Meat Free May

granjura that is exactly what we have been doing. Fortunately we have a preference for casseroles and stews over steaks and large pieces of meat, which means increasing the amount of vegetables and making a pound of meat feed six or eight instead of four is very easy to do.

That has been our measured response to concerns about the extent that good arable land is being used to grow cattle food rather than food, but I have not felt any need to make a song and dance about it or climb on any high moral pinnacle.

The problem nigtowl is that so often being passionate drifts into feeling superior, in any thing, not just being vegetarian or even having anything to do with food.

Why do meat eaters always feel the need to attack vegetarians?
I am not a member of Friends of the Earth because they are not espousing vegetarianism, just asking people to eat less meat. The same with Greenpeace.
It's strange talking about eating fruit and veg will mean importing more. Where do you think most of the animal feed comes from to feed all those cows that you all like to eat? Soya grown in North and South America does not arrive here by pipeline.

I'm not attacking vegetarians but what would the response be if meat eaters suggested vegetarians eat meat for a month?

Each to their own.

As it's a suggestion, merlot, you are free to ignore it and so would veggies if the boot were on the other foot.

We wouldn't, of course, merlot.
The Friends of the Earth idea was by Young FOE, a university student's idea to get more funds for FOE. What's wrong with encouraging young people to think about where their food comes from, and the problems of eating too much meat, and overfishing.

While those young people are thinking about where their food comes from they might spare a thought for farmers and butchers.

We will always need farmers merlot. Food has to be farmed whether it is animal or vegetable. As for butchers - sorry but I would like to see far less need for them in the future, not more which seems to be the case the way things are going.

nightowl I'll re-phrase my post....They might spare a thought for beef, sheep and pig famers. Arable farming is entirely different. You can't just lump it all together. If stock farmers go out of business they can't always convert their land to arable as it might not be suitable. There are different skills, machinery and equipment involved.

They won't go out of business just like that though will they merlot? Even if people were to cut their consumption of meat - which I don't think will happen - it would be a very gradual process. I don't think young friends of the earth are expecting to have that much of an impact.

What matters, surely, is that all people think about where their food comes from, merlot. I am vegetarian because I studied food and nutrition and discovered that eating meat is not necessary. With the amount of information online about food and nutrition, it is possible for anyone with a computer to find out the facts about food and decide for themselves whether they wish to cook and eat dead animals.

Well I certainly wouldn't want to cook and eat a live animal.

I am afraid Durhamjen your last remark illustrates what I and other posters on this thread do not like, which is the way many vegetarians claim the moral high ground for their dietary preferences. Nobody is attacking vegetarians, it is a perfectly acceptable and justifiable way of eating and provides a balanced diet but it does not make its adherents more moral and worthy than people with different eating patterns.

Young people can learn about the problems that the factory farming of meat as well as overfishing are having on world resources without necessarily becoming vegetarian. Most vegetarians eat dairy products. Is it any worse to eat meat than to eat dairy products from animals fed soya grown in North and South America? Perhaps the only defensible argument against animals (dead or alive) and their products is to become vegan.

Many of the non-vegetarians on this thread have made it clear that the meat they eat is bought with care. I only buy and eat organically reared meat, which is NOT fed on imported soya but is either entirely grass fed or fed on animal feeds grown on the farm that rears them.

Perhaps it is more moral to eat less meat and dairy products but make sure it is fed in an environmental sustainable way and reared to high ethical standards, than not to eat meat but happily eat dairy products that come from intensively reared animals.

I don't know any vegetarians who happily eat dairy products from intensively reared animals Flickety. It is part and parcel of being a vegetarian that one becomes acutely aware of the inconsistency of not eating meat but consuming products that are part of the meat industry, or those that involve animal suffering. It becomes a natural progression to either become vegan, or at least to reduce the amount of dairy products in one's diet and to choose where they come from very carefully.

This does not need to become a debate about 'my diet is more moral than yours', but could be a debate about how we can all reduce our impact on the earth's resources, lead a compassionate lifestyle, and decide where to draw our own individual line on these issues.

Sorry to have missed the discussion earlier but it does seem to have changed from the gentle difference of opinion and become Lists of complaints. I have never told a vegetarian what to eat and I wish they would treat me with the same respect. Yes I do seriously worry about the effect their opinions will have upon my life (see previous posts) but as to what they eat it is entirely up to them.

I am sick to death of receiving messages on FB telling me how cruel I am because I eat meat. I would not be so discourteous as to send out similar meat eating information. Just out of interest what do you do with a pig other than eat it? I understand they can be housetrained but I seriously don't fancy cuddling up to a pig.

Last weekend we had vegetarian visitors and despite the wishes of my OH I made them a tasty veggie dish. Why, if we visit them do they not treat us with the same courtesy?

Well that's got it out of my system, been bottling it up for years.

My goodness, we vegetarians are not at all popular are we?

How dare you not eat meat Nightowl

Well, Flickety, I have read the whole thread again, and the only other person on here who has said she eats less meat but better quality is merlot.
So sorry, not everyone on this thread has said that the meat they buy is chosen with care.
There is also nothing on the post you attack which takes the moral high ground. All I said is that people can find out about food on their computers and decide for themselves.
Why do you feel the need to be so defensive?

Durham I'll nail my colours to the mast too. I eat very little meat and that has to be free range, organic only. I do eat fish. But I am more than happy to eat vegetarian and to cater for vegetarians and vegans.

Thanks, Aka. I must admit I would not be happy to give meat eaters meat, but there is no reason why meat eaters cannot have meatfree meals for a few meals. In fact many of you on here say that that's what you do.
I ran a vegetarian cafe for 5 years and a vegetarian B&B for ten years, and most people were quite happy to eat and pay for what I provided.
I know that there are some vegetarians and vegans who will cook meat for other people. I am not one of them because I believe that buying meat is a problem for the environment. After 35 years I know to only explain my beliefs in full to those who want to hear.
By the way, I only eat organic fruit and veg, and try to avoid dairy.

Haven't noticed anyone criticising the meatfree recipes put up by HQ.

Like Granjura and Flickety, we eat small quantities of high-quality local meat, organic wherever possible. We are surrounded by tiny dairy farms, where farmers grow all the feed for their cattle. The pastureland is incredibly rich and the milk is collected and processed locally.
We have fish twice a week (being careful not to eat fish that are under threat) and a couple of meals without meat or fish. Most importantly, I think, we grow most of our own veg and a lot of our own fruit.
I would like to see campaigns to encourage more people to grow their own. My memory is that every small suburban garden used to have a veggie patch and allotments were very popular. I just don't see that so much now in the UK. When I worked in an inner city local authority we had a project to get schools and communities using the local allotments, which were lying empty and in danger of being taken for development. The skills were still there with grandparents, but disappearing fast.
I don't have any problem at all with anyone being vegetarian, but I do object to being lectured about meat-eating (not accusing anyone on here of that) when we work very hard to eat locally grown food. Surely encouraging people to grow some of their own food (however limited the possibilities) is more useful than a month without meat.

I like meat, especially lamb and duck. I think duck is my favourite. Have it maybe twice or thrice a year, carefully sourced, naturally.
All that stuff about meat-eating damaging the planet is alarmist bullshit.

Shopping later. I think I'll buy some duck meat. Thanks for the reminder, MeatFreeMay, whoever you are, and welcome to gransnet.

Not bullshit bags it's cow wind that does the damage.

As a vegetarian I do not get up tight about those who eat meat but I would hope its raised to good welfare standards. I was having lunch in a farm shop restaurant last week and when I went for a wander around the shop and found the smell of the meat horrible.
I also nose tested some defrosted soup DD could not remember if she had made it with chicken stock or not, the chicken stock smell was obvious to me.

You should really be careful with meat fish etc in barbecues, not only is it a frequent source of food poisoning when not properly stored and cooked, eating lots of chargrilled meat, is not good for you.
There are some very unpleasant chemicals released during the process. Cooking the fats at high temperature create some dangerous proteins that are known to increase the likelihood of intestinal cancers .

www.huffingtonpost.com/nalini-chilkov/grilling-health_b_1796567.html

It doesn't bother me what anyone chooses to eat, but I gave up eating meat over ten years ago, feel way better for it, and don't miss it one bit. I do eat fish sometimes, but I resent being considered a freak for not eating meat.