OT: Any Vegetarians on here?

Not a vegatarian, but I dont see any differance between a pet and a farmed animal, I just drew the line at eatign my friends. I do belive the best way to cook beef is to cut of the horns wipe its a** and bring it to the table.

Me and the missus are veggies, her for 14 years and me for about 3. I've been an on again off again veggie over the years but reckon this time it'll stick as I've done it for what I consider the right (moral) reasons. Don't eat any animals (including fish) or buy anything containing animal by products.

I found that my diet improved almost over night and there's plenty of ways to get all of the protein and nutrients which your body needs. We eat loads of quinoa, quorn, fresh veggies and to be on the safe side take multi vitamin/mineral tabs, veggie omega 3 & 6 and veggie glucosomine sulphate.

You can still have fry ups by using quorn sausages and bacon style rashers (fake-on ) and quorn also do a mean 1/4 pound chilli burger. Quinoa's amazing though as well, it contains all 8 of the essential amino acids and so is a complete protein.

The only draw back for me is when you go out for a meal and there are only two veggie options on the menu but even that's getting better as the catering trade wise up to how good veggie food can be.

I like vegitarians I just could not eat a whole one !!!

v

TheGreenRabbit":25guitce said:

I like vegitarians I just could not eat a whole one !!!

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TheGreenRabbit wrote:
I like vegitarians I just could not eat a whole one !!!

Click to expand...

lol
haha

Interesting thread everyone, i'd like to share my twopence.....

About 8 years ago i worked as a slaughterman. I'd worked in there previously as an industrial cleaner, so i was aware of how things worked etc. For 2 years i worked on the slaughterline (only pigs), i learnt most jobs there.

I only ever worked at the clean end though (the dead end), never down in the pens, stunning and sticking. To be fair to the industry, and i can only speak about the pork side, it's a highly regulated process. There are MAFF inspectors in the pens, and Meat Hygiene inspectors on the slaughterline. They are constantly checking that processes, timings, treatment laws etc are adhered to rigourously.

Any kind of mistreatment and you're shown the door, along with your slaughter licence being removed, and possible conviction. A stressed animal at the time of slaughter makes for a very pale meat, and that means less money when the meat goes to market, so it's in everyones interest to stick to the rules, and work swiftly and humanely.

My personal opinion is this;
If i'm prepared to slaughter it, butcher it, and prepare it for the table, then i'll eat it. This applies to mamals, birds and fish (oh and vegetables!)

Proper veggie for 2.5 years now, did it for many of the reasons above (but like Neill I have shot/caught, skinned, gutted and cooked my own meat before).

As a Restaurant manager, and working with chefs every day I get a bit of stick, and my insight from the inside is that there is still a failing by a large amount of ospitality/catering companies to appreciate vegetarians as savvy consumers, and to take non-meat options seriously (pasta or risotto when eating out then?).

I dont like the idea of taking supplements, but I had a bit of trouble with my iron levels last year so now have iron tablets on standby (although Im better at keeping on top of it and recognising when I need a boost now).

When I gave up I made a decision to just not eat any more meat/fish etc, and did it that day.

Well if God hadn't meant us to eat animals he wouldn't have made them out of meat.......IGMC

theboy":xxl3kw4r said:

Proper veggie for 2.5 years now, did it for many of the reasons above (but like Neill I have shot/caught, skinned, gutted and cooked my own meat before).

As a Restaurant manager, and working with chefs every day I get a bit of stick, and my insight from the inside is that there is still a failing by a large amount of ospitality/catering companies to appreciate vegetarians as savvy consumers, and to take non-meat options seriously (pasta or risotto when eating out then?).

I dont like the idea of taking supplements, but I had a bit of trouble with my iron levels last year so now have iron tablets on standby (although Im better at keeping on top of it and recognising when I need a boost now).

When I gave up I made a decision to just not eat any more meat/fish etc, and did it that day.

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i am a catering manager and dont and neevr have taken veggie as normal customers , more a pain inthe a**** .

all the veggie I cater for at the moment are unfit and have really unbalanced diet .

But to be honest I am with Bike Hoarder on this. I use to work, from the age of 12-18, as a Saturday boy in my local butchers and slaughterhouse (not strictly legal now but it was a while back...).
The Slaughterhouse was originally a two animal plant working with pigs and cows and they were treated with an good element of respect and are heavily regulated. As BH says they have to be calm when they come to slaughter as a scared animal tastes nasty and looks pale (adrenaline tastes bitter) so animals were given time to recover from their journey and were dealt with individually.

Compare that to the chicken plant I went to and it's a different world - animals were dispatched along a long conveyer belt, first being strung up, then dipped in electrified water then having their throats cut ( in one place I saw the use of a spinning bicycle wheel to break their necks, although that was a very small and old place).

For me most meat animals such as pigs and sheep and cows are free range in one sense of the word (try breeding battery cows!) and so have a more pleasant life than chickens by far and so I have less trouble eating their meat as long as I know where it's come from - never fall into the cheap is best trap as the first cost cut is in animal welfare.

Personally it's not a job that I am in any way embarassed about doing as it gave me an incredible insight in to where my food comes from and what it goes through to feed me. It should be something that all children experience in order to get a greater balance and understanding in order to make informed choices rather than blindly eating burgers not knowing whats in them!

Its also meant that I have no problem with vegetarians and when I tell them most have no problems with me. I would never give a rosey 'all animals dance in fields and then are sung to sleep' image of the meat business as it's not a nice business, but it is a regulated business that is tightly controlled (remember that an animal being transported in a van has the right to twice as much space as a tube train passenger - although admittedly I am glad that my journey ends at Kings Cross and not 'Slit Throat Central'...)