/// /// /// /// Please share your experiences (animal life & acceptance of your lifestyle), opinions you have and reasons for being a Vegetarian here with us. /// /// /// /// /// /// /// /// Here is what I think: I am a vegetarian since 2 and a half year now. I have some reasons but the most important is surely the respect for the existence of life. First i have to say that i don't condemn meat eater. But only as long as they respect animal life for being their food deliverer. that means as long as someone informs himself about the origin of the meat and the way the animal was raised, kept and slaughtered i'm fine with that. i myself are raised in a little rural town in the country in North Germany where a lot of agriculture and stock farming is settled. Also my fathers former job was propagation technician and controller for milk and milk-production. I often went to work with him when i was younger and by that i saw how this business is run. Most farms and stables for cows and other cattle were quite little, biological and family-run. There were a lot of respect for the animals health and life. Also the father of a good friend of mine is a cattle- & meat dealer for organic meat. I also unpreparedly helped to kill a sheep at the age of 12 but in a very clean and peaceful way. And this sheep was slaughtered for their own nutrition. i ate meat in that time. But than years later i started to meat people that are vegetarians and i began to inform myself about their seemingly ridiculous reasons since i never saw the other side. But the more i researched about the big meat industry the more i got disgusted which reached its absolute peak when i saw the movie "Earthlings" by Shaun Monson and with Joachim Phoenix. ( http://www.earthlings.com ) which was the absolute point of inflection. i struggled with myself earlier after having read some book and websites and than i started to reduce my meat consumption and only bought organic biological meat. But in the time i saw that movie and read some more books and websites and saw other documentaries i started to abandon meat completely. Still i thing there are some acceptable ways to raise and "use" animals for the human nutrition but the huge capitalistic cattle industry (especially for pigs and chicken) in many cases is to be seen as a big criminal act against life. Not only for meat but for medical tests, entertainment, fashion and fur. Only because animals can't defend themselves and it is cheap they are totally exploited and finally killed by the "progressive" mankind who obviously declare themselves as the top of life on earth. and the worst thing is they let it look like everything is just fine. no one shows how animals are raised/bred and slaughtered in a TV commercial for meat or medical products. they don't even show the animal which the product is coming from. Because they would find it consumer and disturbing. no capitalists wants that. but if there is new organic fruit yoghurt that should be sold they show everything from the fruit in it (the garden and the happy farmer) and also the happy cows on a green meadow full with flowers. that this is not the way it is should be clear to everyone but the dazzlement is working. No one really wants to know where his meat is coming from and even as long as you don't have look the animal in the eye that is filled with fear before you kill it by electricity, a bullet or a blade, it is just fine. best thing is to know nothing and just close my eyes before the truth. Kinda like Orwells "1984". I personally thing they absolutely have to show a movie like "Earthlings" in schools to everybody. It is just the truth and the way it is done by thousands everyday everywhere on earth. Since i know all that i feel kinda disgusted every time i see someone eating meat from Kentucky fried Chicken or at a cheap snack stand. Also it is just a matter of fact that to much meat is simply unhealthy (cholesterol, fat, blood pressure) and nowadays there are so much alternative options and ways for your nutrition than letting animals suffer until they finally get butchered. The prejudices that vegetarians lack of important and essential nutrients is simply wrong as long as you take care about your nutrition (= eating enough protein). But this another aspect for meat eaters, who don't want to take care about what they eat. But today (at least here in Berlin/Germany) there is a change going on. There is no restaurant or supermarket anymore that don't offer vegetarian dishes and biological products. There are many restaurants, bistros and snack stands that only offer meat free products. There are even supermarkets and chemist stores who only offer products that are absolutely not related to animals. So i hope you all share your ideas and thoughts with us and that we can get into a nice conversation. /// /// /// /// /// /// /// ///
Kay, thank you jản . We I left Korea {military assignment} I spent a month at Grand Mum's in Sydney. {she is a devoted veggieasaurous}. I covered everything in curry sauce with raisins and by the end of the month I had gained over thirty pounds. In short, Curry sauce for the win. Reason: jản is a kind and wondrous soul. Plus I was invited...
Ohhhh!! Are you both veggies???? Thanks for the invite!!
Sure. At least I am.
What a nice surprise Since when are you???
I have been a veggie off and on when I was a little younger. Right now I am not, but I try to eat more vegetables - like your mother always told ya I do support peoples efforts to be vegetarians so they don't have to work so hard to find a meal unlike everyone else.
Well I'm not a vegetarian so I'm a bit unsure why I was invited but I do try to eat organic food as much as I can now both for my own health(mostly the reason) and also for sustainability and with meat organic tends to mean nontortured animals so.
// I invited people all over the forum that have posted in threads regarding vegetarianism and the members of the "Animal Lovers" social group, since i thought that would made sense. Updated my first post at the top. //
wow, what a long and touching story, jan My story is short: There must have been a day when I was 4 or 5, when I suddenly realised that animals = meat. That was teh day I didn't want to eat meat anymore. My parents respected this, because my mother has also been respectfull to nature and animals in the past, but never a veggie like me But is this group for vegetarians or for people who respect vegetarians??
/// It is for vegetarians in the first row who want to show how they think by showing it with the Social Group Badge and Title. But surly everyone can join here - that is why this is an open group. Everyone who wants to discuss this topic or is interested in the facts many don't see can join. ///
I suggest http://www.meetup.com/ to find other vegetarians.
Didn't realise this little group existed. Been a veggy for 40 years - central to my personal ethical stance.
