General Chat

Ooo Ann...'eating out'....that's another 'weird one'. Despite being "vegetarian" - quelle surprise - I can read! LOL but it doesn't stop some in my company from pointing out to me what I can have from the menu! :-S :-0

Yes of course there are vegetarians who interogate meat eaters - I call them 'born again' militants. I was 'the only veggie' among my friends when I was in my twenties and was subjected to pro meat/mickey taking comments every time we ate out. A few years on, two of these people became vegetarian and o-m-g did they sing their own praises and preach to meat eaters :-(
I have not seen this pair of p-i-t-a's for years :-D

Sharron, I,m a meat eater,quite a lot if it, however I do make vegi dishes and enjoy them, :-D Try this, Diced Quorn shallow fried(in Veg Oil) with chopped Spanish Onion,Garlic,Mushrooms and Cherry tomatoes,with Saute Potato, green peas, Cauli and baby carrots. Quite tasty. :-D I do add a little Soy Sauce and a sprinkle of tobasco.just to liven it up a little. :-D

That's true also Ann ;-) don't we all fall into the trap of questioning someone's moral/behavioural choices if they are not the same as ours and ask "But Why?" .. I think the only person I've 'interrogated' as such is my brother lol, that's fair game ...no pun intended. :-)

I think we should be accepting of anyone's personal choice and not criticize. It is just that 'personal'. I know quite a few veggies and fish only eaters and most of them just choose their meal when out quietly like the rest of us. Personally we don't eat a lot of red meat nut do eat meat and fish, but also like veggie meals. One grandson's girlfriend is vegetarian, all three of daughter's boys have had a phase of being veggie and stuck to it for quite a while but then reverted to meat eating.

And I have known vegetarians who have felt a great need to interrogate those of us who eat meat too. :-)

Btw if any veggies are reading, I haven't ever been able to find a gravy mix that tastes enough like the bovril of my childhood, but bingo...Colm*ns Onion gravy in a tube...has made me very happy lol, if you haven't discovered it yet it goes really well with the quorn fillets mash and veg :-D

Feel free Island.

Shall we have a vege rasher pudding or maybe a Quorn steak strip and mushroom pie?

Feel free Island.

Shall we have a vege rasher pudding or maybe a Quorn steak strip and mushroom pie?

I'm a vegetarian, and no I don't wear leather or have a handbag made of it , or fur trims blah de blah....

I have been a veggie for 30 odd years, closer to 40 really...I try my best because for me it is a moral choice... I believe 'farm' animals, all animals have as much right to a decent life and death as I do for the cossetted little pooches we all love, if you can eat one you can eat the other otherwise it's just hypocrisy....and yes sometimes I have been a hypocrite and no one could beat me up over it more than I do myself lol.

I am not telling anyone else what to do, but I equally don't expect to be seen as weird for making the choice ...every time I went in the corner shop at Christmas time I was interrogated, "Yes but what do you eat at Christmas" FGS...I was always tempted to reply " what the **** does anyone eat if they don't eat meat...I chew the wallpaper of course" :-| :-|

There is of course the argument that a demi veg makes that if the animals have a good life span, and live naturally and die humanely that it's ok, and that fish being caught do at least have a chance of escape ...as opposed to an animal that has none... which is why I have less problem with people who insist on eating on eating organic meat, or who hunt and kill their own dinner..rather than someone who never puts any thought into how the animal has lived, and would be unable to watch in an abbattoir because they are "too squeamish" ( I've heard it sooo many times "I would have to stop eating meat if I had to see that") ...

Incidently being "squeamish" is the insult levelled at many a veggie...as if we are meak little people with no b****. either that or the 'coup de grace' is "Hitler was a vegetarian you know"...Yes I do know that, ... but not for the reasons I am , so there :-D :-P :-|

I beats me why some meat eaters feel the need to interogate those who don't :-S

Why should anyone have to explain their choice of diet? :-S

A "vegetarian" does not eat fish, fowl or flesh.

Excluding all animal based products is "vegan".

"Demi vegetarian" is balderdash. You eat fish and or chicken you ain't vegetarian! Why the need for a label? :-S

OCD is OCD, the obsession/s can be about anything.

I have yet to meet a vegetarian who eats shoes, save for goats maybe :-S :-D

Wend, lob us a bag of veg :-D :-D

Sharron, I completely agree. Can I come for me tea? :-D :-D

I'm not vegetarian.I eat chicken pork and fish thats about it.
I love most veg and eat vegetarian haggis.

I don't agree with animal testing for cosmetics etc,but under stand why SOME testing is done for medical research .I would rather it was done on selected humans ;-).

I dont like spicey food so I am limited eating veggie food when out as a lot of it is spiced.

I wear leather but if the animal has been killed for food before hand,thats not so bad.
I do not agree with animals being bred for fur.

Marion

I have been a vegetarian for well over thirty years,long enough not to mention it any more. It is just something I accomodate.

My reasoning was that I would not like to be on the recieving end,so to speak,of meat eating. It would be ideal to be vegan but all I can do is my best and if everyone else did the same it might be a happier world,who knows?

The conversations which usually start with either"I don't eat much meat", or "I like my meat" go no further with me any more,have heard them too often.

Likewise,I have heard the people doing the screaming carrot routine countless times. I have no idea what they achieve from doing this but assume it fills some want in them so indulge them quietly.Why not? I don't mock them because they choose to eat dead flesh.

My daughter and her (then) boyfriend lived with me for a whle. She was, at the time, vegetarian, he was vegan.
They had to shop & cook for themselves!!

My nephew's partner was also vegatarian.
However, when she had a baby, nephew insisted the child was brought up eating meat.
Nephew's partner has since been diagnosed with Crohn's disease - so being vegetarian was/is the best thing for her :-D

Morning Julia - I get all 'the usual' things that your Dad gets, but I'm much younger LOL.

I'm a meat eater, but I could happily live on veggies if I had to.

Aw Uzzi, I was going to give you some of my green beans, courgettes and cabbages when I see you soon. How about red cabbages - do you like those?

:-D

Morning All
My Dad has been a vegetarian most of his life, that is from the age of six.
From that age he had the proverbial 'bad step-mother', who didn't give him any meat because she thought it was too good for him.
Fast forward to WW2, and he was offered meat for the first time,and could not eat it. So he exchanged his meat ration with another sailor for his sweet ration, and elder sister had chocolate and sweets throughout the war whenever Dad was on leave.
He never foistered the idea of vegerianism on any of us children, and we have all grown up eating meat.
I think he has just got used to it over the years, though he does eat fish and cheese, to make up for the loss of the meat.
He once said that the only time he has been tempted was, when he and mum used to go caravaning, and walking to the shower blocks in the mornings, he could smell bacon frying.
I do not think it has done him any harm not eating meat. At just over 90, I have never know him to have any illnesses. Yes he has the usual at that age, blood pressure, bladder and now memory loss and a little forgetfulness. But non vegetarians get those things at that age.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it.

Julia in Derbyshire

i think the word madness comes to mind
strange how most veggies are wearing leather shoes

My cousin was married to a girl that started out as a vegetarian. I say started out. she then decided to go vegan and did so with knobs on, to the point of obsession.

My aunt tried really hard to accomodate her diet but the girl not only preached about how wrong everyone else was, she took to carrying her own crockery and cutlery around with her , in case my aunts had ever come into contact with meat or animal products.

It split the couple up, after 3 years of marriage, poor bloke just couldn't live with the obsessive behaviour.

I dont have a problem with vegetarians, some what I would call 'mainline' vegetrian food is lovely. I make veg lasagna in pref to meat, I use Quorn and make meat free quiches and pizza's.

Live and let live, I respect that people have a right to choose what they eat, but the same cuts both ways.

Friend of ours was a vegan. No meat, no dairy.

That was her choice. But! That didn't give her the right to NAG the rest of us, which she did. She was often invited to our house and was given a big bowl of salad/veggies, but would go on and on about what the rest of us were eating. OH took great delight in picking up bones and gnawing on them, making weird animal noises! He also told her he got upset at the screaming noise carrots made when he pulled them out of the veggie garden.

We have many friends who are vegetarian. Some have tried to call us carnivores. We tell them we are omnivores.

We have a balanced diet.

My o.h.'s stepmum is a vegan and it has meant that o.h.'s dad who married her in later years (late 40's after o.h.'s Mum died) had to change his diet totally. If we go out for family celebrations we have to check out restaurants first to make sure they can accommodate step mum's diet altho o.h.'s dad will eat normally when out and about. It makes life very difficult tho. She also won't wear leather and only natural fibres like cotton, no silk. She had three young sons when o.h.'s dad met her (divorced I think) and they all three were diagnosed as malnourished and had to have supplements and things and she now has osteoporosis and other health problems because she wasn't very good at getting the right vegan diet for them all but now she is much better and eats lots of things, altho the damage is done. She is in her 70s now.

My son took his ex girlfriend's son out the other day (they still stay in touch, man and boy) They passed by a chip stall on the market and son asked if the lad wanted a snack, he said yes and then when given the chips looked at them and asked what they were cooked in, when told beef dripping said Oh I can't eat these, I am vegetarian now. His mother was always vegetarian but the child used to eat other things, obviously now he is 11 he has decided or otherwise to become strict vegetarian.


I like meat too much and as long as it's humanely slaughtered and reared well (as far as I can check) I see no reason to stop, altho I am cutting back on red meat and eat a much larger proportion of veg to the small portion of meat on my plate.


Lizx

We're actually omnivores, not carnivores, and it's all a matter of choice....

For some, the cruelty issue, some just don't like meat, some eat fish, some don't, and some don't eat any animal derivatives including dairy products.

I'm not a veggie, I like meat but I couldn't live without veg and fruit too!