I submitted this article with a funnier headline.

What kind of sucks is that I've been a vegetarian all my life (wasn't really my decision - my parents brought me up that way) but now I can't eat meat without getting sick (or even broths). None of the right enzymes.

Guess I'll stick to my tofu...

retrofitme

I'm conviced vegans are brainwashed.

I had a vegan tell me once that that the average American consumes two cows every year. A beef carcas has about 600lbs of meat. (600*2)/365 = 3.29lbs/day of beef.

I smell propoganda.

Maybe they're just very small cows.

My point: Not everyone who asks a vegetarian why they don't eat meat is trying to start an argument or convert them into meat eaters.

Probably true, but there are a hell of a lot who use that question as an opener to try and find a chink in the armor, and use it to belittle the veg.

Course, this happens pretty much any time someone takes a stand on anything on Fark.

ipsiad: My vegan lasagna kicks my lasagna bolognese's ass a hundred times over.

Lasagna without Parmagiano Regianno isn't real lasagna, IMO.

I don't understand all the hate in this thread. Most vegans try to live a life that will, in their opinion, make the world a better place.

If someone gives a lot of money to charity or volunteers at a homeless shelter do you go around berating them about oppressing the poor with other aspects of their lifestyle?

Anyone who is strong in their beliefs and preachy about it is annoying, but that doesn't belittle what the silent majority are doing.

This particular group is just trying to raise awareness about a cause. They're not trying to steal your meat. Get a grip.

This is all retarded.

Men need protein. Men do not have a lifetime supply of eggs for their reproduction, they have to generate new cells by the billions on a weekly basis That requires protein and lots of it.

Find me a man who never eats any animal products, and I'll show you a man with practically zero sex drive.

Tatsuma:

Then you are a very boring cook.

www.candlecafe.com

Buy that book and tell me it's "simple beats". Just because you don't know lots of recipe without meat doesn't mean it's all "simple beats".

Looks like some great stuff. I think you missed the point of my post. I'm not saying all vegetarian meals are "simple," quite the opposite actually. What I meant by the drum analogy is that when I eliminate a whole food group (like say removing cymbals from drumkit), I become more creative in my cooking and come up with new things. What I meant by "simple" was "drawing from a narrower range of ingredients," which vegan cooking is - NOT minimalistic (although sometimes it is, like some of the dishes featured on the front page of the site you linked). Hell, I wish it were more simple, my vegetable stock has 18 ingredients in it.

My food is not boring :-P

And neither is my drumming.

Well, this just makes me think of this great billboard...

GuyCaballero: Lasagna without Parmagiano Regianno isn't real lasagna, IMO.

I prefer cheese on mine too, but that's the kind of thinking that stifles creativity. How about pulverized pistachios?

Tsukue: If memory serves, tofu was the ingredient in a recent Iron Chef episode (could be an old ep for all I know).

Tofu: Never lukewarm.

According to the UN, each american eats an average of 123 kg of meat per year

That's all?

Tatsuma: (and hey, makes you avoid prostate cancer...)

If I had a prostate, that'd be a good thing.

I tried fried chicken one time and it tasted an awful lot like tofu and I thought, "Meh... I'll stick with my tofu." I've been told though that chicken can be better than what I had. But I kind of equate them anyway. I mean people claim "it tastes like chicken" which means that chicken can be made to taste like anything and tofu can too!

MayoBoy: That's all?

Holy crap. I like how they still put the little slices of bread on each end.

Slightly off topic, but to all those claiming harassment of vegetarians/vegans, I ask: When was the last time meat advocates staged public protests, demonstrated in front of natural foods stores, or vandalized an organic farm? The point is, the majority of people have no moral qualms regarding how they get their food (either through ignorance, or indifference), just as long as it is safe. Getting in their face, or otherwise physically challenging them, is only going to anger them on a personal level, which can lead to personal confrontation.

The vast majority of us meat-eaters couldn't care less if you choose to forego animal products. Having said that, there are enough arrogant vegetarians/vegans everywhere that push a few of us over the edge.

Luckily, the most confrontational vegetarians I've encountered have been receptive of our views presented in respectful dialogue. However, if this ever happens to not be the case, I will pull no punches (metaphorically of course).

If you want to make your lifestyle more widespread, educate your friends. Help them to understand just what it is, and why you have chosen to live that way. If they decide to try it, than you've done your job, and at the same time help them to educate others. Sure, protesting will bring your cause to the public, but that same public is relatively uneducated, and as such, much more likely to fight back. Not to mention the fact that there are many people, like myself, who will never convert, no matter how long and hard you try.

I used to be a burger and steak guy, but went vegan. I eat much much healthier food now. Food and taste is incredibly important to me, and I haven't sacrificed that one bit. It just takes more knowledge and creativity to make certain foods vegan. Most people (myself previously included) think being vegan means taking the food you normally eat and then eliminating 90% of the variety. But I have found that I eat a much wider variety of food than I ever did before.

"I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."
-- Leonardo da Vinci

"If you visit the killing floor of a slaughterhouse, it will brand your soul for life."
-- Howard Lyman, former rancher

ipsiad:

I prefer cheese on mine too, but that's the kind of thinking that stifles creativity. How about pulverized pistachios?

The cosmopolitan gourmand in me is intrigued, but the traditional Italian in me just heard his ancestors wailing from beyond the grave.

Tatsuma: Well, be happy, since it also lowers the risk of breast cancer.

On a related note, if you eat too much tofu & other soy products and you're a girl, your monthly cycles get highly thrown off. Soy estrogen and all that.

It's funny when people say that tofu doesn't taste of anything. I don't think they've tried the right tofus. In Ithaca, NY, there's a tofu type that is just amazing stuff - really fresh and tasty. Some of the best I had - so good raw! Man, I miss the tofu there. The fresh stuff in chinese groceries also rocks my world!

My ancestors did not hunt, and claw, and scrape themselves to the top of th efood chain just so I can give back all that progress to a bunch of tofu eating waifs. They probably couldn't handle chewing through a hamburger, much less appreciate the millions of years of evolution that was required so we cna eat meat, not soybean paste.

Be my guest to kill a cow with your bare hands, bite through the hide with your teeth and devour the carcass raw. But please don't equate man's ability to eat squirrels or rats to some evolutionary ability to eat factory farmed meat three times a day.

when i first started this thread, I was tempted to subscribe to TF, just to ignore user956. I'm still tempted.

I can honestly say I've never tried to convert anyone to be Vegetarianism. It's like trying to convert someone to anything (religion included), if you don't make your own decision based on what's important to you, it's not gonna happen.

As far as the difference between them, my view is that Vegetarianism is a dietary restriction based on meat. Veganism is more of a lifestyle change to not use animal products. I will probably never be Vegan, until it becomes inconveniant not to be.

On a side note, I hate PETA and all the holier-than-thou crap it pushes. If you want to have fun with a PETA groupie, ask them about their adoption agency. Related info (pops) here here and here

Also, why aren't there more pictures of the girls? I'm stuck at work, and can't get there. Are they really that scary?

cbm5
Always nice to see a shout-out to Deadeye Dick.

"CBM" wouldn't be a reference to another New Orleans-based band, would it?

I just can't understand people not wanting to eat meat for 'moral' reasons.

I eat em all: Adult cows, baby cows, baby sheep, and pigs of any type!

Give me tortured chickens, abused fish, milk squeezed from the tits of a bovine! I don't care how they were treated before they ended up on my plate. Hey, we're humans...the animals are here to end up on our menus.

Speaking of animals, is there a more perfect animal than the pig? I mean, you can eat nearly the entire thing, and it's all so delicious.

Honestly, I feel no twinges of guilt when I take a bite of a nice piece of veal. Hell, you could march me through one of these baby cow torture facilities, and I'll point out which one I want for dinner that night.

In the words of MC Gusto: "I'll eat a pig's ass if they cook it right!"

/word

For those looking for real information, the NIH addresses the benefits of vegetarian diets.

See what the Mayo Clinic has to say.

Or the American Heart Association

GIS For "Obese Vegetarian":

Turned veggie a week ago

/Apart from Saturday morning when I'd eaten breakfast before I remembered
//Really did forget

Anyone else notice that the 'vixens' come from California, but it's an Australian web site reporting on them?

GuyCaballero:

The cosmopolitan gourmand in me is intrigued, but the traditional Italian in me just heard his ancestors wailing from beyond the grave.

Yes, they sometimes haunt me in my sleep. I tell them "Hey, come on: pinenuts, cannolis, pistachio gelato, etc., what's the problem here?" and they leave me alone for a while.

jeremyrainman
Meat isn't the only thing that contains protein. Nuts, beans, and soy bean products have a lot of protein WITHOUT saturated fat - which is why vegans/vegetarians consume a higher amount of those things to supplement their lack of meat in their diets.

Damn it, can we get back to the vegan ladies? geez.

Schraz,

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Reel Big Fish is partly or all vegetarian. I'm also pretty sure those song lyrics are meant to be sarcastic. Sort of like their "In the Pit" song, written from the perspective of an asshole nazi mosh-goer.

I have never heard a good explanation as to why it's ok to kill non-human adult mammals, but not ok to kill other humans, especially infants (who have less mental capacity than adult animals), or the severly mentally handicapped, or the elderly senile.

mcostas

I have never heard a good explanation as to why it's ok to kill non-human adult mammals, but not ok to kill other humans, especially infants (who have less mental capacity than adult animals), or the severly mentally handicapped, or the elderly senile.


Because the infants, severely mentally handicapped, and the elderly don't taste as good as the animals. . .

/2 bags of peanuts please

The brain did the evolving, along with the teeth, not to chew thru the hide to get at the tender meat, but to kill and slcie it up, and then fry it up. Man developed the ability to reason, and develop tools. It is not just the teeth, with several different types for eating all kinds of food, but the evolution fo the brain.

Perhaps it was the addition of veggies that allowed the brain to evolve? Now that the meat side seems to be dominating, it would explain the general intelligence of the largest meat-eating country in the world... :)

What's all the fuss about? They're just ________

animals
africans
women
chinese
japanese
jews
infidels
imperialists
communists
gays

Tatsuma

Have you ever heard of a vegetable called "Baha"? It's in the asian grocery store near my house and I have no clue what's it's for but it always sounds interesting to try.

Too bad for all the people who think tofu is tasteless and mushy! I've found I've actually gotten a liking for silken tofu if it's done right (szechuan tofu ... mmmm). But I grew up on extra firm tofu and I use that for just about everything.

One of my favorites is tofu "steaks" - large raw tofu chunks with no dressing or anything. Sooooo good and tasty!

I have dear friends that are vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, omnivore and any combination of the above. My view on the whole thing is: do what works for you. I tried going vegan for a year - I was careful to get complete protiens, and eat a balanced and fully nutritional diet. It was more difficult than doing the same with my usual meat and veg weight-lifter's type diet, but I made it go. The problem? I gained 40 pounds of fat. I continued to work out in the same way as before I went vegan. I counted calories, I lifted weights and did aerobic excercise 6 days a week, and I lost muscle mass and gained fat.

What does it prove? Only that a vegan/vegetarian diet doesn't work for me. Does that mean it won't work for anyone? No. But I also know that the protien-rich, almost non-existant simple carbs (I get the majority of my carbs in vegetation - complex is best for me) diet won't work for people that do well on a vegetarien diet. Everybody and every body is different.

I'd hit any of those broads I could, but I would never consider adopting their lifestyle. Though of course I could listen sympathetically to their teary-eyed diatribes about it.

Its all food.

That's why I am a militant omnivore. If you are not a part of the solution, you are part of a nutritious breakfast.