about 2 year ago. I eat turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We get "kosher" turkey, cuz they say the animals don't suffer. Tastes incredible. I do eat seafood, but sparingly. Tomorrow night I'm going out to dinner with my cousin, and I'll probably end up ordering a scallop dish. Love scallops. But I can go months on a strict veggie diet. Lots of chick peas and pasta, fruits and veggies. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol (both hereditary) so my diet is good for me. Every now and then I will get cravings though. Just the other night my neighbor was cooking bacon, and you could just about see a cartoon scent waft into my apartment window. But then I really think about bacon and my stomach turns. 

 

as a keen diver whose caught more than my fair share of scallops over the years and taken them home to gut and eat , i can tell you now  the scallops suffer immensely  .. you have to prise them open , ripping the poor thing then you have to use a knife to separate it from the shell ..all the while whilst it is still alive  ..often they are still pulsing (probably death throes ) when you chuck them in the pan

 

You monster  

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Fish don't have any feelings.

[snowychap]

...I just know that we'd all be far more comfortable on this planet if we all saw eating the meat of other animals in the same way that we see the idea of eating human meat.

I have no problem with people being vegetarian or even people having a problem *with* others eating meat but equating eating human meat with eating other animal meat? What a crock.

*edited in

Edited August 6, 2014 by snowychap

[kurtsimonw]

I eat meat because I prefer the taste. The idea that I shouldn't because the animals are treated badly in their life is completely irrelevant on an individual level. If I don't buy the beef from the shop, it's not gonna give the animal it's life back, nor is it going to stop cows being killed in the future. So while I agree it's shit that they are treated that way, me changing my diet is not going to make any kind of difference to the World, so I do what I want.