Vegetarians ( and Vegans ) Thread!!!

Haha, that was a bump there, I think.   

Well, I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan.  That said, I respect the choice to be one and the long history behind such dietary practices (which runs contrary to the belief that this is all just some 'new newfangled hipster thingy").  I do not approve of the more carnivorous or omnivorous forcing or attempting to force their diet on others, and I do not approve of the more herbivorous among us forcing their diet on others. 

I have cut out a lot of or all meat from my diet during times when non-commercial meat is either the only choice, or when humanely raised meat is just too expensive.  My husband has a harder time than I do going meatless, but has no issues with veggie-based diets, and knows how to make some mean and hearty mushroom dishes that you forget are meatless.  All said though, I'm looking forward to raising and catching my own meat animals when I have the land to do so.

I always like reading these threads.  I learn a lot.  I have had vegetarian friends that would refuse to go out to eat with me because I would order beef or chicken.  Needless to say they are no longer friends.  I currently have a vegetarian friend that is much more interested in how I treat my animals than she is what I put in my mouth.  We remain friends.

I  myself am a vegetarian and have been for 4 years (minor). I don't agree with the ways the animals are inhumanely treated, but I respect omnivore's decisions and don't go all "lecture-y" on them unless they don't respect my choices. All my friends except one are omnivores, but I still go eat with them and such. I think the thing that bugs me mainly though, is how ignorant people are about finding out how their steak goes from cattle to a burger at McDonalds. Or  milk in their cereal bowl. I am happy more people are finding out and looking at how their food is made, but a lot still don't know/care. I do prefer it when you humanely treat your animals on your farm then "butcher" them yourselves. Though I couldn't do it.

I have been a vegetarian for 7 years.  I do so for personal and health reasons.  I do think there are tons of benefits to a plant based diet, and love to discuss it with interested people.  However, I do not advocate lecturing or judging anyone.  I make my choices, and others make theirs.  It is what makes the world so diverse and interesting.  Of course I do advocate humane and compassionate treatment of all animals, whether they are raised for meat or pets, or wildlife for that matter.  Human animals as well.

I'm a "sorta" vegetarian/vegan. For me, it's about a combination of health and trying to do something to reduce my impact on the planet and its resources, as well as using my dollar to vote for how food is raised. I started a few years ago, basically eating vegan except that I'd eat animal products that were as close to being "pastured organic farm-to-fork" as possible. These sources of animal protein are naturally more expensive than conventional, so I balanced that by eating them much more rarely. In essence, if I used to spend X dollars on meat/dairy/egg eating conventional, I'd spend the same amount on the "pastured organic farm-to-fork" products but have less of it. I'd fill out the rest of my diet with a greater amount of vegan foods. So most of my meals were strictly vegan, but I'd do a meat-purchase once every month or two, and have occasional meat meals. I rarely touched dairy, mostly because I rarely did before anyway. And I was able to get some nice "truly" free-range eggs (as in, the chickens were on grass during the day and cooped at night), but I was never much of an egg eater before, and they were mostly for baking. I like eggs, don't get me wrong, but I don't really crave them. Oh, and I ate seafood, but tried to choose species that were low on the food chain and weren't among the species currently being overfished (finding those was rather hard).

When I moved to Buffalo and started school again, it became much harder for a myriad of reasons, so I cheat a lot more now -- and the effect on my waistline is ever apparent. I am looking forward to going back to my way of eating next year, when I'll have a car again and can make more of my own food.

My favorite breakfast was a multi-grain hot cereal, cooked in Vanilla Edensoy-Extra soymilk instead of water, and mashed banana in the cooking liquid. When it was done, I'd throw in frozen mixed berries. I also had a juicer and went through a lot of veggies that way, sometimes using the liquid with protein powder and fruit as a meal replacement if I didn't have time to make my hot cereal. I like to cook, and I'd often make big mounding plates of roasted root veggies, and I'd experiment with any weird grain or legume I'd find. I'd also make a pot of what I called my "weekend-fare" which was a big pot of two kinds of grains and two kinds of legumes, cooked in a vegetable stock and soup mix, with one or two kinds of dark leafy greens and one or two red/orange/yellow veggies mixed in. I'd vary it up with wine-reconstituted dried mushrooms, miso paste, tomato paste, or whatever. Oh, and truffle oil is a huge hit with me, as are many other kinds of oils and vinegars. It'd be a big, wet mess in a bowl, but it tasted sooooo good. I'd eat two or three bowls as a meal. In fact, the actual volume of food I'd go through is astonishing -- but it worked out to fewer calories when it was all added up than when I ate more meat. And, since I haven't been eating that way as much as I used to, that's how I gained about 20 pounds since becoming a student again over the last 2 1/2 years -- I was used to eating big portions, but now the food is higher in calories.



There's a book that taught me a lot about foods I hadn't really tried until I changed how I ate, and I have bought it several times over the years because I keep giving it away. It's called "Passionate Vegetarian" and the author is Crescent Dragonwagon. You can find it at Amazon.com.

So I know I'm not a true veggie, but I've tried to eat as many veggie meals as possible -- they're better for me, and better for the planet. I guess I'm kind of like a bear when it comes to my diet -- a mostly vegetarian omnivore who is opportunistically carnivorous.

BTW, it was my change in eating that prompted my interest in poultry -- in respecting where my food originates, I decided to take steps toward eventually contributing to my own meals by raising (at least some of) my own food. It's still years away, but if I didn't change how I ate, I'd probably not have joined BYC.

My vegetarian diet, and my own desire to eat in a way that has less of an impact on the planet, is what got me into raising chickens as well.  It was the path that led me to BYC forum as well.