Soft,fuzzy cute things and why we eat them

[Earthgoddess]

Okay, I am being sarcastic here but I have decided vegetarian zealots annoy the living piss out of me...I was eating a shrimp salad sandwich in a bagel shop and a woman announced that she hated to sit next to anyone eating something with a face-meaning me, as I was the only nearby omnivore. Since I was in public and with a child I decided to keep my witty sayings to myself,i.e.
If we aren't supposed to eat animals why are they made of meat?
What if I stop eating cows and start eating vegetarians?
What if I limit my diet to animals that aren't in Disney movies?
Why do they make meat flavored soy products if meat is so evil?
but I digress...As a chef,I am aware of the inhumane treatment of animals in slaughterhouses,and the dangers of antibiotics and hormones in their flesh...I wish I could say I never eat anything with a face or a mother-except Dionysus,hehehe-but I really enjoy meat...I am a flesh eater and proud of it. I respect vegetarians and vegans, I have many friends who are vegan,but I can't purge meat from my diet...Many of these friends pointed out that my son would be considered veal by the aliens if we were invaded during the time I was breastfeeding-so no more Veal Oscar for me,and no more rare Grilled Lamb Chops.I have tried to live meat free,but am unable*hangs head in shame,then nibbles slice of rare roast beef.*

So the point of this whole post is to see how many vegetarians we have-how many carnivores-kinda Noah's Ark...And yes i do have entirely too much time on my hands,but so must you if you are reading this-
Please no Meat is Murder stuff-I agree it is food via death-but technically the only meat we could eat that is not from a kill or dismemberment would be our own placentas...bad birth assistant flashback on that one-No I did not eat mine, or anyone elses for that matter...but I do have recipes in one of my birthing books for it-garlic and rosemary if I remember correctly...

[Edited by Earthgoddess on 08-07-2000 at 08:10 PM]

 

[CreamyLady]

Well, I eat a largely vegetarian diet; partially this is for health reasons, and partially for economic reasons -- you've seen the price of meat, right?

However, I'm not a fanatic about it; when my sister is feeling generous, we have fish and chicken and -- gasp -- the occasional steak.

I don't suppose you were in a position to spill a drink on her? A pity.

 

[Jade]

WOAH!
Well, I hope I am not the only vegetarian here? (raises hand slightly... hoping not to get put down my earthgoddess.. who is obviously quite passionate about her position on this issue)....

I will add that, as a nutrition major I can talk quite endlessly on this topic however, I would for now just like to say that I eat out with omnivorous friends all the time, and I don't fuck with them unless they fuck with me first.
Also, when I dated people, I wouldn't kiss them if they had just eaten meat b/c I didn't want the taste in my mouth.

Anyhow,... if someone wants to rumble.. let the debate begin, I could really give a @#@$# right now.. I am seriously stressed.
Thanks!

 

[Earthgoddess]

No Creamy, unfortunately I was not-we do not eat a great deal of meat-more seafood than anything-but it would have been a nice twist. BTW Happy Lammas-hope your harvest was rich, and Blessed.

 

[CreamyLady]

No Creamy, unfortunately I was not-we do not eat a great deal of meat-more seafood than anything-but it would have been a nice twist. BTW Happy Lammas-hope your harvest was rich, and Blessed.

Happy Lammas to you, and I hope your own harvest was wonderful. I'm celebrating on Lunar Lammas myself. This year's harvest is a mixed bag; lots of weeds with the fruit.

My dad once upset a very large, cold drink on a male chauvinist pig at a football game. Cooled the pig down quite a bit.

It's a perfect solution . . . ;-)

 

[sallygirl]

I *love* your signature there, earthgoddess! rofl

I am most definitely a meat-eater. Just today, in fact, I attended my city's annual rib festival / cook-off and greatly enjoyed my half rack. yummmy

Of course I sympathize with the moral arguments of vegetarians. I love animals. Truly, I do. But eating meat is natural. Wild animals do it and always have. It's simply survival, and we happen to be at the top of the food chain. So then the argument becomes about our un-natural mass-killing methods. We should only eat what we kill with our own hands, like our Native ancestors once did. Obvious problems with that in today's world.

So since cow and chicken taste a whole lot better than my backyard squirrels, I'm afraid I'm going to continue to get my meat from the local super-market. Sorry!

 

[Svedish_Chef]

Jade babe... jump on IM for me?

I figure if you aren't willing to kill the cow, you shouldn't have steak. I like my meat and will continue to happily chow down on it. I have friends who are vegetarian... I dont mind eating at their place but at the same time we respect eachothers beliefs on why and how.


I hate the meat is murder people

And Jade you know you aren't one of them... simply beautiful.


Da chef

 

[Earthgoddess]

Oh Jade-no fighting-no put downs-stroking jade lightly

Hey Jade I am not looking to ridicule or put anyone down...I do respect vegetarians,and lived as a pesco-vegetarian for almost 5 years...I am currently following a variation of the Zone Diet-highly recommended by my doctor-and needed more protein, and less carbs-almost impossible with a diet high in legumes and grains...I have a minor in nutrition from culinary school so I am aware of the health risks of a diet high in Meat based(fatty)foods. In fact, I am more upset that she commented on my food at all-in a negative way,in front of my child...it seemed militant and unnecessary,we were eating at an omnivorous bagel place...if we had been eating in a vegetarian restaurant-something I do quite often-I would have felt differently, as I would have been offensive with my seafood choice for lunch...but I was eating meat quietly and peacefully-not flaunting it or being repugnant in any way-honest,I even chewed my carrots quietly-really...

 

[KillerMuffin]

Well Earthgoddess, now you know (vicariously) someone much more horrible than you, I've regressed to carnivorous a time or two, yes I know it's bad for me. I do lots of things thats bad for me. *grins evilly* take that anyway you like. My preference is beef. We put out the bucks for it. I occassionally take my 2 ounce servings raw. Yummmmmmy. Steak Tartare for moi. I love visiting my veggie lover friends cause I actually get good food for once. One did this thing with asparagus (which I virulently loathe) that makes me drool thinking about it. Broiled fresh stuff for 10 minutes in 500 degree oven tossed with a few tablespoons of olive oil, tarragon, rosemary, or thyme, or combination, and very lightly salted. I looked like a 3 year old with the asparagus version of chocolate cake when I was done. I need a carrot now.

 

[Earthgoddess]

mmmm Killermuffinmmmmm-try sliced carrots done that way and drizzled with honey, I mean the way you described the asparagus...Yes I too have been known to eat it raw-but no egg on it-blegh that is too gross-mmmm carpaccio is my preferred poison as far as raw beef goes-and oh man,Sushi rules-love the raw fish...tuna especially-yum!

 

[KillerMuffin]

oooOOOooOOOooOOooooooo now I'm in lust.

 

[Bushido71XS]

All I'm gonna say is this: "I can eat a peach for hours."

 

[Earthgoddess]

love your signature Killer, and I just remembered how much I love rare beef on a thai inspired salad... dang,now I am really hungry...
BTW Creamy-we have loads of weeds to, the rain methinks,but the ritual was wonderful,it poured and as we were chanting,
"we are a circle within a circle wit no beginning and never ending" the thunder was rolling around us-too fabulous...
cute side story, my son felt obligated to help set the altar and brought down 4 of his glow in the dark dinosaurs-he then with no help from me aligned then with the directions-West was a brontosaurus,North a stegosaurus,East a pteranadon and South a Tyranasaurus rex(sp?) it was so cute and so spirit guided-he even spoke about the harvest of love in our family...just adorable.

 

[Laurel]

Well, when I started college I made friends with a couple vegan chicks. I read Howard *****'s book, read "Diet For a Small Planet" and got fired up enough that for two years I didn't eat meat, chicken, or seafood (though I wasn't about to give up dairy).

After two years, the world was still just as cruel a place and I missed shrimp scampi. And what really bugged me about my vegan friends and the vegan lifestyle is how much time they spent talking about food and veganism and shopping organically and yadda yadda. I've always had way too many things to do to spend that much time thinking about how to eat and where to eat it. So on my 25th birthday, my salespeople (I was a graphic designer under a two salesperson team) took me out to dim sum for lunch. Now, dim sum is nearly all seafood, so I just said fuck it and porked out on steamed chinese broccoli, shrimp shoo mi (bad spelling, I know), mussels with black bean sauce, and all sorts of other delicious dead goodies.

Killing & eating is a part of life on this planet. People are naturally omnivores. I think factory farming as it's done today and poaching endangered species (like the Japanese are doing currently by ignoring the worldwide ban on whale hunting - argh, makes me so mad I might start a thread on it) are bad practices, but killing to eat in and of itself isn't morally wrong in my book. And eating a diet that includes some meat along with a good selection of vegetables and grains and all that happy crap is healthy. I know meat-eaters who eat lean cuts and balance it with a wide variety of other foods. I also know vegans who subsist entirely on organic potato chips and tofu milk.

I hate the fanatic pro-meat brigade. When I was vegetarian and we'd go out to eat, there'd always be some shit-for-brains who'd hold up his burger/steak/piece of meat to me and say "Eww! Cow flesh!" like I'm supposed to jump onto the table like those cartoon ladies running from mice. I'd just look him in the eye and say "Yep, sure looks like it" and go back to eating by veggie kabobs. Ignorant people bug the shit out of me. An older lady at my job once looked me straight in the eye and said, "I could never buy organic produce - you don't know what they put on that stuff!" LOL! I also hate the hardcore vegan brigade - the people who will go to a steakhouse with you and then bitch about all of the "death" around them. You don't wanna be there? Leave! It's a steakhouse for chrissake...what'dya expect?

What really pisses me off it people who own pets that are naturally total carnivores, like cats and dogs, and try make those pets eat a vegetarian diet. This is NOT HEALTHY for the animal, and it's unfair to them to impose your moral will on an animal that's incapable of making the choice for itself and has to rely on you for food. And if it WERE capable of choosing, your cat will go rip open a sparrow in no time flat.

It's like religion - it's a personal thing. You have to choose it yourself, and it's really, really rude to try to impose your views on other people. I think proselytizing in any form stems from insecurity in your own beliefs - if someone around you isn't acting according to your personal belief system, you take it as a challenge to who you are. Like it you let them "get away" with eating meat/being an atheist/wearing bad pants, you're sanctioning it. So instead of living and let live, you butt into another's life in exactly the way you would NOT want someone else to do to you.

Well, this was long and rambling... off I go to work on the update!

 

[Earthgoddess]

Hell Laurel after reading that thread I may eat a sparrow-I agree with some of the ethical issues of vegetarianism, but I am not big on snitty zealots-unless it is me and my opinion, in that case I am being helpful and intelligent-LOL
I absolutely agree about the vegetarian pet foods, animals systems can be thrown into a dangerous acid imbalance by a souly vegetarian diet, by animals I mean cats and dogs primarily...BTW son has decided he wants a snake-I have said no live feeders-can't do the mouse thing(shudders)-is that hypocritical of me? I can eat a burger but won't purchase a python that need to eat mice? or am I simply being realistic and in touch with my boundaries? perhaps it is simply my way off avoiding a high maintenance pet to add to our peculiar menagerie...
I am so hungry.....the cajun cat fish was not one of my better meals,but the zucchini was tasty-hhmmm,the carnivore thread may send me down stairs for some of my sauteed zucchini...food for thought.

 

[Siren]

Carne-vor lol unite

 

[Earthgoddess]

Wow we are such a carnivorous board-but i also find it interesting that so many of us have spent years as vegetarins...hhhmm-cute rhyme Siren...

 

[CreamyLady]

I like your son's initiative; last Samhain I had Maleficent on the altar, representing the Dark Goddess; she was in the North.

Dinosaurs are so neat. I wish I had some . . .

 

[Earthgoddess]

Real ones? oh darling they would be sooo hard to house train. Seriously we went to the Dollar General store-they had little bags of them for $1-what a bargain!
Btw Bushidio-nice peach reference

 

[teresafannin]

Hi, I like a little bit of everything. My peeve with veggie nuts is that plants are alive too & I am thinking that without plants, we wouldn't be here for long. My other peeve is I know several fanatical vegans who love their leather shoes, coats & purses. Am I the only one that has a problem with people who won't eat a cow, but will wear one? I mean, do these folks think that leather grows on trees? I used to spend my summers on my grandparents farm & trust me, chickens deserve to be Sunday dinner. They are the most disgusting creatures I have ever had to deal with.

 

[Maniac]

How about some bull meat from Texas, Siren?

I have to say that I do like eating meat. Give me a bar-b-que pit, a steak, some seasoning and a case of Bud light and we've got party. I'll cook you some meat that has been marinating over 8 hours that will drive your taste buds w0ild.






_________________________________________________
~It melts in your mouth not in your hands!!!

Manic-maniac

 

[teresafannin]

Sounds good to me, Maniac. I live in an apartment, so it's kind of hard to have a really good barbecue. If we ever find a house, the first thing we want to put in is a big BBQ grill, then it is time for a party.

 

[Svedish_Chef]

Spam spam spam spam spam

 

[Nexxus]

I gotta tell ya, I read the title of this thread and I thought for sure the "soft, cute, fuzzy things" were gonna turn out to be somehow different then what you all (sorry simply..."y'all, or all y'all) were talking about.
But I digress.
Someone once said "I am not a vegitarian becuse I hate meat, I am a vegitarian because I despise plants."
I work with a woman who is not a vegitarian, according to her own admission,because of compassion for animals but because she just hates the taste of meat.
Myself I eat a 1/2 lb of raw chop meat about once a week. No kidding. E Coli don't scare me none.

Nex

 

[Maniac]

Hey, Teresafanin.

The big Bar-B-que pits are by far the best. Some of the best wood to use is pecan tree.

All those gas grills just don't cut it for me. My meat has got to be smoked.