[geeks] Vegetarianism... was Re: [rescue] Friggin huge list m embers!)

[David Cantrell]

On Mon, Oct 15, 2001 at 08:56:59AM -0700, Fogg, James wrote:

> You don't have to give up meat taste with the new generation of substitutes
> (Grillers Prime rock).

I have yet to find a non-meaty substitute that tastes like pretty nearly
any of the meats I enjoy.  Not that that should matter.  Why people try to
force veggie food into being a direct replacement for meat is beyond me.
It's different food, so prepare it differently and enjoy the different
tastes.

> If you knew how animals were raised, slaughtered and treated for market you
> wouldn't go near meat.

You assume that all meat is factory-farmed.  This is far from true.

> If you knew how much contamination (microbial) and pollution of meat occurs
> you wouldn't touch it.

Again, you assume that all meat is factory-farmed.  And in any case, there's
a quite frightening amount of pollution on fruit and veg too.  All those
revolting pesticides - again, those can be avoided if you buy organic veg
like I do.

> The only benefits of a diet that includes meat is a very concentrated source
> of protein and fats.

You forget the other benefit - it tastes great.  Veggie food can taste great
too, when done properly, but us omnivores get to eat from the best of both
food worlds :-)

> I just don't think we were meant to eat other mammals

We've got the teeth for it, and we've got the intestines for it.

>                                                       and Mad Cow disease
> (and human CJ variants) are a good example of why.

Those are nothing to do with choosing to eat meat or not, and everything
to do with stupid farmers cutting costs to please the supermarkets.  I
don't think anyone would knowingly eat diseased food, whether that diseased
food be animal or plant, and it appals me that farmers would think it
acceptable to feed diseased food to their animals.  Even worse, they fed
meat to animals which really are vegetarian, without considering that cows'
innards clearly aren't "designed" to cope.

Again, you can avoid the excesses of factory food by buying organic produce,
or by buying from suppliers who know the history of their product.  Rough
translation: avoid supermarkets whenever possible :-)

And there is some debate over whether BSE is transmissible to humans.  I
forget where the most recent research appeared claiming to debunk that
theory, but it was in one of the proper scientific journals (nature, BMJ,
Lancet or some such) and not just random tabloid drivel.

>                                                     When you eat animals
> who's DNA is so close to yours you are subject to their diseases. In fact,
> most new influenza are a product of cross breeding between avian and swine
> diseases that humans fall prey to.

Eh-hem.  Viruses cross-breeding?  I'm afraid that you are talking out of
your hat here.  Also note that influenza spreads mainly through the air,
so vegetarianism doesn't help.

>                                     Every 1 to 5 years we have a new flu
> strain.

Every year's flu is different from the previous year.  The influenza virus
just happens to mutate really quickly.  Nowt to do with diet.

-- 
David Cantrell | david at cantrell.org.uk | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed
 (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless
 series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary"  -- H. L. Mencken