Ok we all moments when we want to grumble, so I am getting a few things off my chest, putting them to bed to be done away with.
Please dont be offended by my comments they are not aimed at any one in particular just general observations.
Vegetarians
I dont get this at all, making statements about not eating meat, cant stand the thought of an animal losing its life so they can eat, etc etc etc, then they go ahead and eat dairy products,
First up Cheese, no it there is no meat but a day old calf was taken from its mother and slaughtered to make the cheese, to make cheese the manufacturers need Rennet, rennet comes the the stomach lining of calves to enable them to digest the colostrum and milk, the only way to get Rennet is slaughter the calf,
no graphic images just facts link to the INFO
also for a cow to produce milk to make cheese butter, cream it has to produce a calf, those calves are taken away so the cows can be milked that is not so much a problem, female calves are brought on as future milkers, male calves are killed and thrown out, what a bloody waste of a life, just so we can have dairy products including chocolate, which vegetarians also consume.
no graphic images just facts on raising dairy animals INFO
Then its what is on your feet, this popped up on my news feed yesterday Contains Graphic Images Ugg Boots
This morning on the news it was the turn of the salad, those salads and prepared vegetables you buy in bags are bad for you, they contain Salmonella
And they added at the end of report washing it can make it worse.
This is only the tip of the ice berg, I hate the holier than vow attitude of some vegetarians, who in turn put down meat eaters.
At least I can dress and eat with a clear conscience.
Normal posts resume tomorrow. 👍
Absolutely with you on this. I find the 'holier than thou' attitude of vegetarians dreadful, especially when it comes to dairy related products, and I get fed up with having to justify why we do what we do. Again, well said.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with vegetarians or vegans - each to their own. However, I do object to the fact that some of them can be so offensive towards meat eaters...I'm not rude about your choices, so why should you be rude about mine? And I don't like the attitude of one or two I know who try to impose their food choices on others....their attitude being 'if I'm only eating vegetarian/vegan food, then so are you'!
ReplyDeleteI smiled at this and to a large extent I agree with you. But my son has been vegetarian since he was fourteen (he is now 58) for no other reason than he doesn't like meat. He wears leather shoes, he eats cheese (in moderation although he takes pride in making dishes for himself which do not contain cheese - he thinks it is the easy way out).
ReplyDeleteHe doesn;t eat fish either but once - many years ago when he was a social worker he had to take a client home because he was ill and the boy's mother cooked my son a huge fry-up breakfast of bacon, sausage and bread pudding etc. My son ate it - and enjoyed it rather than disappoint the mother.
So I do think that some vegetarians are not 'holier than thou'. I certainly know one.
As a country lad relocated to the town 45 years ago, my husband loves to read your blog. He would be in his element working as do for a sustainable life style. I buy and cook meat for my family but struggle to eat it myself because of the texture. This stems back to a father who made me eat whatever I was given or made to sit at the table trying even if the food was now cold. When people ask me if I'm vegetarian I say no-I choose not to eat beef, lamb or pork. I wear leather shoes, wool jumpers and would be very much slimmer if I ate less cheese and chocolate. You are quite right to say what you like on your blog-I look forward to reading it and if people don't like reading it then they should stop! Catriona
ReplyDeleteI'm with you but i never use peta as a source of information after the pack of lies they told about shearing sheep, they twist the truth to suit their own purpose.
ReplyDeleteAs for vegetarians I've been saying the same for years, go vegan or stop talking about it!
I agree with you. There's a holier than thou attitude with a lot of things - food, zero waste, frugality,fitness, simple living etc. It's a real turn off.
ReplyDeleteWell said, I eat meat, fish and fowl, I also eat vegetables. Some days I eat a Vegan diet by choice. I wear leather shoes and knit with wool.
ReplyDeleteEach to their own just keep it in house. I don't drink alcohol, by choice again, or smoke. Personally I think that chewing gum in public is pretty gross but do not preach about it. As to bagged salads, they are way past their best when they first hit the shelves and do not feature in my shopping. PS I haven't been on my soapbox for a while, perhaps I ought to dust it off.
John Seymour ashed the question what would happen to all the male animals if we didn't eat them?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, loving the new look to your blog.
ReplyDeleteI don't eat meat because I don't like the feeling when I get up from the table - nor the heaviness which I carry for hours and hours. With that said, I will eat chicken and fish - and LOVE my veggies :D
ReplyDeleteHmm... we eat mostly Vegan. I have no problem with an animal losing its life to end up on a plate as long as it isn't mistreated whilst it is alive. I'd have no problem eating any of the animals you rear but the stuff they call meat on the supermarket shelves is just misery and mistreatment, pumped full of antibiotics and wrapped up in plastic. Not for me, but each to their own
ReplyDeleteAgree Tricky wolf. I am a farmer's daughter and yet after 55 years of eating meat I just went off it. I ate less and less until I stopped altogether. The misery and mistreatment of the majority of our meat just would not leave my consciounce . The cheese I eat is vegetarian also, its more expensive but yeo valley dairy products are the most ethical I can find the calves are not slaughtered at birth they are reared for meat at least, sounds hypocritical just doing the best I can. My husband still eats meat and I prepare and cook it for him, my one wish is not to make all people vegetarians but to ask them to eat less of it so it could be reared in a decent way as it is the quantity required and the price kept low that causes the animals to suffer. I hope this doesn't come across as preaching just that we do need to remember for every slice or rasher an animal has died it deserves to have lived - Tam
DeleteI think you are generalising rather, not all vegetarians preach, some do not eat meat because they do not like it, the same as some people don't like sprouts or semolina, please do not lump us all together, there are so many different reasons. I also do not drink alcohol, smoke, gamble or watch television, but I don't expect others to follow or ever comment on their lifestyle. There are far more important things to get on your soapbox about, poverty, injustice, education or housing. Leave us veggies in peace please.
ReplyDeleteSecondly I didn't eat much meat for a while. I lived and worked in Honduars for 4 or 5 months. We used to call it Pollo Passion - Chicken Passion - as that is all we used to eat. Consequently when I came home my stomach found it hard to take any other kind of meat and I was veggie in the most part until I met Jon 5 years later. He soon knocked it out of me! I don't buy bagged salads because they seem to be past their best when still on the shelf. I am happy to eat a plate full of veggies but Jon is a real meat eater. I think it is each to there own really but vegetarians can be like that so I say let 'em get on with it and if they really bother you slap 'em in the mush with a big, juicy steak!
ReplyDeleteI tried being vegetarian last year and continued for about a year. However I was only kidding myself! I wear leather footwear, leather bags, still use dairy products, etc. I now eat meat again but try as funds permit to only buy free range poultry or organic meat and eat less of it.
ReplyDeleteI meant to add that I got quite obsessed with things - even attempted to avoid all products containing palm oil due to the effect of deforestation and the orangutans. Palm oil is in almost everything as you'll probably know! Impossible to avoid.
DeleteI didn't click on your link, but have seen how Ugg Boots are made before, quite shocking. We aren't vegetarians, but I also hate to think of any animal being mistreated, though if we didn't eat them we wouldn't breed them, nature and the food chain is harsh I'm afraid xx
ReplyDeleteLoving the new heard to the blog. I'm with you all the way on this. But I do think we do eat too much meat these days compared to my childhood. A chicken is more than a pair of breasts!
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting books I've read is The Vegetarian Mythe by Lierre Keith. I read it when I was researching for the writing of Critter Tales. She is a former vegan who did a complete 180 when she decided to learn to grow her own food. She discovered that the only vegetarian natural fertilizers are all animal products. The only alternative is petroleum based products.
ReplyDeleteMost activist vegetarians are reacting to industrialized meat production and how cruel it is. I get that. What bothers me is when they try to lump homesteaders in the same group. We give our animals good lives and quick humane deaths. And I have to say that by being responsible for our own meat means that we actually eat less of it.
Meat eater here...but just to say you can buy cheese without rennet....of course the rest of the industry exists, but yeah, rennet less cheese is widely available.
ReplyDeleteI struggle to understand the issues of life taking. Whatever we eat, something is killed. Of course sentient being is often bandied about...vegan friends have decided honey is ok because bees are not sentient beings......but I'm pretty sure mussels and jelly fish wouldn't be in their book either... I also question any diet that relies on supplementation to make it nutritionally complete, or relies on chemical fertilisers to produce food. If we farmed no animals, we would have no natural fertiliser. If anyone actually looked into the man made fertiliser industry, the conventional crop growing industry, all non farming arguments would become invalid.
My partner and I recently talked on this and we wondered why vegans are so opposed to others meat consumption. Wouldn't it be better to eat as they choose, but fully support the fair and ethical meat production methods? I can never wrap my head around others who believe their own choices or beliefs should have ANY sway over the way another lives their lives. And yes, this goes beyond vegan/vegetarianism! Don't like doughnuts, don't eat them, but don't think for one minute your anti doughnut stance should be taken up by anyone else!
With the greatest of respect to your opinions may I point out that most male dairy calves are not thrown out and killed at birth but reared to maturity as beef animals. The calves are a valuable resource alone and as dairy farmers we have never done this nor any farmer I know of. I understand this has been the case in some situations but please do not make generalised assumptions . I hope I have not offended you but felt I must say something.I read your blog for the honest portrayal of your way of life and enjoy following you. Su
ReplyDeleteHi Su, I'm asking this as a respectful meat eater, so no other agenda. I assumed dairy animals were not used as meat animals as they don't make such good eating. I live in Australia, and from what I'm aware, the beef we consume is from beef cattle. Do they also then use the boy dairy cows as human food and sell it as eating beef?
DeleteI don't have this concern for myself as we buy meat direct from the farmer, but I'm keen to know exactly what is being sold, but also be aware of what I assumed was a death industry for boy dairy cows.