How hard do you find it, being a vegetarian?

VfM4meplse

Justamum wrote: »

I've just been tucking into one of those. The most delicious chocolate in the world.

I really didn't need to read this. Going through a crazy give-me-sugar-or-I'll-rip-your-head-clean-off-your-shoulders spell atm.

:eek:

NewShadow

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

A very recent incident was one where I was with friends and they fancied buying themselves some fish and chips in a "chippie". I didnt think twice about ordering myself a portion of chips to eat for a little snack to accompany them. It was just as well the person behind the counter asked if I was vegetarian - because I had automatically assumed the chips would be cooked in oil (as they are in my part of the country - ie Southern England). They then said that the chips were fried in lard. So I had to sit there hungry - whilst my friends had their food - as it wasnt possible for me to have the chips.

Even if they're cooked in oil, it's incredibly unlikely the chips and fish/sausage etc are cooked in separate fryers, so you wouldn't be able to avoid at least some 'contamination'.

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I really didn't need to read this. Going through a crazy give-me-sugar-or-I'll-rip-your-head-clean-off-your-shoulders spell atm.

:eek:

If it helps, they're absolutely awful and vile... I'll have yours to save you from it :rotfl:

Ben84

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

This is what happens when someone puts lifestyle restrictions on those who do not wish to have them imposed on them.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/671147/Vegan-football-team-Greggs-meat-pizza-Conference-Premier-League-Forest-Green-Rovers

Between this and your other couple of posts I saw in the thread, you seem to have an axe to grind. Maybe you have had a bad time with some specific vegetarians or vegans. To be fair, on a couple of occasions so have I. There have been the gross-out type at a few dinners I've been to telling everyone gruesome details about meat that they didn't ask to know. Most however are reasonable and fine. Nor is bad behaviour a vegetarian or vegan exclusive. Some meat eaters behave badly too. I've heard a good few stories of vegetarians or vegans having dinner somewhere only to be smugly told by the host that there was meat something or another in the dish, usually with the addition "you liked it!", or being told something that's actually meat is fake meat for the host's convenience. You just had meat reveals were my ex's mother's favourite trick. She seemed to think it proved something because I'd enjoyed it. That's not the point however, and to be frank I was just being polite, I didn't like the food that much anyway. I'm convinced there had been a small, localised earthquake in her kitchen every time she put salt in anything. You couldn't really taste much else. She even put salt in cakes! Anyway, behaving badly seems to be a thing that affects a small group of the population, and so far the ones I've met have represented pretty much all opinions and beliefs.

JCS1

Maat wrote: »

I'm sorry to break it to you but I'm afraid both milk products and eggs involve killing. In the dairy industry the cows live to only a quarter or third of their natural lifespans before they're worn out with constant pregnancies, birthing and milking. They're killed usually at around seven years of age. Their calves suffer too. In order for us to steal their mothers' milk the calves have to be disposed of. This is done by taking them from their loving mothers at a day or two old and either exporting them to be killed for veal at a few weeks old, or if they're lucky they're killed straight away.

With eggs, too, no matter the way in which the hens are kept (and free range isn't the cruelty-free option most people think it is), means that the male chicks are killed at a day old. They're either thrown into a bin to suffocate or die of starvation, or they're thrown alive into a mincer.

It took me far too long to go from vegetarian to vegan as the information on the dairy and egg industries wasn't so easily accessible then. Once I did know I couldn't justify my choices any longer. I'm not saying that you should go vegan, simply that you have the right to be aware of what goes on.

Not all farms are like that, ours certainly isn't.

NewShadow

JCS1 wrote: »

Not all farms are like that, ours certainly isn't.

I was actually wondering if we were the only one's that kept chickens - no need for a chicken to be fertilised to produce eggs, therefore no reason to 'dispose' of any cockerels.

I can't say matilda or henrietta seemed particularly miserable when they were jumping up on the table to steal the food off our forks when we ate outside in summer, or when they were mercilessly bullying my dog into giving them first access to his biscuits... more opinionated than cats!

JCS1

NewShadow wrote: »

I was actually wondering if we were the only one's that kept chickens - no need for a chicken to be fertilised to produce eggs, therefore no reason to 'dispose' of any cockerels.

I can't say matilda or henrietta seemed particularly miserable when they were jumping up on the table to steal the food off our forks when we ate outside in summer, or when they were mercilessly bullying my dog into giving them first access to his biscuits... more opinionated than cats!

Our chickens just wander around the fields all day and annoy the cats :-)

We do have cows and sheep - our eldest cow is 19 years old and when she sees me she comes over, knowing she'll get some treats to eat from my hand.

I do admit to not eating lamb though, as have bottle fed too many over the years (it's always the sheep with very little milk who has twins).

[Deleted User]

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

So I had to sit there hungry - whilst my friends had their food - as it wasn't possible for me to have the chips.

You could have had a Cheese & Onion pie.

NewShadow

JCS1 wrote: »

Our chickens just wander around the fields all day and annoy the cats :-)

We do have cows and sheep - our eldest cow is 19 years old and when she sees me she comes over, knowing she'll get some treats to eat from my hand.

I do admit to not eating lamb though, as have bottle fed too many over the years (it's always the sheep with very little milk who has twins).

We had a rule of never eating anything we'd named/raised

I did really get sick of our neighbours goats though - milk, cheese, meat... it all tastes of goat!

moneyistooshorttomention

Ben84 wrote: »

. Some meat eaters behave badly too. I've heard a good few stories of vegetarians or vegans having dinner somewhere only to be smugly told by the host that there was meat something or another in the dish, usually with the addition "you liked it!", or being told something that's actually meat is fake meat for the host's convenience.

I think that's awful behaviour:eek:

Thankfully - I've never been on the receiving end of such bad behaviour. If I was then I wouldnt be sure which reason rated highest on the list as to why I would literally get up and walk out on the spot - I'd have a whole list of reasons why I no longer wanted to know them in my head (the fact they were selfish, a liar, lazy, ignorant). I would work out the details as to which was the top of my list of reasons for not bothering with them any longer five minutes after I'd already got up from the table and was the other side of their front door.

Perhaps the reason for that is that, in my home area, it is very much the way of thinking to "not go there again" if individual needs/wishes arent catered for appropriately? and we do tend to "walk" (if sometimes after the event)....

moneyistooshorttomention

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

You could have had a Cheese & Onion pie.

The thought never occurred to me - and doubt they would have had them anyway (that's before we got into "What's the pastry made of?").

Anyway - I was making a point to the chippie "Cook everything in oil - or lose custom".