What are your reasons for following a vegetarian diet? Also, are there other food choices you make for ethical reasons? For me, it comes down to sustainability, health and economic reasons. Mass factory production of meat creates huge amounts of waste and uses huge amounts of resources. It simply is not sustainable. There are too damn many of us for us to eat the way most Americans do. Further, the meat that comes out of those factories is just dirty, and it's eventually going to make a lot of people very, very sick... epidemics of e. coli poisoning and the like. Also, the wholesale cruelty of factory farms is appalling. I don't have any ethical or moral problem with someone humanely raising a small number of animals for food, or hunting game, but it isn't something I think I could personally do. On the personal health and economic front, I just don't like the idea of putting artificial hormones and antibiotics into my or my children's bodies. And, the veggie foods I eat are much cheaper than eating a meat-based diet. I prefer a low-cash existence. Other ethical food choices I make: I buy few convenience foods. This is to cut down on cost, food additives and excessive packaging. I shop in independently and locally owned stores whenever possible. I buy organic when I can, especially when buying dairy products. I limit the amount of white sugar I eat, because of the destruction to the Everglades here in Florida that sugar processing causes. About half the coffee I drink is fair trade. I need to cut down on my consumption of the stuff to the point where I can afford 100% fair trade. I have a lot of friends who dumpster dive food, for economic and environmental reasons. While I've been the occasional beneficiary of their efforts, I rarely get to do it myself. There is an organic CSA farm not too far from where I live. Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to buy a share, but I never get around to it. My, that was long, lol... Anyway, please tell me a bit more about your choices and the reasons behind them.
Well, now that I live in the city, I have less choices about what I eat rather than more. I mean, there's organic food and health stores but they close too early for me to shop at them, and my mom usually buys most of our food from Aldi stores. Before I moved though, I had the benefit of being able to eat food raised by my family or neighbors. We used to own a fruit and vegetable stand and raise our own food, but now we have to pay for it. Now that I've moved I've become a lacto-vegetarian because I can't stand the thought of eating all of that meat that's been through the factory farms and is packaged and yuckyness. It's harder than hell to live in this city, wich doesn't even have a decent mass transit system to make up for it. I can't wait to get back to my little farm home. I suggest everyone lives somewhere where they have several acres to dedicated to producing food. Much easier in the long run
I first made the decison to stop eating meat when I learned about factory farms and slaughter houses, which is something I always knew exsisted but I never gave it much thought before. Once I started researching it and learning about it I made the decison never to touch meat again. Than that gave way to me feeling as though I dont have the right to eat another living being (slaughter house or no slaughter house) being as long as there are compassionate alternatives, which there are. I just dont have the right to take another life, simply said......and I wouldnt want to either - I love animals. Once I started learning about vegetarianism I learned about all the other reasons for switching....enviormental, etc. So of course that has become part of my reasoning as well. I have never felt better inside than I do since Ive stopped eating meat and I wish it was somthing I had considered long before. By the way...you mentioned 'dumpster dive' for food.....what is that? I think I know but............?
health reasons opened my eyes. my heart and concious lats me know i'm making the right decision everyday.
for me it's animals. i just love animals! who would want to eat something that walked around and could feel itself dying?
Foraging in the dumpsters behind grocery stores, health food stores and bakeries. They find huge bags of day old bread, veggies that are slightly past their prime, packaged goods that are a day past the sell-by date, canned food with damaged labels... a dedicated diver who's grokked out some good sources, could, conceivably, feed themselves exclusively from dumpstered finds. There's a great site that touches on it here. The Portland IndyMedia also made a couple of tutorial videos on the subject.
Whatever floats your boat I guess For me it's impossible to pick out a single factor, I had been reading up on the issue for a while. But one evening I sat down to dinner (spare ribs) and wondered why the hell I was doing this. Couldn't think of a single good reason, so just stopped. That was eighteen months ago (as of tomorrow). It's hard to make ethical food choices, living at home with an apathetic omni family, but... We get free range eggs. I don't drink [dairy] milk, no hardship as I hate the stuff. That's kind of for heath reasons* Don't eat honey eithier, never really cared for it and someone has to champion the bees. Okay these aren't my food choices, but our rabbits get the best food on the market. That ordinary cheapy food is full of pointless junk, and they eat that rather than the healthy bits. *Ie I think about the dairy industy and feel like crap. Oh and something about allergies.
