Claudya
Member
It actually IS a sacrifice, because I really used to love meat. Or fish. I will never taste salmon again. But if my pleasure is the reason other creatures have to die before their time I rather sacrifice that pleasure. Maybe "sacrifice" is a bad word choice here, it sounds like a big spiritual act... "relinquish" or "forego" might be better.Baggy, you asked the question and then reveal you've already made your mind up? Hmm ...
At any rate, vegetarians will tell you of the social sacrifice you're going to make, that people like me will look down on you, make fun of your diet, ridicule you for your choice, etc. I've known a lot of vegetarians and I've never done any such thing nor have I seen them subjected to that kind of treatment.
And I can tell you there ARE people that make fun of vegetarians. Not all meat eaters are like that and you can live a vegetarian life for months without being mocked, most people just accept that kind of diet nowadays, but the mockery happens. It happened to me three times *this week*.
My guess is those people that are okay with eating meat are relaxed about that topic and accept that someone else does not eat meat, and thus won't mock. But the mockers are the ones who's own conscience is secretly nagging them to reconsider their own meat consumption, but they chose to ignore it because their burgers are too tasty.
I won't lie: getting attention is nice, and when I "converted" to vegetarianism the mockery was a reward for me. Yes, it made me feel morally superior. (But it wasn't the motivation to become a veggie in the first place!) I was rather young then But I suppose many new vegetarians go through that weird kind of martyr joy, it's a phase on the way. And for me it's not like that any more. Today I only feel bad for causing additional effort if someone has to prepare a seperate dish for me, and being made fun of is just boring. I heard all of the veggie jokes before, they've grown old. So any psychological gratification I could gain from the mockery has ceased, and lo and behold - I'm still a veggie.It seems many of them chose the lifestyle actually hoping they would be subjected to such treatment so they could feel like martyrs.
Those that become vegetarians as a "lifestyle choice" will capitulate the next time they smell a barbeque. Those that keep going for years are *convinced* of it being their right way. So forgive us veggies if we step into that psychological trap of feeling superior. You will still be able to tell who of us is serious and who is just a life style veggie.
Nope, vegetarians that are at good health don't need food supplements, as long as they do occasionally eat eggs or dairy products.They often hype the healthy way they live as superior to a standard diet, but wind up taking a much higher dose of multivitamins because of the lack of meat in their diet. They also have to take protein supplements, or eat a lot of legumes and risky being gassy.
Even vegans can have a healthy and complete diet without supplements, but they have to plan and control it extremely well (and it's rather expensive).
On the other hand some meat eaters have to take supplements too.
That's great and I'm absolutely fine with people buying all their meat from a farm where they know they are treated well. I knew a guy that used to hunt ducks to eat them, that's pretty awesome, too.The most-often voiced argument for vegetarianism is concern for the animal population. I grew up on a farm. I care about animals, too. We were very careful to treat them well.
What I absolutely can't stand are people that don't care. You know, city people that can't tell a cow from a sparrow. They just want their meat as cheap as possible and have no idea what ordeal their tasty steak may have gone through. When pointed to animal cruelty on farms they respond like: "Well, as long as I don't have to watch it I don't care." That's just plain evil.