Are you a vegetarian??

DoggerDan

By definition, any human who has ever nursed is not vegan.

Well, at least they weren't then.

Monique

This is not true, there have been many studies that have shown that a vegetarian diet meets our nutritional requirements. We've had this discussion before. Just examine the literature, the data is very clear.

Also, if you look at the literature it has been shown that a vegetarian diet has a protective effect on cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, GERD and diabetes. If you examine the literature that list can be made longer.

billiards

My parents raised me to be 'vegequarian' or 'pescaterian', or 'a vegetarian who eats fish'.

Once I spent a summer living on a Greek island, being a student I couldn't afford to eat fish, there really was only one option for me to eat at dinner times, a fairly bland pasta dish with red peppers and tomatoes. I was making a geological map of the island so spent long days trekking up goat paths in blazing midday heat. After a month of this my body was feeling a bit depleted, furthermore I was with a friend who seemed to think it was his duty to get me to eat meat, one night after an ouzo or two, I ate a chicken kebab for the first time. I liked it. I ate chicken for about two years, until one day I had some really bad chicken and I just stopped, I haven't eaten chicken since (about 3 years now). I think the variability in the quality of meat really puts me off it, not to mention the cruelty to animals (battery chickens anyone?), and the deleterious effects on the environment.

Jimmy Snyder

When I was a child, my mother prepared my meals. She ate meat and that means I ate meat. Now I'm married and my wife prepares my meals. She eats meat and that means I eat meat. If this leads me to an early death then don't embalm me, just lay my body out where the animals can get their revenge. Let them deal with the cholesterol.

PAllen

Monique, are you speaking of Vegan or Vegetarian? If Vegan, are you allowing B-12 supplementation?

PAllen

Since I voted, I'll clarify, since the categories are pretty course.

I avoid regular consumption red meat and quite a few other foods for health reasons, but eat anything at all on rare occasions.

Probably 50% of days end up being vegetarian (no animal tissue; not vegan). Most of rest just add fish, but eat chicken probably weekly.

I generally think of myself as semi-vegetarian by habit, but no hard prohibitions.

Monique

It's clear, I said vegetarian.

Be aware: the source of vitamin B12 in animals are microorganisms! What is wrong with including extra B12 in your diet if you have a good source for it? That source doesn't have to be meat or other animal products, the source can be bacterial as well. People call it a supplement because they have no clue what the biological source is! Take bacteria and have it ferment food: a source of vitamin B12. Our sterile society has taken out some of the natural sources of bacterial B12, tempeh used to have it. Now we're taking the bacteria and putting it back into our food.

Do you want to know where vitamin B12 in our diet comes from?
http://www.springerlink.com/content/abvdjbgkhmkmfjgu/

turbo

Readily. Though when I was a child, it was not all that odd around here. Lots of hunting, trapping, fishing, farming. When I'd go visit my cousin, my uncle got extra labor for free. My cousin and I had to feed all the cows, muck out the stalls, etc before we could go out and play.

arildno

As a girl, my grandmother had pangs of conscience because she loved ox's tongue.
The reason was that her malevolent big sister (9 years her senior) had convinced her that the tongue was ripped out of the ox while it still lived.

My granny felt really bad about herself for many years thereafter...

Gad

I rarely eat meat, I don't like it.

Reshma

If you are referring to me, then I never said that I am vegan. I am a vegetarian and I do consume dairy products. I don't eat any form of meat and eggs.

Evo

I was a vegetarian last night, I had rice for dinner and eggs for lunch.

PAllen

I'm particularly interested Monique's well informed view on something I've noticed.

I know of a number of cultures that are 100% vegetarian of different flavors (lacto, lacto-ovo, and of course fish variants if you want to throw that in). I am not aware of any culture that is vegan. Do you think this is related to B-12 or mostly accidental? I was thinking it was probably related to B-12, but Monique's info on fermentation as a source (and that so many cultures eat fermented products of many types) makes me wonder if it could just be historical accident.

KrisOhn

I do eat meat, but I am surrounded by a fair number of vegetarian people in my family so meat isn't always an option. If I had to choose between some of the vegetarian stuff I have eaten and meat, I would choose the vegetarian stuff, I like it better.

@Turbo, I wish I could have had that experience growing up, I hate this stuff coming out of a grocery store. For the last couple summers when I go home to live, my dad and I talk about getting maybe 10 chickens or so and slaughtering them (maybe getting someone else to clean them) over the course of the summer for meat, I really like the idea of having nice and fresh food. Even vegetables, I've grown up on a farm and we always had a garden at least 5 are large. From this garden we have a supply of fresh vegetables all year round by using a root cellar about 20' in the ground. When I move to my own place it's my dream to have my own garden and small source of meat (couple chickens, a pig and a cow if I'm crazy) for fresh food.

Helios

I don't eat anything green. Reagan said ketchup is a vegetable and that's good enough for me.

turbo

a couple of summers ago, my neighbor built a portable rolling coop and stocked with about a dozen broiler chickens so his granddaughters (maybe 4 and 5 at the time) could see how chickens are raised, and watch them get slaughtered, plucked and cut up for the freezer.

KingNothing

To be honest I don't understand the third option. To me that is not a vegetarian.