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

I'd bet that there are plenty of perfectly normal looking people you've met who were veggies but just didn't announce it to the world...
I'm married with two kids, and all four of us are hale and hearty on a veggie diet. Nothing wrong with our iron levels, and as for being skinny- well lets just say I dont have any problems there either!!!

You see those teeth at the side of your incisors? Sharp and pointy, are they not? For other purposes I would say that the development of technology is a bad thing overall, but for these purposes I wil lsay that if we hadn't started catching rabbits and eating them we'd have had to have spent all our time trogging about eating fruit and nuts and would never have got anything done. Seeing as this means that we'd have stayed hairy and would probably still live in trees it is a very good thing, but I wish to argue against Mr. Prunesquallor. Eating meat doesn't kill us. It's a more efficient way of eating - get the cow to convert all the nasty planty stuff into something useful rather than trying to find plants that supply all 20 amino acids. If you don't want the cow to eat the grass and hay, eat it yourself and see how you fare. Doesn't work, does it?

The incisors are there to cut things but what about the canines? They're shorter than classicly carnivorous dentition tends to be but that's because we've got hands and don't have to use our mouths to prevent small, cute, fluffy, tasty things from getting away. If you think humans are vegetarian, try behaving like a cow. We're omnivorous. Cows are slow-moving and spend all their time eating. If other apes didn't eat the occasional beetle and larva they'd be a lot smaller and would still spend all their time eating. It's not as if plants don't use animal products in their life. Where would they be without saprophytic bacteria turning dead animals into ammonia in the soil for the root nodules of legumes? Tell that to a vegan and see if they choose to ignore it or not. I suppose they'd argue that if the animal had died naturally they didn't mind. The best argument for me is that when I eat meat, I hardly flatulate at all. When my veggie girlfriend (who's only veggie because she's got a genetic inability to get rid of cholesterol) feeds me some false mycoprotein, TVP or soya stuff, I fart like a man possessed for the next three days. Don't claim that this is because of all the flavouring put in to make the plant or fungal matter resemble meat because it isn't. Think biomass. Think pyramid diagrams. I accept the fact that plants were here before we were and that if they, algae, lichens and bacteria didn't oxygenate the planet for us we wouldn't be here but since the big monolith told us to hit animals over the head with a femur we've been eating meat. If we weren't meant to it wouldn't have worked.

I've been veggie for 11 years, my partner and child eat meat. Quite frankly, I don't care what anyone eats as long as they respect my eating habbits in the same way. It is a good balance of nutrients that make a healthy diet and both philosophies can provide that.

My reasons for being veggie have changed over the years. I've only sufferred from iron defficiency once in my life - just after I gave birth. This comes as no suprise when you consider that I'd lost a fair bit of blood and throughout my three day stayy in hospital was not once offered a meal high in iron (or any other nutrional benefits by the look of it).

I say EAT WHAT YOU WANT but get off my case too.

All of the eggs I eat are free range - they are almost all fertilised - I know this because if I put a bunch of them under a clucky hen the majority hatch into chicks - ergo they are fertilised & any that I eat are 'aborted chicken fetus' - ain't life on the farm grand.

;^)#

Regarding the notion that vegetarian restaurants should provide a meat dish. This is a common argument I have with my Father. He argues that when he comes to my house he has to eat vegetarian food therefore when I go to his house I should eat meat. There is a certain logic to this but what he (and others fail to understand) is that meat eaters do not exclusively eat meat - a large proportion of thier diet (probably more than they realise) is vegetarian. However, no aspect of my diet involves meat eating. It is therefore not a problem for a meat eater to eat vegetables in the same way as it is for a vegetarian to eat meat.

Personally, I have no problem with other people eating meat, even in close proximity, however a great number of vegetarians find the practice upsetting or offensive. I have yet to eat a meat eater who feels the same way about vegetarian food. A vegetarian restaurant cooking a meat dish would, by definition, cease to be a vegetarian restaurant - this is why no-one has ever found one. I know a number of cafes and restaurants where the food is predominantly vegetarain but also offer a small number of dishes. Commonly there is also a greater deal of variety in such places than in restaurants who offer vegetarians one token dish.

It's only fair and right that vegetarianism is among the most neglected topics in The Guide

Just a few points to add: I've been veggie for 8 years and as a life choice it does not worry me if my teeth have evolved to be carnivores or not. If the human race continues to evolve (assuming we still have and earth to evolve on - we could leave I guess, but that's getting off the point) then our teeth will change and adapt to meet our veggie diet. Then we'll see what teeth should be like. Also it is so true about the perceived novelty of a veggie to a group of meat eaters: "what do you have for Christmas Dinner?”, "what you need is a good steak" etc. I find this offensive; it just shows how most meat eaters are ignorant and intolerant. And token meat dishes in a vegetarian restaurant well that just about sums up the whole fascist attitude of the meat eater. Veggies choose to exclude animal from their diet and meat eaters don’t so why should we change the principle for you, there are plenty of places to eat dead animal and we don’t want them bleeding in our restaurant kitchens.

You were interested enough to click on it though!

One more little point...If I didn't eat meat because of my religion, no one would say a word about it. Because it is a personal choice that I have made, I'm automatically classed as a bit of a wierdo. While this is probably entirely true, it has nothing to do with what I eat!!

LOL - I think the definition of the vegetarian restaraunt wins that point.

;^)#

Regarding the shorter life-span for those who ate more meat...
I realize that exact records weren't kept, but I was always under the impression that peasants in the Middle Ages lived for a good five or ten years shorter than the upper crust. Peasants/Serfs usually couldn't afford meat, let alone a milk cow. Diet was mostly beans, beans, beans.
This is not to argue against vegetarianism (I'm a vegi-girl myself) but just to say that some of these facts don't all line up.

Did somebody earlier say something about people in the Middle Ages eating like 5 lbs of meat a day?? That's a bunch of bolshevik. Most people in the Middle Ages couldn't afford any meat for the life of them. Peasants ate gruel (something like oatmeal or grits) and sometimes bread. And peasants made up about 80% of the population (estimation - I don't know the real number but this sounded reasonable to me).

And in response to the word "fascist" in describing meat eaters: If you use one derogatory word to characterize all meat eaters, isn't that fascism, too? You ask for tolerance yet some people who ask for tolerance practice intolerance themselves. I hate the use of such overused buzz words because most people use them without regard to their meaning... they only say them to strike a blow at people.

I agree with that last comment.
Fascist is a word that gets over-used and therefore loses its value. Although you could draw parallels between herding jews into death camps and the killing of animals in abbatoirs, people have been eating meat for such a long time that it is seen as reasonable behaviour. I don't think genocide of your fellow human beings is quite the same.
Perhaps a better word to describe anti-vegetarian views by certain meat eaters could be 'utilitarian'. This would come out as an idea that because most people in the world eat meat, vegetarians are somehow wrong. Most thinking people, veggy or not, would consider it to be up to an individual's personal choice.
Most restaurants offer a veggy option now because it maximises their takings not because they care about vegetarians. In cases where a party booking is made, if one of the party is veggy and the restaurant can't offer that option, whoever is booking may look elsewhere. The knock on from this has benefited everyone, including meat eaters, as it lessens the number of establishments offering just one set meal and widens menu choice.

Very true.
I notice that this forum's currently made the front page.
Controversy counts.

;^)#

On my home page I have posted a receipe for "Succulant Cockroaches" just in case after the end of the world, or at least after Y2K, the only survivers are a few humans and a plentiful supply of cockroachs. A person has asked me "what will the vegetarians eat?". I believe cockroach eggs, a bit like cavier I imagine, would be a reasonable compromise. Anyone with a better solution out there?

One reason why there aren't many vegetarians in Norway (and other parts of Scandinavia) is the cost of vegetables. I've been to Sweden a couple of times (both in the winter) and the choice of vegetables was poor, and the price appallingly high. I don't think Norway, Sweden, etc., have much in the way of arable land, so all vegetables have to be imported. Hence the high cost/poor choice. I wouldn't be vegetarian over there either. (Mind you, I'm not vegetarian anyway!)

As you have to cope with different eating habits, maybe you can help me out.

When I was living at home with my parents, and even when I lived on my own, I ate a lot of vegetables. I'm not a vegetarian, but I do like veg (with the exception of pulses - yeugh!) My husband, on the other hand, is a carnivore; there are only about 4 kinds of veg that he will eat (excluding salad stuff). Richard could make a meal of nothing but meat, I can't. As a result my eating habits have changed.

I want to get back to my old style of eating - some meat with plenty of veg rather than some veg with plenty of meat. How do you cope with the different eating styles. And don't say 'Get your husband to cook his own meals', 'cos he won't.

Vegetarians seem to me to just be doing it for the sake of saying 'i'm a vegetarian'. It's a ticket to respect. Vegetarians seem to feel as if they have the right to something, as if they're hard done by, and everyone else is savage and murderous. They complain about the way they're made to look foolish, and then they go all righteous when a remark is made back.
I mean, i thought i was going veggie for a while, because i saw some chicken in the oven, and my brother said 'look, it's still breathing!' and i decided not to eat meat, but it was so dull, only eating vegetables. And i felt really guilty, making my parents go to all that trouble just because i didn't want to eat meat.

I suppose i respect the idea of vegetarianism, but it is the way it is so often used as a show of rebelliousness that pisses me off. Omnivores arte made to feel foolish. A friend of mine's veggie, and every time we're in mcDonalds, and me, joe and josh are eating McChicken's, and Alex is there nibbling his litle veggie burger, and glancing up at us every time we bite. It's annoying. I mean, if Everyone stopped eating cows, the cow population would rise tenfold, and there wouldn't be enough resources for alll the cows, and they's die out, until there were a few, and the grass flourished again, etc.

To some extent, though, it's understandable. I mean, i'm training to be a marine bioplogist because i want to maintain the balance in ecosystems, but i'm still going to eat fish, and i realise that the local fioshermen are a part of that ecosystem. I wouldn't eat a turtle, though, in the same way that i'm sure very few present would eat a human, or a cat.

Apes ate leaves, but humans advanced. That's what we are, evolutionarily speaking. I know itt sounds pretentious, but that's what evolution's about - every generation is an improvement on the next, so humans have evolved the ability to eat meat as well as vegetables. The carnivorous streakl has even become a part of our psyche (see lord of the flies) it's nothing to be disgusted by. Our adaptibility is what has allowed humand to spread as far throughout the globe as we have. Why is it being abused?