The Wonderful World of Pork

[Queen]

I`m vegetarian. I have been for about 9 months. The reason I`m vegetarian is because I watched a Goldfinger music video and it was all of the "behind the scenes of slaughter houses" type stuff. By the end of the video I was crying my eyes out. It really is sick how people can treat animals and not feel a thing. I understand that it says you`re supposed to eat meat in the Bible, but back them they probably killed the animals really fast, but it`s a diiferent case this day in age. I am proud to be vegetarian and I really hate it when I get a huge talk from random people about how I`m supposed to eat meat. People should mind their own business. My being vegetarian does`nt effect them in any way, shape, or form.

[Bright HIM]

i like meat. mostly chicken though, because i think cow is sooo repulsive the way they kill it then feed the left over cows to the other cows.ewww! i mean, that is how cows get mad cow disease. if the cow eats an infected part of the other cows nervous system(can'y remember anything about what is infected) i mean and then some people know the cow is sick but still chop them up and eat them! but other than chicken, i also like, no, love seafood! i love my fruits. but i do not really like veggies. i mean i eat maybe 4 kinds of veggies a day, but i eat at least, at least 9 different kinds of fruits a day. to conclude, i love fruits, and i like chicken and seafood!

[...Which Here Means...]

swans said:

All Animals are Equal-- Peter Singer

LOL! I have a Philosophy degree, and my opinion is that if Peter Singer wrote it, it's worth ignoring. He comes up with some pretty zany ideas.

Orli21 said:

i think cow is sooo repulsive the way they kill it then feed the left over cows to the other cows.ewww! i mean, that is how cows get mad cow disease.

Well, you can keep eating cow, because we don't do that in the U.S. (Unless, of course, you live elsewhere).

[Kobolos]

...Which said:

LOL! I have a Philosophy degree, and my opinion is that if Peter Singer wrote it, it's worth ignoring. He comes up with some pretty zany ideas.


Well, you can keep eating cow, because we don't do that in the U.S. (Unless, of course, you live elsewhere).

A 27 year old! Thank the gods

I'm not the only old person on here anymore.

Welcome aboard!

[negativenine]

Did I already ask if anyone's read The Edible Woman (Margaret Atwood)? The human characteristics of plants thing reminded me of it...

[StellaFantasia]

The thing is, you don't have to make excuses about what you do and don't eat. It's your opinion and your business. Don't eat cows because they're cute? Don't eat chicken because you don't like the taste? That's fine. You don't have to validate it with philosophical arguments or excuses about convenience and availability. Just do what you're comfortable with.
If people ask me if I'm a vegetarian, I say I don't eat mammals. I haven't eaten red meat, pork, or game for 11 years now. I don't miss it, I don't want to eat it. I still eat chicken. I like it. I don't feel guilty about it. I do try to avoid chicken at fast food restaurants, though, because they are raised in appalling conditions. Something shouldn't live it's entire short life in a tiny cage being force fed just so I can have KFC.
Heck, I knew a guy once who only ate bagels and french fries. Does that make him a vegetarian? I think everyone's a varying degree of vegetarian, when it gets right down to it.

[StellaFantasia]

I'm 24.
I feel really bad about posting just that one line.

[StellaFantasia]

I agree there's a time to defend yourself, but no one's trying to pass legislation outlawing beef. Or have I been out of the US so long that they are, now?
Wearing fur is an entirely different kettle of fish. It is unethical, and not easily defended, either. As for people telling children that their mothers are evil for wearing it...well, some fanatics do strange things. (An example: Cyclists in Melbourne recently staged a protest where they blocked off a major road to make a statement about how wasteful cars were...and every other type of transportation, apparently, since they also blocked off the tracks for the electric trams, which many earth conscious mass commuters take every day.) But the best thing to do with people like that is to just ignore them or tell them to back off. You can't argue...they've got their minds set.

[StellaFantasia]

Fur is unethical because of the way it's obtained, and the fact that it's completely useless and replaceable with other fabrics (or even fake fur). I don't like the idea that thousands of mink are anally electrocuted to make one coat. I don't mind people killing animals for sustinance or even research to an extent, but it bugs me when they kill them for fashion. But that's probably an entirely different thread. Just because it's unethical doesn't mean it should be illegal, though. Wearing fur, like eating meat, is a choice. I still have faith in people to make the right choices.
Legislation against something as fundamental as eating meat will never be passed, so it doesn't worry me. And vegans can stand around and shout about it all they want, and I'll ignore them, just like I ignore the socialists on the corner handing out pamphlets.
I don't know how this got to this point though, since all I said was that you didn't have to defend what you did and didn't eat to other people, and now suddenly it's about protesters damaging property, and fur. I never mentioned any of that stuff, or even implied that that was what I was referring to.

[Carly is Spiffy]

I recently ordered a vegetarian starter guide [because Im too lazy to try to figure it out myself XD ] from tryveg.com, but I think I ordered it off the phone. If I go get my Veg Starter Guide out of the car I can post some yummy vegetarian recipes for all you vegetarians to try. Im starting vegetarianism TODAY! I'll try to get the thing out of the car, but itll be hard due to the fact that it is snowing!

[Carly is Spiffy]

Ok, I just typed a whole big thing on vegetarianism and now I am thoroughly annoyed with my AOL, because it knocked me off when I was 3/4 done. Ok here we go again.

Here is some alternatives from the Veg. Starter guide from tryveg.com:

Worried about losing calcium, iron, and protein because your a vegetarian? Think again!

Alternative sources of protein: almonds, black beans, brown rice, cashews, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, peanut butter, pinto beans, soybeans, soymilk, seitan, sunflower seeds, textured vegetable protein, tofu, and veg. hot dogs and burgers.

Alternative sources of iron: Black beans, bran flakes, Cream of Wheat, garbanzo beans, GrapeNuts [cereal], kidney beans, lentils, navy beans, oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, raisins, soymilk, spinach, sunflower seeds, tofu, tomato juice [my favorite! v8 is the best in my opinion!] and whole wheat bread.

Alternative sources of calcium: Almonds, black beans, broccoli, calcium-fortified orange juice, collard greens, great northern beans, kale, kidney beans, mustard greens, navy beans, orange juice, pinto beans, sesame seeds, soybeans, soymilk, textured vegetable protein, and tofu.

Here are some more yummy [for the most part] vegetarian substitutes.

For hotdogs- Lightlife smart dogs, and Yves's the good dog.

For burgers- Boca's Vegan Original, Gardenburger Garden Vegan

For cold cuts- Turtle Island Foods's Tofurky, and meatless deli slices by Lighlife and Yves.

For ground beef- Boca's Ground Burger, Morningstar Farms's Ground Meatless Crumbles, Lightlife's Smart Ground, and Yves's Ground Round.

For sausage and bacon- Gardenburger's Meatless Breakfast Sausage, Lightlife's Gimme Lean, And Turtle Island Food's Tofurky sausages and bratwurst, Lightlife's Smart Bacon, and Fakin' Bacon.

For chicken nuggets- Trader Joe's Soy Poppers, Helth is Welth's Chicken-Free nuggets, Health is Wealth's Buffalo Wings.

For butter- Willow Run's stick soy margarine, Soy Garden's Natural Buttery Spread, and Earth Balace's Natural Buttery Spread.

For eggs- Ener-G's Egg Replacer, and Fantastic Foods's Tofu Scrambler.

For milk- Soy milk!

For ice cream- Soy Delicious's Decadent, Tofutti Cuties, and Whole Soy's Glace.

For cheese- Tofutti's nondairy soy cheese and Follow your Heart's Vegan Gourmet.

For yogurt- Whole Soy's and Stonyfield Farm's vegan yogurts.

For cream cheese- Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese

For sour cream- Tofutti's Cour Supreme

For Mayonnaise- Nasoya's Nayonaise [Ive tried that! Its not bad! It doesn't have the icky mayo smell either!] and Follow your Heart's Vegenaise.

Now for some delicious veg. recipes.

Strawberry smoothie [makes 2 cups]

- 1 cup frozen strawberries
-1 cup frozen banana chunks
-1/2 ro 1 cup soy or rice milk

Place all ingredients in a bleender and process on high speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes, occasionally stopping the blender to move any unblended fruit to the center with a spatula.

Fluffy pancakes [Makes 4 serving]

-1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1 table spoon sugar
-2 table spoon vegetable oil
-1 1/2 cups soy or rice milk, or water
-1 1/2 cups fresh berries [optional]
-maple syrup

Mix together the dry ingredients and then stir in the begetable oil and nondairy milk or water. If the batter is too thick, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until reaching the desired consistency. Pour the batter onto a non-stick pan and cook over medium heat, turning once when the edges bubble and brown. Serve topped with fresh berries and/or maple syrup.

[Brian]

Just my opinion, but I don't get vegetarianism since PLANTS ARE LIVING THINGS TOO. In fact, everything we eat used to be alive, unless you count junk food. And who wants to live on junk food?

I believe all organisms are at an equal level. And if you have this "humans are superior" thing, don't shoot me. I mean, we are superior, that's obvious, but we shouldn't be.

[Madamluna]

Did you know that plants actually scream when you hurt them? You can't win either way, so I just eat both.

[Brian]

Yeah - so do I. SUSHI! You, know, I was cutting an onion the other night and I just felt so sorry for it...

[Madamluna]

I've had a craving for sushi for a month straight. My only cure is to actually eat some, and I haven't yet.

Currently massacring a persimmon with my incisors. The ripping and the tearing and the eating...