Hope i don't offend anyone, but i have been watching big brother (very sad, i know) and have noticed a few vegetarians and i was just thinking what is the point, a vegan yes i understand they will not eat any living creature. I myself am a meat eater, what i can't understand is vegetarians think it's o.k to eat chicken and fish but wrong to eat any other animals. Just wondered if anyone else had any thoughts on this subject!!!

A true vegetarian will eat no meat or fish or products containing such, eg sweets or yoghurts containing gelatine. A vegan will also eat no products containing milk or eggs also and tend to avoid leather and other by products. I would like to be a veggie but I'm not keen on veg so I still eat some fish - a cop out I know! :(

Hayley

Thankyou for pointing the real differences, should have looked them up in the dictionary in the first place. So really these people who say they are a veggie but eat fish and chicken really aren't!!!! No offence to yourself or anyone else. I was just think i have seen these people eating tuna on a few occasions.

My veggie niece says that to call yourself a vegetarian you must never eat anything that had a face....

Hmmm - what about ears? Corn or eyes? potatoes! :D
Lara x

I go by never eating anything with four legs, and only occasionally anything with two!

I've been a vegetarian for about 12 years and I will eat no animal products which of course includes no chicken or fish. Lots of people call themselves vegetarians but then say "oh, but I eat chicken now and then"!! They must think it's cool to call themselves vegetarians when in actual fact they're just avoiding the food they don't actually like. Nothing to do with concern for animals, which to commited veges like me is annoying! I'm not going to get started because I could do! Each to their own! :)

I am Vegetarian and DO NOT eat chicken or fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I get VERY annoyed when people claim to be Vegetarians and eat animals!!
I am not one of them however!
Vegetarians DO NOT eat anything meat/fish/poultry/red meat/white meat/meat based products/animal fat etc etc etc etc etc!!!!
:)

I would love to be vegetarian, but the fact of the matter is i love meat too much and have no will power. For some strange reason though i can't bring myself to eat lamb, i think it is because the name conjures up baby images in my head. I admire true vegetarians, but life must be a bit difficult for you, eating out and having little choice and the like.

But what about the vegetarians that wear leather shoes ????

I'm not sure what rumours you've heard but we don't eat leather! ;-)

Seriously though, it can be difficult to find decent non-leather shoes but it is possible. I think I had a website address of somewhere that sells veggie shoes, bags, etc.

I do have sympathy for people who find it difficult to get shoes in the right size but the ones that really annoy me are those who buy leather jackets or bags. There really is no excuse.

I can understand Vegans ..those who will touch or eat nothing that has anything to do with animals (so no leather , no dairy products etc etc) and I respect their views whilst not agreeing with them :) I also understand vegetarians who simply won't eat any meat ..again I respect their views too.

Like others though , how can a vegetarian choose to eat chicken and fish? I just don't understand the logic behind it , but I would love to know. So if there are any vegetarians on here who DO eat fish and chicken , please explain it to me ....I don't think anyone will jump on you or accuse you of anything (at least I hope not) , I would just love to understand :) I respect your right to choose what you eat , I am just bit baffled :)

Please NO jumping on anyone here ...a good discussion and an exchange of views can be enlightening

Melody :)

I used to share a house with someone who described themselves "macro-biotic" and they ate chicken, fish about twice a week and dairy products but never, never any red meat.
As soon as I was pregnant with my first baby I went completely off all meat /fish and couldn't bear the thought of it, I couldn't even go into the butchers to buy meat for my husband. I went 100% veggie, til I was about 8 months (Christmas) and ate the turkey to please my mum, and then went back to being a meat eater.

I have friends (Hindu) who are vegetarian and I have no problems with it or working out what they will/will not eat. However, my S-I-L is one of these 'sort-of' veggies :( She gave up eating lamb after Chernobyl, beef after the BSE thing, chicken because of salmonella etc etc. So when they come to stay, I cook veggie things specially for her - then she says that she would have eaten the roast chicken and doesn't mind roast potatoes cooked in animal fat She also eats fish, just not in restaurants :( Thanks for telling me after over 20 years.

Roll on proper veggies any day :D

Daisy

those idiots who say they are vegetarians when they eat any meat or fish are just deluding themselves.i am a lacto vegetarian ie i eat veggy cheese with no rennet and drink milk, hubby is a pescatarian (you can say that again!!!)ie he eats no meat but fish, and anyone who eats chicken, sausages etc and says they are veggy is an idiot.:)

Well said.
I too am veggie. No chicken or fish or even gravy (unless it's veggie gravy) for me too.
There is no such thing as a veggie who eats chicken or fish. A true vegetarian will eat nothing that contains any animal fats. So these people who say they are aren't. And it's got nothing to do with wearing leather either.
People are veggie and vegan for different reasons. Some just don't like meat others have allergies.
I personally won't buy anything made with leather apart from shoes. I have very odd feet and find getting shoes to fit difficult at the best of times. If they're man made then better still, but it doesn't matter to me if they are leather. At the end of the day you've got to be comfy.
I don't have any problems with people eating meat either, it's everyones own personal choice, what they do.

Why is it thought in some peoples heads that it's o.k to kill a little fish and eat it but dreadful to kill a cow and eat it, double standards i think!!! Can't understand the not eating dairy, you don't have to harm the animal to get the produce, but each to there own.

I suppose a lot of people think that fish don't feel pain.
I don't understand it either.

i hate my hubby eating fish but he only gave meat up when he met me so i will get there in the end.what i hate most are the pretentious student type veggies who do it as a phase, like the ones on big brother(

what i hate most are the pretentious student type veggies who do it as a phase, like the ones on big brother

Tolerance in all things ;) Everyone has to start anything they do ...a lot of lifelong philosophies begin as a phase ...most Students become aware of life outside their own small universes once they begin Uni

Melody :)

I didnt get to the top of the food chain just to become a bl***y vegetarian!!!
:D

:D :D

Save a cow......

Eat a vegetarian!

Sorry, just couldnt resist!
Now off to enjoy my fillet aberdeen angus steak, home reared on lush Devon grass. :)

Like i said earlier, it's up to each individual what they do.
People who mock others are just sad with nothing better to do.

VEGETARIANS DON'T EAT MEAT OR FISH
I'm vegetarian, don't eat anything that's had a face, nor gelatine or rennet. I don't find it inconvenient at all and never have a problem feeding my family of 6. What I do find difficult is people having a go at me about it , it's strange really and I can't work out why people feel the need to do it. After all I'm not asking them to give up meat and I'm very low key about being veggie. I've come to the conclusion that some meat eaters feel attacked by vegetarians, so maybe deep down they feel bad about eating meat.
Jane

that would be me then Snoopy! :D

Yep.

ok maybe hate was a strong word to use, but they are annoying when they feel like they have to say they'r e veggies cos all their mates are.i met tons when i was at uni, so i do know what i'm on about.honest.having said that i don't try and convert anyone or argue about being veggy anymore, i've been one for 30 years so don't think about it much really.it's up to everyone to do what they want in life, but back to the original issue, don't say you're a vegetarian if you eat any meat, fish etc, you're only fooling yourself!!!rant over:)

in fact i guess the dairy cows would be pretty damned uncomfy if never milked! Ouch... heavy udders
Lynz

I learnt over the weekend that vegans can't wear wool.

Helen

I used to be a vegetarian, it started at school, as we had a rural studies department and had to look after the animals, feed them etc, until one day we went in to find the pigs were no longer there and had gone off for slaughter. After that incident alot of the girls became vegetarians in the "proper" sense of the word. The next year we found out the cows were going off to be slaughtered and had been discussing this and had pleaded with the teacher not to send them. Next day at assembly we had to have a talk from the Headmaster as the cows had mysteriously disappeared overnight, apparently they had been let out free to roam, it turned out my friends had actually got into the school at night and opened the gate for them. There was no fairytale ending the cows were found about half a mile away grazing in a field. The headmaster thought it was the work of animal right activists, they never did find out who did it.

Jolene

What I want to know is ...where do schoolkids *think* beef , pork and lamb comes from if it comes as *such* a big shock when they have to look after animals and then the animals disappear?

:D

My kids *know* where food comes from ...and it isn't the supermarket ;)

Mine too - Zack, aged 3: "Did you kill the lamb yourself mummy?" :D :D

I was a vegetarian for 12 years - from the age of 8.
I've only recently started eating meat again, I can't really explain why, except around the time of the death of my grandmother, I really fancied the look of a McChicken Sandwich (god knows why :D) and I've eaten meat ever since....

While I was vegetarian though, I did not eat any sort of meat, whether it was white meat, red meat or fish. I did not eat anything else which included the parts of any animal either, thngs such as non-vegetarian cheese (a lot of cheese includes rennet, which comes from cow stomach - ewww ;)) and anything which includes gelatine such as jelly, certain sweets, a lot of youghurts and desserts, "I Cant Believe its not Butter" etc etc...

A lot of vegetarians who do not eat meat still eat normal cheese and products with gelatine included, but I dont see how they can call themselves vegetarian as these things include parts of animals. :(

I didn't go as far as not wearing leather though :)

I don't even try to query the reasons for veggie-ness as it just leads to point scoring debates such as "if you have your photo taken you are using gelatine in the development process, therefore not a true veggie" - eating food should be a social [and sometimes bacchanalian] event and as long as everyone eats up whatever their chosen food and doesn't complain, I don't care. Probably why I love watching my dog eat - he just gets on with it, like Homer Simpson.

I cook a lot for friends and the only time I have "a go" at any veggie or anyone else with a minority food requirement is if they force me to plan a dinner around them and then call at 4pm to cancel. I can just about tolerate complaints about sudden and multiple food allergies as long as they don't last more than 5 minutes and the person isn't otherwise an egomaniac.
c

Chole & Mel

Absolutely, theres nothing strange in our house about finding a deer carcass hanging in the garage, or seeing mummy mincing up "cow tummy"!! HE's got no strange ideas about where it comes from. Infact we took him to Longleat and he got to see live deer.

I tried being a veggie, whilst sharing with one, but got an enormous carving for pork chops and that was that:D

My best friend won't eat anything that still resembles the animal it came from.

Julia & Hooligans

Julia ....woman after my own heart there :D We don't go in for carcasses in the kitchen I have to be honest ....but honesty is always the best policy as far as kids are concerned ;)

Mel :)

PS ...any spare venison would find an excellent home here at my house :D :D :D

Mel

We only have carcasses casue my husband does "pest" control:)

I am just about to mince a load and turn it into sausages with orange. Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm. Local butcher provides proper skins.

Last time I used an icing bag to fill them and it ended up on the dogs, the walls, me anywhere but the skins!!!, this time I have a sausage stuffer - much easier:D

Scraps, dried slowly in the oven make wonderful low fat dog treats. It was the only food Taz would click and treat for.

Julia
:D :D

Julia ....it really isn't fair ...my mouth is drooling now at the thought of venison bangers :D :D

And "Bambi-burgers" are great!
:)

ROTFL

Have had ostrich burgers ...quite spicey ....I could use some bambi burgers for the Bar B Q tonight ...in honour of my babys (Conor) 10th Birthday ;)

lol @ JG

Aren't they just. Seasoned with Lemon juice, salt, pepper and just a hint of garlic or chilli.

Mmmmmm

:D

I tried to do it when I was younger, started when I was 12 after hand rearing some lambs for the farmer next door!!!

Couldnt do it though!!
Just love meat too much!!
Although veggie burgers are fantastic (proper ones not meat looking ones)

I just make sure I buy as animal friendly produce as I can
none of this tesco value stuff

I must admit to being an out-and -out carnivore - they that know things like this say it's something to do with your blood group - whether your dim distant ancestors were hunters ot gatherers. Wonder who thought this out :confused ?

Seriously, I'm worried about my grandaughters who are being reared by their Mum as veggies, and all it's doing to them is making them picky and rather slow-growing (maybe she should have reared puppies first!)

I've never had a sensible answer to my main question to veggies - what would you do with all the surplus male animals in the world (most of whom would fight to the death given half a chance). Maybe there's some multi-billionaire who has a rescue farm somewhere where they can be looked after until they die a death??

I'm off to my pheasant stir-fry this evening - yummy

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

:D

I don't actually agree with people raising their kids as veggies. It's funny but i just had this conversation with my sister in law yesterday. She was doing a cubs barbie and she was telling me about the kids who say that they would really like a burger but mummy wouldn't like it. I think thats really sad. I wouldn't dream of pushing my views about vegetarianism onto others, even my own children.
Also there would never be an argument as to what you would do with all the surplus animals, as you'll never get everyone becoming veggie.

I have a 25 year old daughter and for the first time she saw blood on meat she said it was dirty and would not longer eat it, after a while she cotton that burgers and sausages also had meat in and she stopped eating them, at the time we lived on a pig farm and I kept hens, she found eggs came for the rear end of chickens so she stopped eating them because they where also dirty. She is married with children she will still not eat animal products and examins all the listings on food, but she has never restricted her childrens diet, but if they have liver or steak or the such I have to go round and prepare it and put it in the dish as she cannot bring herself to touch it.My other children have not problem with meat, and her children love a big mac and chicken.

doubt there is much "meat" in a big mac britney! :(