Curiosity has the best of me - Vegetarians.

[debilorrah]

Quote:
Yeah Deb, I know. I have never really forgiven him for it to be honest. To this day, if he makes the mistake of harassing me about being a vegetarian, I'm very quick to remind him that he has himself to thank for it. He'll occasionally try to justify it by saying we needed the food, but it's not true. We weren't poor and we had plenty of pigs. It was just pure greed on his part.

Laura that is traumatic to say the least. I would NEVER do something like that to someone, especially someone I loved. I would not even do that to someone I hate!!!! Then again I don't really hate anyone. I am sorry he did that to you.

 

[BunnyMomma]

I'm sorry Laura that you had that experience.

I admire that you have such a strong conviction and I truly understand.
I was a vegetarian for many years. Now I eat a small amount of meat as well as more vegetables than most people.
I have trouble sometimes with certain types of meat. Several years ago an older neighbor of mine brought me some catfish that he had caught in the river nearby. I thought I could be a tough country gal and clean them for our dinner. I cleaned them alright, but I could not eat them.

In fact, I haven't eaten any fish except salmon or tuna since then. It just made me sick.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Bunny

 

[debilorrah]

Obviously I do eat meat, however, I am selective about it. There are places I will gladly eat and places I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. I do consider myself different from the normal carnivore because I LOVE veggies and fruit. I prefer to fill up on salad first, save the steak to make a steak salad for lunch the next day, with nuts and cranberries, etc. The only thing I stay away from is canned fruits and veggies and anything boiled in water. It is just not that hard to steam a good veggie.

 

[thaiturkey]

I think that some of the religious rules about meat, the ancient ones at least, are simple food safety guidelines. In the time that the rules were created there were, we assume, no fridges and freezers so meat would rot very quickly. Pig meat seems to be especially difficult in this respect. Whether the rules are relevant today is the business of the faiths and individuals concerned but I have met several Jewish people who enjoy a good bacon sarnie as much as I do.

There may be another reason for some religious taboos regarding meat. My wife won't eat beef and dislikes the very sight and smell of it. Thailand was Hindu until the Hindu Lord Buddha introduced Buddhism philosophy and it spread here. Religious creeds and Buddhism can live comfortably together so some of the old Hindu ways survive to this day. Theravada Buddhism has no rule about meat but many monks are vegetarian. My wife's family were farmers and they all still own large tracts of farm land. Buffalo and bulls worked the farms before tractors and ploughs were introduced. If you ate your cattle you had nothing with which to work the land or for transport. That is her reason for not eating beef - practicality that probably was handed down from Hinduism and survived until machines were introduced.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
Catfish is disgusting. I have a funny story about catfish though. I went to the store once with my son when he was young, and I was cruising the meat counter. I saw the fish, I saw the sign and busted out laughing and rang the bell. I asked the guy behind the counter what exactly ARE "carfish niggets"????

 

[Laurajean]

Quote:
Yeah Deb, I know. I have never really forgiven him for it to be honest. To this day, if he makes the mistake of harassing me about being a vegetarian, I'm very quick to remind him that he has himself to thank for it. He'll occasionally try to justify it by saying we needed the food, but it's not true. We weren't poor and we had plenty of pigs. It was just pure greed on his part.

Laura that is traumatic to say the least. I would NEVER do something like that to someone, especially someone I loved. I would not even do that to someone I hate!!!! Then again I don't really hate anyone. I am sorry he did that to you.

Thanks Deb.

I always try to find the good that comes from bad traumas and I really do believe that I gained a much greater sense of compassion from that experience.

Bunny, thank you also for understanding. It's a hard story to tell, but it is what it is, I suppose I'm stronger for it somehow. I could still easily cry remembering Petunia however.

Incidentally, I started out determined not to eat what "could have been" someone's beloved pet, but nowadays I don't miss meat at all, it takes almost no effort to avoid it. I honestly don't even remember what it tastes like anymore. These days being vegetarian is much more main stream and accepted, but years ago it was nearly impossible to get anything meatless at a restaurant except spaghetti (which fortunately, I've always loved).

 

[gallinamama]

Laura Jean, It was wrong of your father to take away your pet... but on the other side of the coin... that is what happens on farms. We went to my uncles farm down south.. and we had this favorite goat. His name was "Billy"...haha... anyhow, we were at the farm and my father wanted me to know what happens at the farm and he made me watch as they butchered Billy....That evening...while we were eating he asked me if I liked the meat... then I knew that I was eating Billy... I couldn't eat another bite, my father was so wrong to do that.. but in his day on a farm that is what they showed the children so they would know what happens. most children on the farms, back in the day, would think it normal. Animals live and animals die. sometimes for food or sometimes because of preditors.

I myself will not do that to my grandchildren. We had to send a few of my roosters to freezer camp... I replaced the chickens with new ones... They can't tell the difference. Like you said that incident will always stay with you... as it will with me...and I am 55 years old.

 

[cmjust0]

People eat too much meat.. Or, rather, people "consume" too much meat, lots of which is ultimately wasted. I'm not a vegetarian by any means, but I do kinda think the world would be a better place if there were more vegetarians.

Something I conjured up as I was elbow deep in deer guts one day is what I like to call a "carnivore's license." Would be sorta like a driver's license.. No carnivore's license?...you can't buy meat. And to get a carnivore's license, one would be required to raise or hunt at least one animal representing the "meat group" you're applying for, then kill it yourself, clean it yourself, butcher it yourself, preserve it yourself, and still have the stomach to prepare and actually eat it. And if you do something wrong and get really sick?...well, you fail.

So you want a "red meat" license?...you gotta take out at least one ruminant animal. Provide documentation that you either killed a deer or raised a goat/sheep/calf/etc for meat, killed it, processed it, preserved it, cooked it, and ate it -- all by yourself. "Poultry" license?...raise a few chickens, or go turkey hunting, etc.. Have a hankering for some bacon?...time to stick a hog! Seafood?...let's go fishin'!

Point being, I strongly suspect the world would be awash in vegetarians if people actually had to *participate* even once in the slaughtering of their own meat.

 

[cmjust0]

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It's hard to defend that by saying "in his day..." because chances are good that the kids "in his day" who were witness to that sort of thing had been witness to it regularly, and practically since day one. I know kids like that *today*.. My neighbor's 11yo son would just as soon cut a wether's throat as to look at it because he's been around that sort of thing his whole life and knows exactly what they're for. He's not a "disturbed" kid or anything...he's just a farm kid with a good handle on a few of life's little realities.. Realities of which *most* kids are spared.

To expose a child to that sort of thing so suddenly and shockingly, and then to sneak them the meat at dinnertime, is just cruel. There's no other word for it. My experience has been that people don't do things like that to teach lessons to kids -- they do it because they think it's funny.

I'm sorry you went through that.

 

[NHN]

I am a vegetarian and have been for quite some time. It is a myth that people need to eat meat to get protein. That said I respect people that do wish to eat meat. I understand that many people cannot go without it. All I wish is that people would make informed decisions. Watch Food Inc. Go to u tube and look up the Earthlings videos. Buy from local farmers! or raise your own.

This article really explains how I feel about eating meat

http://www.garynullforum.com/GNthisArticle.php?article=86
I enjoy eating vegetables. Today I am making vegetarian pot pie. It is delicious! Do I miss meat? Not at all!