vegetarian

[Miyagi]

I'm not a vegetarian per se, but have eaten a vegetable diet on some days, and a meat and veg diet on others.

As an old school trained Chef, my response to "is there a vegetarian option?" used to be "Aye, there's a lawn out the back, we'll give you a plate and a pair of scissors".

Some of the veggie options these days are oustanding (even army rat packs) and have moved on since that horrible 70's nut roast abomination.

Oh, I discovered Quorn a few years ago (by mistake) and I absolutely love it.

Funnily enough, the dog I rescued at 7months (now 18 months) eats meat etc, but show him a little gem, or parsnip, carrot etc., and he wolfs them down. He goes bananas for a salad.

He's obviously a bloody metro dog, what has the world come to?

Liam

 

[maddave]

I'm not a vegetarian per se, but have eaten a vegetable diet on some days, and a meat and veg diet on others.

As an old school trained Chef, my response to "is there a vegetarian option?" used to be "Aye, there's a lawn out the back, we'll give you a plate and a pair of scissors".

Some of the veggie options these days are oustanding (even army rat packs) and have moved on since that horrible 70's nut roast abomination.

Oh, I discovered Quorn a few years ago (by mistake) and I absolutely love it.

Funnily enough, the dog I rescued at 7months (now 18 months) eats meat etc, but show him a little gem, or parsnip, carrot etc., and he wolfs them down. He goes bananas for a salad.

He's obviously a bloody metro dog, what has the world come to?

Liam

My dog also loves his veggies... Carrots are his fave but he'll hound you for your apple core

 

[Miyagi]

My dog also loves his veggies... Carrots are his fave but he'll hound you for your apple core

Hound you - boom tish/all the way around the drumkit for that one!!

Aye, how could I forget apple cores?

If I want a laugh at his expense, I chuck him an orange segment or piece of grapefruit.

He growls at it (tail going like a propeller), paws and whines at it, juggles it in his front teeth, spits it out (thfft thfft thfft) then starts again.

Reminds me of the ex wife...



Liam

 

[Toddy]

I ususally have the waiters coming back from the kitchen with a plaintive, "Can you eat this ??" and reading off the ingredients from the chef
I'm vegetarian, but I can't eat gluten or dairy.
I usually manage a baked potato or chips and a salad if I'm lucky (Pitlochry is very, very good to eat in. The chip shop does gluten free batter and the Indian restaurant makes the most beautiful salads )

Yet at home I eat a huge variety of foods that are never offered in restaurants.

I reckon vegetarians and vegans eat a wider range and variety of foods than the so called omnivores.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Lordyosch]

As said earlier, get yourself to the sea shore, apparently only 35 miles from anywhere in the UK..

I've heard this before so I checked it... Google Earth tells me my nearest coastline is 50 miles away from deepest Bradford!


On the matter of interesting (and possibly erroneous) facts I was told recently that 80% of animal species are edible and 80% of plant species aren't...


Jay

 

[Celt_Ginger]

Ok..... so Im a farmer and frankly Im disgusted that a thread about vegetarianism has decended into farmer bashing. why do the people who work so hard to deliver food to your table get berated at every opportunity?

Apparently we are guilty of global warming, animal cruelty, poisoning the land and water courses, stealing tax payers money.... do you really think were bad people????

Has it never occured to the poster who wrote that animals are kept in barbaric conditions that we actually care deepley about our animals, the rate of suicide among farmers during F+M culls went up tenfold, not because of buisness security, but because farmers were losing the animals that they had reared.

Animals in this country for the best part are kept in exceptionally high welfare standards and can be culled for meat with livestock rearers safe in the knowledge that they cared for that animal and now it is time for it to meet its end and purpose.

There are elements of my industry (dairy) which Im not proud of already mentioned in this thread, it saddens me. but it is unfortunatley economics which make the world go around something we must all take responsibility for. Tesco makes the choices of what hits your shelf and how much you should pay for it.

I respect your right to be a vegetarian, but dont tell me its wrong to eat meat, were not the only species on earth to eat meat.

On the environmental angle... ickyan... your stats are very flawed, has it not occured to you that you cant grow veg on the side of snowdon for example?? if we devide all of the agricultural land available between the population your left with 0.3ha/person, not sound too bad? well over half this is moor, cant grow veg, infact the eligble area for veg is tiny. and what about the huge demand for water that these crops have? is this environmentally friendly? or ethically sound?

Ruminants have the extrordinary ability to utilse a crop which grows in abundance in temperate climates which we cannot use, and turn it into something we can eat. so please dont label the cow as an environmental criminal.

And please dont think organincd dosent damage the environemt, that meerley passes the problem to someone else. but thats a story for another day.

sincerely,
MK

Ohh here we go. A blooming farmer having a moan.
Get a faster tractor!!! you muck savage.











Only kidding. I live in the Country and all my neighbours are farmers. Salt of the earth.I get eggs, pork, lamb and beef straight from my neighbours. i wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Alchemist]

I reckon vegetarians and vegans eat a wider range and variety of foods than the so called omnivores.

cheers,
Toddy

Firstly, I agree with that Toddy. As the family cook I find that the usual british meat and 2 makes for a really boring meal. You get 1 centre piece to the meal. When I cook vegetarian I get 3 or 4 interesting dishes that are packed with flavour. I think that we lve in a culture of people who don't know how to cook and don't understand the versatility and breadth of possibilities in veg.

Secondly, someone hinted that vegetarianism is not very bushy. I don't agree. Most people these days eat too much meat at the expense of animal welfare. This is a lack of respect for nature IMHO.

Thirdly. My Dad was a butcher, I love meat and I have no problems with hunting and eating meat. I do have problems with battery chickens though.

 

[Laurentius]

I've heard this before so I checked it... Google Earth tells me my nearest coastline is 50 miles away from deepest Bradford!


On the matter of interesting (and possibly erroneous) facts I was told recently that 80% of animal species are edible and 80% of plant species aren't...


Jay

I reckon it is about 130 miles to the coast in either direction from where I live, as for what is edible, well I suppose everything is, but whether it will do you any good or not is another matter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Lotito

 

[wattsy]

i've nothing against veggies but the only reason we're the dominant species on this planet, and have had the luxury of spending time on improving our situation on things like houses, the wheel and the internet is because we're adapted to eat plants and animals. most wild vegetable and plants have next to nothing with regards to calories, protein and fat which are all necessary to survival and all found in meat. i remember watching a program showing that you'd need 7 kilos of plants to survive a day in the boreal forest but only a kilo of meat. its also interesting to look at any primitive tribe and see how much they rely on hunting to survive not gathering plants. there are no primitve cultures as far as i know that subsist solely on plants. i think that the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles are 1st world luxuries afforded to us by comfortable lifestyles, and not having to rely on our ability to hunt to survive.
just my tuppence worth lol

 

[hermitical]

which is why it makes sense for us not to go the route of factory farming if we have the luxury of not having to (imo )

 

[coln18]

to get back to the original sort of theme...

if you where in a survival situation you would have to be very good to survive on plants in my opinion not only in identifying what you can eat but also maximising calories and in some conditions i imagine it to be nigh on impossible (desert, arctic come to mind) but even in lush areas you still have the problem of misidentifying a poisonous plant (yeah i know this is true to both vegetarians and omnivores) but one who eats meat can rely on taking fewer gambles and stick to a few plants he/she knows well and get the rest of what they need from game.

Fortunately we live in civilizations where we can choose how we cram our cakeholes :-D

You make some valid points, and i do agree that in a back to basics, no holds barred survival situation when the world has went t*ts up, then yes it would be very hard to survive on just veg.

However, having undertaken Ray Mears Journeyman course in which i learnt the above to be true, it is also a fact that on a course of 15 that not one person caught any meat or fish or game during the week and it was in fact plants that helped up survive for the time when we had to forage for or own food or go hungry.

My point is that it is all well and good saying that you couldnt survive just on veg and the dangers of being poisoned etc, but the reality is that modern man/women in a survival situation would survive more on plant than animal as most modern people wouldnt have a clue how to catch meat/ fish and how to process them and not kill themselves in the process, never mind the fact that they probably wouldnt have the tools and skills to do this. Anybody can pick a blackberry but could you catch a deer without a gun?

This is why i reckon modern man is an omnivour not because meat is better, its just that catching meat is that hard that eating plants is so much easier.


Col

 

[Miyagi]

I ususally have the waiters coming back from the kitchen with a plaintive, "Can you eat this ??" and reading off the ingredients from the chef
I'm vegetarian, but I can't eat gluten or dairy.
I usually manage a baked potato or chips and a salad if I'm lucky (Pitlochry is very, very good to eat in. The chip shop does gluten free batter and the Indian restaurant makes the most beautiful salads )

Yet at home I eat a huge variety of foods that are never offered in restaurants.

I reckon vegetarians and vegans eat a wider range and variety of foods than the so called omnivores.

cheers,
Toddy

I was the chef for the Dean of Faculty, of the united free church (the wee frees) HQ on the mound in Edinburgh, for about three years.

I had wheat free, gluten free, vegan, non pork, non beef, IBS, and dairy free diets to cater for - all in one sitting.

I studied Latin for years, but I now shiver uncontrollably when I hear homogenus!!!

Is it any wonder I packed it all in and joined up again?

Army food? like it or lump it... (if only)

 

[hog]

Has it never occured to the poster who wrote that animals are kept in barbaric conditions that we actually care deepley about our animals, the rate of suicide among farmers during F+M culls went up tenfold, not because of buisness security, but because farmers were losing the animals that they had reared.



MK[/QUOTE]

Not out of compassion for the animals but purely for loss of revenue.

 

[hog]

And yet another thread on this subject degenerates into the vege/ meat who is better and why you are missing out on these trace elements.....blah..blah...blah.

 

[Mikey P]

Health and nutrition is a favorate subject of mine and I'm still, after years and year, undecided on weather meat is essential for optimum health or detrimental to optimal health.

Meat is neither essential nor detrimental (providing red meat is eaten in moderation due to generally high saturated-fat content). So you can be either vegetarian or non-vegetarian and live a perfectly happy and healthy life. Alternatively, you can follow either path and still die riddled with cancer, obesity and coronary heart disease. Whilst diet is a very important part of overall health, lifestyle and genetics also have a big impact.

I am not a vegetarian for moral reasons and so would never 'bash' meat-eaters in the way many of them believe it is OK to do so against me (have a look at some of the previous threads about vegetarianism if you don't believe me). For me, it started as a health issue and is now pretty much a habit and lifestyle choice. However, I do believe that people should be aware of where their food comes from and how it is manufactured and processed, especially when aspects of welfare of other living creatures are involved. I don't think that's a controversial statement, even - in fact, especially - on this forum.

I am also happy to give and take non-malicious banter over my lifestyle choices but, before you start typing, I'd like to check on the Olympic and Ironman-distance Triathlon finishing times, road and cross-country running and cycling race participation, mountain marathon entry status, operational military service, academic qualifications and general health and fitness of any non-vegetarians who wish to suggest some form of 'physical or mental weakness' as a result of my diet.

Don't make me use fact and evidence-based science - I'm warning you!

 

[locum76]

Here's an interesting aside on the whole meat or veg debate and Britains ability to feed itself on the different types of diets and farming techniques.

http://transitionculture.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/CanBritain.pdf

Rob

 

[Toddy]

Mikey P, I fully agree

Rob, that's an interesting read
So, either chemical vegan or fully integrated smallholding organic and we could feed the nation

cheers,
Toddy

 

[A.Gronow]

Well bloody hell,
I joined BCUK a little apprehensively thinking I'd be the only one with a plant based diet on a bushcraft forum. How wrong was I!
Became vegetarian in 1993 but after many years of hypocrisy (there is much more cruelty to battery animals in the diary/egg industry than in animals reared for meat.) I became Vegan in 2007.
Before any farmer or smallholder jumps on me, I'm referring to caged birds and the like.

Lets face it most of the UK population have no idea how milk in produced.
If more people knew about the artificial insemination to induce lactation and the stresses put on the animal they'd think twice about the humble pint. Add to that the blood and pus that's included in the white stuff and the fact that the cow will end up as meat anyway, it's not a nice existence. Don't get me started on the veal industry.

I've often thought of what I'd do in a S-h-t-f survival scenario and to honest I just don't know. I need to greatly expand my edible plant knowledge for sure which I hope to do on this forum, but in a life or death situation I guess the options are stacked against me. It would probably be bye-bye rabbit, squirrel, rat, whatever I could find.
This is an interesting thread though.

Andrew.

 

[Celt_Ginger]

Milk is made from blood and pus????? LMAO.

 

[hermitical]

well afaik milk can definitely have pus (white blood cells) in it (from udder infection etc) what I don't know is if pasteurization removes it all

there are differing levels of acceptable numbers of body cells in milk dependent on country