(OT) Any vegans out there?

[Number47]

My own personal reasons for being vegetarian have little to do with animal cruelty. Although I think it better to not kill than to kill, I would certainly kill if I needed to survive. For me, it had much more to do with environmentalism. Do you have any idea how wasteful and how damaging the animal industries are? Don't think you can get around it by eating fish, either. The hauls in the ocean are down some 60% due to overfishing. One last thing. It takes 14 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. Why not eat the grain instead? The only animal that even comes close to achieving efficiency is chicken, where it takes only slightly more than one pound of grain to one pound of meat, and rabbit with about a two-for-one.

 

[Sixchan]

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

Or Halal, which is more or less the same in it's slaughter methods, but is less restrictive on some of the particular animals.

Even better would be to be indiscriminate, and you get virtually all common meats except pork.

 

[Mark Chance]

Or Halal, which is more or less the same in it's slaughter methods, but is less restrictive on some of the particular animals.

I never even thought of that. It does remind me, though: I really should dig around and find a kosher (or Halal) meat market. Houston is the fourth largest city in the U.S. We're bond to have at least a few.

Even better would be to be indiscriminate, and you get virtually all common meats except pork.

Indiscriminate?

 

[Pielorinho]

Sixchan, it's totally okay with me that my reasons don't make sense to you: I've got no desire to convert you.

Other folks, there's an interesting thread here (the guy just wants information on how he can make this transition). Please, let's not politicize it: there are plenty of fora online that'll happily handle debates over the ethics of meat-eating, but this ain't one of them.

Daniel

 

[Sixchan]

Indiscriminate?

I mean, eat both Kosher and Halal. There's foods that are Halal but not Kosher (Rabbits, for example), and there's probably Kosher food that aren't Halal.

If you're neither Muslim or Jewish, you can eat both.

 

[Mark Chance]

I mean, eat both Kosher and Halal. There's foods that are Halal but not Kosher (Rabbits, for example), and there's probably Kosher food that aren't Halal.

If you're neither Muslim or Jewish, you can eat both.

Ah. That makes sense. I am neither Muslim nor Jewish, but I don't like to drive a lot when shopping for food. I guess, depending on where the relevant markets are, I can be Kosher, Halal, Both, or (if everything is too far away) Neither.

 

[Voadam]

I mean, eat both Kosher and Halal. There's foods that are Halal but not Kosher (Rabbits, for example), and there's probably Kosher food that aren't Halal.

If you're neither Muslim or Jewish, you can eat both.

I believe that all Kosher prepared foods are considered valid for halal purposes. So Halal is just a bigger circle of food that includes all of the Kosher ones.

But I also think both practices only determine how the animals are slaughtered, not how they are kept during their lives.

I do not know for sure however.

 

[dave_o]

I was just in San Diego for a long while, and plan to move back in May.

With a lot of visits in between, to San Diego and DC (my girlfriend LOVE OF MY LIFE *spaz* lives in both).

Anyway, in San Diego there's this rad place sorta close to Mission Beach called People's Food Co-Op. They rule for eating healthy.

I'm not vegan, I'm a vegetarian who eats shrimp (since, c'mon, they're plants anyway).

And Fast Food Nation was the cause of my vegetarianism, too.

 

[hellbender]

There are many sources of meat besides fast food. There are free range animals in many grocery stores around me, and I am in Idaho. Although I prefer elk over beef, I did enjoy the Australian beef I ate while in Indonesia.

I have never read this book, so I cannot pass judgment, however, there are several exposes out there regarding Second Hand Smoke, which has never been proven to kill a single person. First hand smoke, yes, but this whole Second Hand Smokes You campaign is just a demonizing tool. In fact, I did email the women at the smoking site about this, and she replied with a flurry of nonsense. So, don't believe everything you hear/read. And if you do, you can still easily eat meat that is not full of steroids and other chemicals.


hellbender

 

[Number47]

Second hand smoke? What the heck are you talking about? Unless somebody brought up smoked meat, that really doesn't belong in this thread.