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My sophomore year of college, one of my roommates was a lactose intolerant vegetarian for ethical reasons (and, incidentally, he was an atheist), making him a de facto borderline vegan (the occasional egg aside). He and I and our third roommate took turns cooking for one another, so I learned the joy of foods like tofu, tempeh, and seitan. I was never a meat fanatic, but I used to eat a lot more, including a weekly steak for dinner.
We are not vegetarian, but we eat mostly poultry and fish. We eat very small amounts of red meat at home, and a couple of our family meals each week are meatless (with the featured proteins usually being some combination of beans, cheese, and ersatz meat products). Since my son’s preschool and daycare is a Conservative synagogue that mandates kosher dairy lunches, he’s grown to love veggie burgers and nuggets (whereas he doesn’t really like the real thing, which is fine because most ground beef and chicken nuggets are garbage).
It’s not a moral compulsion for us, though I can certainly understand why some people refrain from using animal products as a matter of ethics. Our limiting of red meat is monthly health-inspired. Poultry and fish are healthier than red meat, even when opting for leaner cuts with comparable calorie counts. There are incidental environmental considerations as well. Apart, of course, from religious traditions that eschew meat eating as a matter of course, I haven’t seen any correlation between religiosity and ethical veg/etarianism.
We could never be vegan. We just love cheese far too much.
Last edited by ElijahAstin; 11-05-2022 at 02:03 PM..
Perhaps not for anyone posting in this thread, but the choice not to eat meat is also one based on finances for many people, and a factor in some countries where eating meat is just not affordable for the average person. Beef in particular. I suppose one might consider that financial enlightenment of a sort. A consideration in any case...
Perhaps not for anyone posting in this thread, but the choice not to eat meat is also one based on finances for many people, and a factor in some countries where eating meat is just not affordable for the average person. Beef in particular. I suppose one might consider that financial enlightenment of a sort. A consideration in any case...
In Thailand, beef is a bit of a treat. Chicken much more common, pork, too. Sea-based, as well.
I do want to point out that the way we are using the term 'enlightenment' in this thread is a bit wishy washy.
How do you define it? I stated I think it means self awarenesses.
I would give myself a poor grade on this one because even though I think the practice of farming animals in inhuman conditions is horrendous I still eat meat produced that way. I have looked into buying from a smaller farm where the animals are allowed a reasonable life. I don't think slaughtering animals is ideal but I don't see it as cruel like the way we mass produce. That's as far as it's gone tho. To be "enlightened" I would have to get my actions to match up with my beliefs and I shouldn't be voting with my dollars in support of this practice. Someone who objects to eating meat at all would have to become a vegetarian to be enlightened.
Perhaps not for anyone posting in this thread, but the choice not to eat meat is also one based on finances for many people, and a factor in some countries where eating meat is just not affordable for the average person. Beef in particular. I suppose one might consider that financial enlightenment of a sort. A consideration in any case...
Finances dictates lots of things from education, housing, to food. A vegetarian diet is economical but one needs to know how to get enough protein and have a balanced diet. Much of that is learned. The Market makes it easier to just buy cheaper, processed meat, which is what the poor buy and feed their children because they believe meat is the only source of protein, and they are too tired to learn a different way to eat.
Finances dictates lots of things from education, housing, to food. A vegetarian diet is economical but one needs to know how to get enough protein and have a balanced diet. Much of that is learned. The Market makes it easier to just buy cheaper, processed meat, which is what the poor buy and feed their children because they believe meat is the only source of protein, and they are too tired to learn a different way to eat.
True, but it's not always or only so much a belief that meat is the only source of protein. It's that the market makes it so much cheaper to buy junk food. All too many poor families can't afford to buy better more nutritious foods, which gets us back to how finances and education (among other factors) all plays into what goes on in so many households. Too many just don't know better even if they can provide their family a more nutritious diet.
Then we wonder why obesity is such a problem in America...
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