h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...teetering on the brink of vegetarianism...

I like this article! You certainly thought of more reasons than I could think of.

You say that vegetarians can get a good source of protein from vegetables. Could you give some examples? It is just beans or are there other things a vegetarian can eat which have protein?

You get a complete protein in soy and quinoa (pronounced keenwa). You can also get it by combining two of the following: nuts, pulses, grains (eg wheat, rice, barley, etc). Simple. So one of the simplest nutritious meals is rice, dhal and vegetables. Cheap, too!

Thank you Fish for telling me about the protein in vegetables. Do you think debloich should include this information in the article? I do!

There is a mispelling - preperation should be preparation. I hope you don't mind me pointing it out.

Éowyn!

It's one of the functions of peer review to make recommendations and to point out typos and spelling errors. No offence should be taken.

". . . some take the direct route to culinary satisfaction and use their faces to eat" is fun but not meaningful; we all use our faces to eat. Is there any culture that sticks its face in its food? On the other hand there are plenty (in India for example) that favour eating with the fingers, and they deserve a mention. How about "some take the direct route to culinary satisfaction and use their fingers to eat"?

I would suggest that health reasons -- that meat is the source of a lot of current illness -- should go in as reason number one. George Bernard Shaw was a famous pioneering vegetarian over a hundred years ago, and he liked to point out to people who tried to persuade him that meat was nutritionally necessary, the mucular bulk and vigour of (vegetarian) bulls.

I agree with other posters who recommend sticking to "one does this because one [etc]" -- once you start with "one", there's no good synonym to use for variety.

Pleasantly written and un-preachy Entry; well done.

Thanks so much for all the feedback, I have added some things, taken some things out, but mostly just fixed spelling errors. Now that my first guide entry is behind me, i can move on to the next. All i need is a topic...

Don't go yet!

I really recommend you to change "if one stops consuming meat, that person may have trouble getting enough protein" as "that person" doesn't refer back well to "one"; only another "one" will do.

And Mad Cow is not the only health risk! Red meat contains lots of bad things, both natural and added. Some scientists regard it as close to tobacco in the severity of its health implications.

Nobody has mentioned Fish! One should eat at least two fish meals a week for the essential omega oils - or I suppose one could suppliment their diet by cod liver oil, calcium tablets and multivitamen pills.
Personally I'm an omnivore - my digestive system is arranged for intake of all types of protein and carbohydrate, and I like to take all the vitamens I need au natural.
Similarly I try and cook most things from the raw materials - except bread and poppadums.
Variety is the spice of life!
But everyone has a choice

...and I won't say what we did last night!
The biased Omnivore
Watermusic

Oooh, I wish I'd gotten here sooner!

I don't have a problem with vegetarianism, but I would want such an entry to address the following:

Flaws in 'Reasons'
1: All meat does not come from slaughterhouses. This argument completely ignores those who raise or hunt for their meat.
2: This appears to be about allocation of resources. Water is never lost, but only temporarily held by the wheat or the meat. It all ends up back in the environment.
And acreage is as likely to be allocated on the best-financial-rewards basis as it is on the pounds produced basis.
3: But if one likes the taste of meat, this implies they SHOULD eat it; probably not your aim.
4: No problem with this one; one's religion is one's religion.
5: It is probably not 'good volume' to be eating a bread diet. I don't see any mention about crucial amino acids that the body needs, that generally come from meat.
6: You may want to mention Ebola virus here as well.
7: Uhm, ... Bragging righs? What does this mean?

Hi there,

nice entry! I kind of expected a rant against non-vegetarians like me, but this is clearly balanced and should go into the Edited Guide.

Surely, there is always discussion about the reasons for being or not being a veggie, like the arguments FordsTowel delivered (BTW, I don't understand reason 7 either). But these are personal reasons ('I am a veggie because'), not a bill of indictment against meat-eaters in general. What I'm trying to say is that these are valid points, even if you have arguments against one or the other reason.

SchrEck Inc.

But if all they are is personal reasons, this shouldn't be in PR.

Well, what I was trying to say is that these reasons apply to the individual who is thinking about becoming a vegetarian. Not the author's personal reasons like 'I was sick the other day, switched to a vegetarian diet and now I'm better and you should consider it too.' True, this kind of argument has nothing to do in the EG.

Hi all.

I admit that it's a good subject for an entry, and it doesn't come off entirely as a rant; but it is obviously biased (see reason #7).

Still it's much like an entry suggesting one's favorite pub. You list all the reasons a reader might want to try it, understanding that readerss might not like aspects that attracted you. Either way, you perform a sort of service; one by attracting those who might like it, and another by repelling those who probably won't.

Personally - although I love grains and vegetables, fruits and nuts - the price of vegetarianism is too high for me. What would I use my barbecue sauce on?



PS: regarding earlier entries, some vegetarians consider fish (or any seafood) to be a meat.

> What would I use my barbecue sauce on?

Good point...

Most vegetarians I know consider that anything that has a face is unsuitable food

I haven't much time to comment, and most things have been covered so I'll just say that I'm like Mort. Actually, I like meat (especially a filet steak "cooked" bleu) but I don't eat it because of the unidentifiable bits in things like sausages and "chicken" nuggets.

can't wait to see this on the front page.

don't we have a smiley yet?

Well, there's always and .....

Hmmm, a Veggie Smiley?
What would that be like?

Could I get one wrapped in bacon, with cheese?

where's the smiley??

A veggie smiley could be like the Vegetarian Society logo - that's pretty cool.

and back to the article... er nothing else to say.
Get it on the front page!!

Um, I don't know that I'd agree that it's ready for the front page. There are quite a decent number of valid comments that have been made here in the thread, that still have yet to be addressed in the entry.

Hey all,
boy, I had no idea that this entry would spark such interesting ideas. If this entry really has a chance of making it onto the front page, or even into the edited guide, I think I'm gonna need some help polishing it up. Does anyone care to collaborate with me to help research and/or write in all these new points that have been brought up in this forum?
Thanks for the feedback
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