Do you eat meat?

[monty]

Do you eat meat? Choose the option that best applies to you.

[Lilarcor]

Just had two hamburgers. Mmmmmm.

[mjf314]

I eat meat and have no problem with it.

Shouldn't there also be an option, "I eat meat and feel guilty about it"?

[mightysparks]

I eat meat and try to always eat free range meat. Humans are supposed to eat meat. It's sad how some meat is produced, but I feel no guilt about eating it.

[brokenface]

I eat meat and have no problem with it.

Shouldn't there also be an option, "I eat meat and feel guilty about it"?

That's option 2.

[mightysparks]

I eat meat and have no problem with it.

Shouldn't there also be an option, "I eat meat and feel guilty about it"?

That's option 2.

No I don't feel guilty about it, I just want healthier meat (plus my mum buys the food so I have no choice it the matter )

[mjf314]

I eat meat and have no problem with it.

Shouldn't there also be an option, "I eat meat and feel guilty about it"?

That's option 2.

It's not the same thing. What if someone eats meat that's not free-range, but still feels guilty about it?

[PeacefulAnarchy]

Shouldn't there also be an option, "I eat meat and feel guilty about it"?

That's option 2.

It's not the same thing. What if someone eats meat that's not free-range, but still feels guilty about it?

Then they should pick 3 or feel more guilty until 3 is the right answer.

[sebby]

I vacillate between eating vegetarian and vegan because my willpower withers in the presence of our lord and savior the pizza pie. Don't use any animal products save for the occasional wool sweater.

[allisoncm]

I am eating meat right now (salmon). I checked I am mostly vegetarian but occasionally eat meat. I sometimes each chicken and fish. I only eat red meat if it is forced on me (like a friend is serving lunch or my grandmother is serving breakfast or something).

[Armoreska]

Vegetarian for 4,5,6,7(?) years, didn't count. Although I've eaten sushi annually last 2 years

edit it was 5

[Local Hero -- aka MestnyiGeroi]

I vacillate between eating vegetarian and vegan because my willpower withers in the presence of our lord and savior the pizza pie. Don't use any animal products save for the occasional wool sweater.

[mjf314]

That's option 2.

It's not the same thing. What if someone eats meat that's not free-range, but still feels guilty about it?

Then they should pick 3 or feel more guilty until 3 is the right answer.

What if someone eats meat every day and feels guilty about it?

[PeacefulAnarchy]

It's not the same thing. What if someone eats meat that's not free-range, but still feels guilty about it?

Then they should pick 3 or feel more guilty until 3 is the right answer.

What if someone eats meat every day and feels guilty about it?

Then they should feel more guilty until their guilt makes them cut back, or accept that they don't really feel guilty about eating meat but rather feel guilty about not feeling guilty.

[mjf314]

Then they should pick 3 or feel more guilty until 3 is the right answer.

What if someone eats meat every day and feels guilty about it?

Then they should feel more guilty until their guilt makes them cut back, or accept that they don't really feel guilty about eating meat but rather feel guilty about not feeling guilty.

What if they feel just a little bit guilty, and the enjoyment and/or convenience of eating meat outweighs the guilt?

[Cocoa]

Meat I mostly eat turkey, but sometimes I consume chicken, fish, ham, hamburgers, shrimp, and calamari.

I have a few food allergies (soy, wheat, lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, spinach). It makes the possibility of me being a vegetarian harder When I was younger, I would go days without eating meat, but it's a lot more work for me to try and do that now. I used to be able to eat products that contained soy as one of its ingredients as long as it wasn't the main ingredient. This year, I had to get rid of many processed foods as a result of my soy allergy getting worse (soy is in mostly every boxed item I enjoyed + peanut butter ). I used to be able to eat pasta and cereal, and I got rid of those as well this year due to my wheat allergy getting worse. White bread and pizza are still unaffected by my wheat allergy I mainly eat things I can make into sandwiches + fruits & the vegetables I'm not allergic to I have no remorse for eating meat due to a lack of options compared to other people. I felt a little bad for the creatures I was eating when I was younger, but I have less empathy now.

[metaller]

Yes, I eat everything that crawls and swims and jumps and slithers and flies and runs. I also eat all the animals that move or don't move in such ways.
I have a little bit of a bad conscious sometimes when I buy cheap meat (because likey those animals hasd a shitty life to live), however I don't have a bad conscience that an animal in general had to die because of my hunger.
In general though I eat vegetarian on quite some days of the week (during work days I tend to eat very light dishes or my concentration is crap in the afternoons) and rather eat some better quality meats on the weekends. But that is more a reason of having a better product and not just an ethical concern.

[bal3x]

Vegetarians should not refrain from buying the cheapest sausage in the supermarket as it contains no meat...

[Melvelet]

"I am mostly vegetarian but occasionally eat meat."
I consider myself a vegeterian since a few months (a low-meat period before that). If a eat meat (once or maybe twice a month) it's when I eat at a restaurant - occasionally running sushi and Asian duck (I love Asian food but vegeterian dishes are just the same as non-vegetarian ones with the best part missing -> 50/50 for me) or when there's no decent vegeterian dish. But I tend to eat more Indian food (which is great for vegetarian food) now.

Couldn't say that I feel like something's missing

[Pretentious Hipster]

I still eat meat and am ok with it. But ever since I started working out I noticed myself eating less and less. Must be the protein shakes.

And whenever I have the opportunity to eat meat, I just choose tofu most of the time instead, or fish. It's funny how the buffed alpha males say that you shouldn't eat soy because it turns you into a "bitch".

I have lots of 3.25% milk and pasteurized egg whites though, so definitely not a vegan.

[Per_Niel]

I'm a vegetarian, and eating meat is definitely highly immoral and selfish. Trying to stay away from eggs, and not eat/drink too much cheese, milk etc. but haven't gone 'full vegan' yet, as it's quite a job getting alternative replacements for these. Though, I'm getting there in time.

[Knaldskalle]

I think the term used for the way we live is "flexitarian". We usually eat meat once or twice a week - and then usually in relatively small amounts (big steaks or roasts are less than annual events in our house, though I will occasionally roast a whole chicken). I didn't vote, none of the options really apply.

[Local Hero -- aka MestnyiGeroi]

I think the term used for the way we live is "flexitarian". We usually eat meat once or twice a week - and then usually in relatively small amounts (big steaks or roasts are less than annual events in our house, though I will occasionally roast a whole chicken). I didn't vote, none of the options really apply.

What do you mean? It sounds as if the third option describes you precisely.

I have been a strict vegetarian longer than most forumers have been alive (simultaneous braggadocio and self-deprecation in one statement ). If it were just a matter of health, I would be a flexitarian like Knalds (love the taste of flex), but it's more of an ethical thing for me -- just want to minimize my violence footprint (just made up that pretentious phrase!) and consider meat too great a drain on world resources.

I definitely don't do the prostelytizing or sermonizing thing, though, and I try to avoid bringing it up at all. Most friends don't know I'm veggie unless they ask directly ("Wait, you don't want pepperoni? What, are you vegetarian or something?"). I also think that to live is to kill, every day (even for the Jainists with their insect-sweeping brooms), but everyone sets their own standards for where they draw the line, so I definitely don't expect others to draw the line where I do (and vegans draw it beyond my line, anyway). The only thing I do expect -- or at least hope -- that everyone would recognize is the unethical nature of eating threatened species or foods that involve obscene cruelty (goose liver pate, foie gras, veal, ortolan, ikizukuri, etc.); I don't think people who eat such foods are unadulterated evil, but I do strongly disapprove of those eating choices.

[Knaldskalle]

I think the term used for the way we live is "flexitarian". We usually eat meat once or twice a week - and then usually in relatively small amounts (big steaks or roasts are less than annual events in our house, though I will occasionally roast a whole chicken). I didn't vote, none of the options really apply.

What do you mean? It sounds as if the third option describes you precisely.

Nah, we eat meat too often to be "real" vegetarians. If it were a religion we would have been excommunicated for lapsing too often.

[Lammetje]

I eat meat and try to always eat free range meat. Humans are supposed to eat meat. It's sad how some meat is produced, but I feel no guilt about eating it.

Humans are also "supposed" to live in caves and smash each other's head in over a female or territory.

I think the term used for the way we live is "flexitarian". We usually eat meat once or twice a week - and then usually in relatively small amounts (big steaks or roasts are less than annual events in our house, though I will occasionally roast a whole chicken). I didn't vote, none of the options really apply.

What do you mean? It sounds as if the third option describes you precisely.

I have been a strict vegetarian longer than most forumers have been alive (simultaneous braggadocio and self-deprecation in one statement ). If it were just a matter of health, I would be a flexitarian like Knalds (love the taste of flex), but it's more of an ethical thing for me -- just want to minimize my violence footprint (just made up that pretentious phrase!) and consider meat too great a drain on world resources.

I definitely don't do the prostelytizing or sermonizing thing, though, and I try to avoid bringing it up at all. Most friends don't know I'm veggie unless they ask directly ("Wait, you don't want pepperoni? What, are you vegetarian or something?"). I also think that to live is to kill, every day (even for the Jainists with their insect-sweeping brooms), but everyone sets their own standards for where they draw the line, so I definitely don't expect others to draw the line where I do (and vegans draw it beyond my line, anyway). The only thing I do expect -- or at least hope -- that everyone would recognize is the unethical nature of eating threatened species or foods that involve obscene cruelty (goose liver pate, foie gras, veal, ortolan, ikizukuri, etc.); I don't think people who eat such foods are unadulterated evil, but I do strongly disapprove of those eating choices.

Great post! I consider myself a vegetarian as well. I do eat candy sometimes though - and candy usually contains pig bone.

[Local Hero -- aka MestnyiGeroi]

Great post! I consider myself a vegetarian as well. I do eat candy sometimes though - and candy usually contains pig bone.

Thanks. By "pig bone," do you mean gelatin? Some candy (and other foods) have gelatin, but in my experience most candy does not. I generally find it pretty easy to avoid gelatin.

[Lammetje]

Great post! I consider myself a vegetarian as well. I do eat candy sometimes though - and candy usually contains pig bone.

Thanks. By "pig bone," do you mean gelatin? Some candy (and other foods) have gelatin, but in my experience most candy does not. I generally find it pretty easy to avoid gelatin.

Yes, that's what I meant. I stopped buying candy a while ago anyway, but I usually accept candy when it is offered to me.

[kingink]

I chose the third option, but I'm not a vegetarian. I eat red or white meat only once a week maybe but not because of guilt or a concious decision based on animal cruelty or anything. I just don't like meat that much, while I adore vegetables and especially legumes. I also cook fish once a week because I love fish, but I try to avoid the most common ones like salmon or tuna because of the overfishing. For some reason I'm more concerned about fish than animals. Don't ask why. I can't answer that.

I have to wonder though about how monty will use this database of personal info that he is slowly creating...

[jgwr]

I eat meat and try to always eat free range meat. Humans are supposed to eat meat. It's sad how some meat is produced, but I feel no guilt about eating it.

Humans are also "supposed" to live in caves and smash each other's head in over a female or territory.

We are? Damn. So that's what I've been doing wrong all these years...

As for me: carnivorous, and not particularly ashamed of it. I recognise vegetarians have the superior moral argument on their side, but when it all comes down, I like meat. And personal taste is kind of hard to argue against. I respect other people's dietary preferences, though, and wouldn't want to impose mine on others...

[jgwr]

I have to wonder though about how monty will use this database of personal info that he is slowly creating...

"40-something meat eater not on KG... who the fuck does jgwr think he is? Into the sea with him!"

[Kowry]

I do eat meat, though there have been phases when I've tried to restrain, and during the current year I have been eating less of it. If I eat at the university, I usually take the meat option, as often the vegetarian option leaves a lot to hope for. At home I often cook vegetarian. I still eat meat(or fish, if you want to separate the two) almost daily, but usually if I eat two meals a day, one of them is vegetarian.

So I dunno, I guess I'm mostly in the first category, as I'm pretty far from a vegetarian.

[mightysparks]

I eat meat and try to always eat free range meat. Humans are supposed to eat meat. It's sad how some meat is produced, but I feel no guilt about eating it.

Humans are also "supposed" to live in caves and smash each other's head in over a female or territory.

No, they're not. That's behavioural. We've evolved to grow out of those behavioural patterns (though we still do the same things in different ways), our bodies have not evolved to not eat meat. Our bodies are specifically designed to eat meat and to need meat. We now have the choice to not eat meat because they are many supplements and such... And if that's the choice you want to make, then that's okey dokey but we're still designed to be meat eaters.

[Lammetje]

I eat meat and try to always eat free range meat. Humans are supposed to eat meat. It's sad how some meat is produced, but I feel no guilt about eating it.

Humans are also "supposed" to live in caves and smash each other's head in over a female or territory.

No, they're not. That's behavioural. We've evolved to grow out of those behavioural patterns (though we still do the same things in different ways), our bodies have not evolved to not eat meat. Our bodies are specifically designed to eat meat and to need meat. We now have the choice to not eat meat because they are many supplements and such... And if that's the choice you want to make, then that's okey dokey but we're still designed to be meat eaters.

Well, I don't think we are designed at all, but I see what you mean.

[mightysparks]

Humans are also "supposed" to live in caves and smash each other's head in over a female or territory.

No, they're not. That's behavioural. We've evolved to grow out of those behavioural patterns (though we still do the same things in different ways), our bodies have not evolved to not eat meat. Our bodies are specifically designed to eat meat and to need meat. We now have the choice to not eat meat because they are many supplements and such... And if that's the choice you want to make, then that's okey dokey but we're still designed to be meat eaters.

Well, I don't think we are designed at all, but I see what you mean.

Well I mean design as in humans have the same structure which 'defines' us, not some religious nonsense

[Cippenham]

Don't start on religion, it's worse than politics!

[Lonewolf2003]

Like Knalls I'm a flexitarian. But unlike Knalls when I do eat meat it's usually a nice big piece of steak or something. I do think it's not necessary to eat meat everyday, not for my health nor for the environment. So therefor I set myself a rule to only eat meat when it comes in one piece. So no mince meat in the spaghetti sauce, no sliced chicken in the Indian curry and stuff like that. And that way I safe money to buy free-range stuff when I do eat meat.

[Knaldskalle]

Like Knalls I'm a flexitarian. But unlike Knalls when I do eat meat it's usually a nice big piece of steak or something. I do think it's not necessary to eat meat everyday, not for my health nor for the environment. So therefor I set myself a rule to only eat meat when it comes in one piece. So no mince meat in the spaghetti sauce, no sliced chicken in the Indian curry and stuff like that. And that way I safe money to buy free-range stuff when I do eat meat.

That's not a bad way of doing it actually. It's just two different ways of achieving the same goal. In recipes I've found that I can usually cut the amount of meat in half without any illl effects whatsoever. Even beef stews are fine with less meat in them. In New York I'd buy meat from the local butcher and they only sold 'certified humane' meat from local farms. Expensive, but really good quality (their bacon was the best I've ever had, but I only ever bought a half pound at a time: $18/lb!). Strangely, it's harder to find good meat here in New Mexico. We probably need to look around more and maybe find a local farmer to supply us. The supermarkets around here are worthless, one place doesn't sell pork that hasn't been pumped full of water "enhanced with up to 30% broth for guaranteed moistness and tenderness".

I agree with Mighty that we're 'built' to be omnivorous (it just takes a glance at our teeth to verify that notion), however, we have to also realize that the planet is overcrowded already and we only get one tenth of the energy out of a cow that we put into it (90% percent of the food energy goes to 'maintaining' the cow, only 10% becomes meat). So if we want to be energy efficient we should eat less meat and use the land to grow something else instead. And that's before we get into any discussion about animal welfare and that whole can of worms.

A little food for thought:

[Local Hero -- aka MestnyiGeroi]

I eat meat and try to always eat free range meat. Humans are supposed to eat meat. It's sad how some meat is produced, but I feel no guilt about eating it.

Humans are also "supposed" to live in caves and smash each other's head in over a female or territory.

No, they're not. That's behavioural. We've evolved to grow out of those behavioural patterns (though we still do the same things in different ways), our bodies have not evolved to not eat meat. Our bodies are specifically designed to eat meat and to need meat. We now have the choice to not eat meat because they are many supplements and such... And if that's the choice you want to make, then that's okey dokey but we're still designed to be meat eaters.

You know, there's a common image of the strident, militant vegetarian screaming 'murder!' over the dinner table, but in my experience I have encountered ten meat-eaters trying to explain how vegetarianism is wrong for every one vegetarian I hear explaining how meat-eating is wrong.

One of the most common ones I have heard over the years is this argument that it's "natural" to eat meat, that it's what we're "supposed" to do. I always marvel at all the thinking that has to not occur for someone to assert this and find it a satisfying argument, for someone to not even consider all the pitfalls and gaping holes there, or to be aware of the pernicious history behind such fallacious arguments.

There can be no doubt that meat-eating played a crucial role in human evolution, but to say that it's what we're "designed" (what a loaded term!) to do is to not understand human evolution, and to project personal values in a pseudo-objective manner -- like saying we're supposed to be heterosexual because that's what furthers the species, or we're supposed to have slaves because the latest developments in phrenology show that the Negro is designed to be in an inferior position. No, our behavior is what determines our evolution, and we determine our behavior. The nature of evolution is that it evolves. It can easily be argued that we are "hard-wired," "designed" with a great deal of aggression, and that therefore we are "supposed" to engage in violence with our neighbors, and with our neighboring countries, but we have taken steps to curb our aggression. It would be extremely obtuse to argue (though millions have argued it) that we're supposed to have wars and so we shouldn't interfere with what's natural. Meat helped human evolution move forward, but now it can be argued that the patterns of meat consumption are harming human health, not to mention the health of the environment humans live in. How many doctors are now counseling their patients to eat less meat, or to go vegetarian, because if they don't their health, their lives are at risk?

One could go on and on and on pointing out the erroneous and extremely dangerous nature of any argument that purports to tell us which behaviors are what we're "supposed" to do, what we're "designed" to do. Please spare us.

[Per_Niel]

Thank you! Kinda promised myself not to get dragged into a discussion. I really try not to be an aggressive or 'hostile' vegetarian. But part of being a 'veggie', is having to defend that choice pretty much every week. And after a while, at least I, get quite bored of it. The amount of ignorance and general perceptions of what's 'natural' is rather shocking.

[Pretentious Hipster]