(OT) Any vegans out there?

[Sixchan]

Since I do this, I'll answer -- but note that I'm not looking for an argument, or for you to tell me that my reasons don't make sense to you. That's okay if they don't make sense to you; they make sense to me.

My pseudovegetarianism comes about for ethical reasons related to the capacity of animals to suffer and the suffering brought about by the meat-production industry. In my opinion, fish have less of a capacity to suffer than birds or mammals. Therefore, I am more willing to kill a fish for my dinner than I am to kill a bird or mammal for my dinner.

I spent six years vegetarian; two of those years I spent contemplating switching to eating fish. I've been pseudovegetarian for eight years now, and have no plans to change.

Daniel

That doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

How exactly does Vegetarian with fish come about? Purely health reasons?

Genearlly, Vegetarians (aside from 2 of them, who can't because their parents were, and have no problems killing things for fun) I've met don't eat meat because they consider it inhumane, or something similar.

So how does "don't eat animals except Fish" work?

Well, dragging things even further off topic, there are a lot of reasons for going veg. Inhuman is one, but its human (and probably animal) nature to rank different species in the deservingness of humane behavior - human > dog > cow > chicken > fish > arthropod is not unusual, and to be honest its really no more "hypocritical" to eat ugly fish that you can't see a personality in but not animals you have interacted with than to eat cows but throw a rod at the idea of cultures who eat dogs...

Health reasons can also figure in, as can environmental ones. Or social justice ones. Or just deciding as an individual that this is where your comfort level evens out.

A random note - people tend to accuse vegies of prosteletizing or trying to change human nature or whathaveyou... I've very rarely seen this. A few humorous bumper stickers, vegans who ask that meat dishes not be brough to potlucks held at their houses. However, I've seen A LOT of non vegetarians attack vegetarianism as an option. It ties in with a tendancy I've seen in other areas to react strongly against someone who does without that which you cannot or will not. I find it interesting...

Kahuna burger

 

[Uzumaki]

Gosh. I didn't think this would generate such interest. Thanks for everything you've all said.

For clarification, I'm going vegan because I'm opposed to the practices with which the animals are kept and slaughtered, not because I don't think we should eat meat. I love meat, chicken especially, and I suppose I'll miss it for a while. But vegitarian/veganism is better for the world anyway, and healthier in general, in my opinion.

The social aspect may be slightly difficult to overcome, as some of my friends tip the scales from omnivores to full-fledged carnivores, but most of the restaurants here offer a vegetarian menu. And I don't think I'll beome a militant vegan, since I can't stand it when people badger me about my lifestyle. Eat meat, eat veggies, I'll do my own thing.

And now I aspire to be a freegan vegan.

 

[Sixchan]

Well, dragging things even further off topic, there are a lot of reasons for going veg. Inhuman is one, but its human (and probably animal) nature to rank different species in the deservingness of humane behavior - human > dog > cow > chicken > fish > arthropod is not unusual, and to be honest its really no more "hypocritical" to eat ugly fish that you can't see a personality in but not animals you have interacted with than to eat cows but throw a rod at the idea of cultures who eat dogs...

Health reasons can also figure in, as can environmental ones. Or social justice ones. Or just deciding as an individual that this is where your comfort level evens out.

A random note - people tend to accuse vegies of prosteletizing or trying to change human nature or whathaveyou... I've very rarely seen this. A few humorous bumper stickers, vegans who ask that meat dishes not be brough to potlucks held at their houses. However, I've seen A LOT of non vegetarians attack vegetarianism as an option. It ties in with a tendancy I've seen in other areas to react strongly against someone who does without that which you cannot or will not. I find it interesting...

Kahuna burger

Well, that I understood.

Hmm...I eat mostly Chicken, with some fish and pork, and much less so Beef and Mutton.

Not because I have a humane thing going on, more because I like the taste and texture of Chicken more than other foods, and the rest for health reasons (whenever I hear the words "Essential Fatty Acids" I get a craving for fish).
I don't eat other meats, but if people want to go and eat dogs, or horses, or bacon (yeuch!) that's fine by me, I just don't (or don't think) like the taste.

 

[Sixchan]

Gosh. I didn't think this would generate such interest. Thanks for everything you've all said.

For clarification, I'm going vegan because I'm opposed to the practices with which the animals are kept and slaughtered, not because I don't think we should eat meat. I love meat, chicken especially, and I suppose I'll miss it for a while. But vegitarian/veganism is better for the world anyway, and healthier in general, in my opinion.

The social aspect may be slightly difficult to overcome, as some of my friends tip the scales from omnivores to full-fledged carnivores, but most of the restaurants here offer a vegetarian menu. And I don't think I'll beome a militant vegan, since I can't stand it when people badger me about my lifestyle. Eat meat, eat veggies, I'll do my own thing.

And now I aspire to be a freegan vegan.

Have you considered simply switching to different meats? Not all meats are made in Barbaric and painful ways. Many meats that are prepared in religious ways are humanely kept and slaughtered (for certain definitions of humane, anyway), so veganism isn't your only option.

But what's wrong with Milk cheese and butter, in this respect? AFAIK, Dairy products are often produced by independant farmers, and sold off, and most farmers, I imagine, keep their cows in relatively humane conditions.

 

[Umbran]

For clarification, I'm going vegan because I'm opposed to the practices with which the animals are kept and slaughtered, not because I don't think we should eat meat.

*nod*. You may not approve, but the cows generally do.

An inhumanely treated cow is an unhappy cow. An uhappy cow is an unhelathy cow. An unhealthy cow does not produce. Slaughter is quick and painless. Anything else is messy. Messy slaughter leads to contaminated meat - which is either wasteful, or a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Before you make a major lifestyle change on ethical grounds, you may want to use more than one book's worth of evidence.

 

[talinthas]

funny, i've been a hindu my whole life, and i'm most certainly not a vegan. Hindus are lacto-vegetarians by nature. No eggs, but dairy and vegetables.

Veganism, otoh, is a creation of wierd white hippies. I couldnt possibly live like that, with only vegetables, prepared in boring american styles. Hindu food is much more flavorful, and leads to less dependancy on meat. Lots of vegans go back to normal because vegan food sucks. But you'll be hard pressed to find someone who has been vegetarian from birth switching over. If you don't know it, you dont miss it, nor do you desire it.

I'm actually offended that you would limit hinduism so thoroughly. Milk is like key in most rituals, and almost all the desserts and sweets are dairy based. The vedas state that Between Meat and No Meat, you should go no meat. This only applies to the highest caste brahmins though. The warrior class was advised to eat meat to help aggresiveness and protection. The only absolutly forbidden meat is cattle. Lots of low caste indians eat chicken and fish, and some also eat mutton.

Oh, and i'm also not one of those vegetarian missionaries. I dont care what you eat, as long as there is something for me to eat as well. Nothing pisses me off more than self rightious punks who feel the urge to deride people because of their diets. I'm not going to take your meat away, and i'm not going to give up my dairy, so stop bugging me about it =)

Oh, and my white girlfriend became a vegetarian after we started dating, and i still can't figure out why =) I'm not complaining, but it still confuses me from time to time. But thats the hindu in me talking. Changing from your natural state of living to convert to a new diet or religion is just a foreign concept.

To come back to topic, there are many levels of 'vegetarian', and there was an interesting article in time magazine about it. If you do choose to go vegetarian, please make sure that you don't leave out the essential vitamins, and remember that it doesnt have to be tasteless to be healthy =)

As for me, 22 years without meat means that i cant eat it if i wanted to, as evinced by the sausage that was accidentally on my veggie pizza.... >_<

 

[Voadam]

Gosh. I didn't think this would generate such interest. Thanks for everything you've all said.

For clarification, I'm going vegan because I'm opposed to the practices with which the animals are kept and slaughtered, not because I don't think we should eat meat. I love meat, chicken especially, and I suppose I'll miss it for a while. But vegitarian/veganism is better for the world anyway, and healthier in general, in my opinion.

The social aspect may be slightly difficult to overcome, as some of my friends tip the scales from omnivores to full-fledged carnivores, but most of the restaurants here offer a vegetarian menu. And I don't think I'll beome a militant vegan, since I can't stand it when people badger me about my lifestyle. Eat meat, eat veggies, I'll do my own thing.

And now I aspire to be a freegan vegan.

Milk cows are different from beef cows, good milk cows are not considered good beef cows and are handled differently by farms.

Free range meat is an option for quality of animal life decisions, but it is more expensive.

Hunting also provides food from animals that had a good, natural quality of life.

Vegans give up milk, butter, and honey for reasons that don't seem to coincide with your reasons for going vegan.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

*snip meat industry propaganda*

This is a completely political statement, and not of fact at all. Neither it, nor any long drawn out responses I might make in response belong here, so I'm going to recomend that you edit your post to include only the idea of investigating other sources of info, not providing propaganda yourself. otherwise, I'm bound by my ethics to argue the point with you and we have a closed thread.

Kahuna burger

 

[Mark Chance]

One could always go kosher. Kosher slaughtering is both conscientious and eminently concerned with health issues.