Eating meat...

Bekki659 · Post by **Bekki659** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:55 am

Yes, this dilemma is mine. It's literally tearing me apart from the inside; its that bad of a conflict to me.

Background:
I've been a vegetarian for a long time. Strict. Nothing with gelatin in it, nothing made with chicken broth or beef broth. That's very limiting.

Recently, I've gone through some pretty life changing events in the past year. One of them is meeting my boyfriend, who has been the first person to convince me that I actually have a good chance of getting married and having kids.
Now, I don't want to raise my kids as vegetarians for the following reasons:
1) I am Scotch-Irish. That's a big part of who I am, and it hardly allows for vegetarianism. I want my kids to experience meat pies, stew, ect.
2) I dont want them to feel like outsiders on my boyfriends side of the family. MY family is very liberal when it comes to cooking. Me and my mom make a point of it to eat food from all over the world, and experience many things... but his family is very traditional. They do a lot of fried chicken and fried stuff in general... they are the typical down home cookin, christian family.
2) I want my kids to experience fine meats. I want them to be able to eat my dad's amazing steaks, and I want to make them the recipes that my grandmother brought back from Panama when they moved to the states.

I personally miss the variety of things that you can do with meat. I used to make fantastic dishes with meat as the centerpiece.

The dilemma:

I don't know if I can do it. Well I KNOW I can do it, but not with a clear conscience. I don't so much have a problem with eating meat... I asked my boyfriend and his family (who I actually have incredible amounts of respect and adoration for) how the Bible dealt with the issue, and I find that comforting.

Its more the way that meat is made these days. I cannot STAND the way slaughter is carried out... it makes me cry to think about it, in addition that I already cry over the thought of eating meat again.

Where you guys come in:
How do justify eating meat? Do you have guilt? Is it different now than what the bible was talking about so many years ago simply because of the new-age mass slaughter process? Does it not matter?

I think... I might go to a local "cruelty free" farmer and buy some chicken. I dont think I would be able to eat beef with a clear conscience yet... what do you guys think of that choice?

I know that it is up to me in the end, but I feel like you guys always bring up such good points and are such an educated bunch of people... it would be nice to have some outside views.

C-Nub · Post by **C-Nub** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:35 am

Alright, I've spent a little time trying to formulate a counter-argument to the over-all devastating points that were brought up in defense of veganism and I can't really come up with anything concrete and convincing, so I'm going to have to admit defeat on this one.

I'll never turn vegan, but I guess I'll have to be more tolerant of them in the future, which irks me to no end. The only thing I dislike more than vegans are those damned, dirty Australians.

Beto · Post by **Beto** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:32 pm

C-Nub wrote:Alright, I've spent a little time trying to formulate a counter-argument to the over-all devastating points that were brought up in defense of veganism and I can't really come up with anything concrete and convincing, so I'm going to have to admit defeat on this one.

I'll never turn vegan, but I guess I'll have to be more tolerant of them in the future, which irks me to no end. The only thing I dislike more than vegans are those damned, dirty Australians.

I hope you never run into Kylie Minogue or Cate Blanchett.

aawhc · Post by **aawhc** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:45 pm

Andre, if you had a serious illness caused by your vegetarian diet, you were doing something wrong.

I have been a vegetarian for years and have not had any problems. I do not watch my protein intake at all, and I am just as healthy as anyone else.

Prove to me that carrots suffer, and I will completely reconsider my viewpoints.

JoeyKnothead · Post by **JoeyKnothead** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:10 am

Two words:
Chicken Fried Steak!

Jaysin · Post by **Jaysin** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:37 pm

I was raised on meat and potatoes growing up on a farm. We slaughtered our own cattle, pigs, and chickens. We were avid deer hunters and used every scrap of meat from all of the animals we killed.

I have never once felt "guilty" for eating meat. The notion is completely absurd to me. Do the same people feel "guilty" for eating plant life? No? Why not? They are living organisms that must die for your consumption as well.

The human digestive system is evolved to consume fats. Your body needs them. Eat your meat.

Homicidal_Cherry53 · Post by **Homicidal_Cherry53** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:46 pm

Jaysin wrote: I have never once felt "guilty" for eating meat. The notion is completely absurd to me. Do the same people feel "guilty" for eating plant life? No? Why not? They are living organisms that must die for your consumption as well.

While I by and large agree, I must point out that fruits, grains, and dairy do not kill the organism they come from.

I'm just being a bit ntipicky here though. I agree in that there really is nothing wrong with eating animals, and it is just a part of survival.

Jaysin · Post by **Jaysin** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:46 am

Homicidal_Cherry53 wrote:
Jaysin wrote: I have never once felt "guilty" for eating meat. The notion is completely absurd to me. Do the same people feel "guilty" for eating plant life? No? Why not? They are living organisms that must die for your consumption as well.
While I by and large agree, I must point out that fruits, grains, and dairy do not kill the organism they come from.

I'm just being a bit ntipicky here though. I agree in that there really is nothing wrong with eating animals, and it is just a part of survival.

True, eating sheep testicles doesn't kill the animal either. Even though that would be a gland or organ and not meat I guess.

Nilloc James · Post by **Nilloc James** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:20 pm

I don't have much sympathy for the things I eat.

Anyways many species have been bred by humans and would not survive on their own so we keep their species alive by breeding them to eat. Ironic eh?

Intrepidman · Post by **Intrepidman** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:33 pm

I hope this gives you some comfort about slaughterhouses:

Design...

In the latter half of the 20th century, the layout and design of most US slaughterhouses has been significantly influenced by the work of Dr. Temple Grandin.[7] It was her fascination with patterns and flow that first led her to redesign the layout of cattle holding pens.

Grandin's primary objective was to reduce the stress and suffering of animals being led to slaughter. In particular she applied an intuitive understanding of animal psychology to design pens and corrals which funnel a herd of animals arriving at a slaughterhouse into a single file ready for slaughter. Her corrals employ long sweeping curves so that each animal is prevented from seeing what lies ahead and just concentrates on the hind quarters of the animal in front of it. This design also attempts to override the animal's instinct to reverse direction.

Grandin now claims to have designed over 54% of the slaughterhouses in the United States as well as many other slaughterhouses around the world.

Beto · Post by **Beto** » Sun May 03, 2009 3:40 pm

Intrepidman wrote:I hope this gives you some comfort about slaughterhouses:

Design...

In the latter half of the 20th century, the layout and design of most US slaughterhouses has been significantly influenced by the work of Dr. Temple Grandin.[7] It was her fascination with patterns and flow that first led her to redesign the layout of cattle holding pens.

Grandin's primary objective was to reduce the stress and suffering of animals being led to slaughter. In particular she applied an intuitive understanding of animal psychology to design pens and corrals which funnel a herd of animals arriving at a slaughterhouse into a single file ready for slaughter. Her corrals employ long sweeping curves so that each animal is prevented from seeing what lies ahead and just concentrates on the hind quarters of the animal in front of it. This design also attempts to override the animal's instinct to reverse direction.

Grandin now claims to have designed over 54% of the slaughterhouses in the United States as well as many other slaughterhouses around the world.

I think the "stress" of the animal as it is led to slaughter is somewhat irrelevant given the end result... but that's just me. I tend to focus on the "killing" bit. Worrying that an animals suffers, but not worrying that it dies... I really don't know what to make of it. But like I stated earlier, I only feel empathetic towards mammals, so it's rather arbitrary on my part. Not something one can presume to impose on others... like so many other things often discussed on forums of this nature.