Guest guest Posted March 3, 2001 Report Share Posted March 3, 2001 Ok, I just tend to tell people that I do not eat animal products rather than saying " I'm vegan " . I learned I get less of an in your face confrontation that way. When people ask why, I tell them I stopped eating meat and fish because I got sick of the taste (which is why I became a vegetarian some time ago), and add that after a good amount of research into dairy and egg industry, I decided that it wasn't the healthiest way to go... Aside from that, the meat industry (and no one in Europe will argue this with me) is uneconomical, and often to the question " Are you for preserving the rainforest? " I get a resounding " Yes " . Then I explain that because for some reason, though no body in europe eats that much meat anyway, the gross overfarming of animals has reached the stage where we can no longer feed our own, and are importing soy as high energy fodder from, guess where, ex-rainforest land. Pretty much everyone by now has been pretty well educated about the deforestation of rainforest and how it affects us in the long run. Most people will at this point see not eating animals in a different light, and it gets those people wh for some reason have an aversion to listening to touchy-feely " I love animals and couldn't ever eat them " arguments to listen as well. During the Uruguay round of the WTO at the end of the 80's, the USA explicitly 'urged' European countries to cut back on their own production of 'oil-crops' under which soy falls as well. With the result that Europe can only cover 10 % of it's animal fodder market by itself and relies on South american countries (or the USA if they don't mind GM food) for the other 90 % of it's cattlefodder. Switzerland alone imports 64'000 hectares of it annually to feed it's cattle (as well as 12,000 hectares of grains and 19,000 Hectares of rice). This makes no economical sense, especially now when the EU has to boy up perfectly healthy animals by the ton and process them to fuel because no one eats meat as much as they used to anymore). As for the " But meat is good for you " I simply reply " no, it's not really " and send them to look at the evidence (I have long lists of places to go for those who care). Most people at that point will say " You're right, but I could never give up meat " , I'll urge them that they should give vegetarian living a try, to borrow my cookbooks and to perhaps only eat meat once or twice a week instead of all the time. Most people who tried this actually like the change. Perhaps I am dealing with understanding people, who knows, but in summer I think I'll try to convert my grandmother, by cooking lots of yummy food for her See ya, Katt _______________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2001 Report Share Posted March 6, 2001 I would like to give a talk on these issues at college. Where do you get your info from? Michael. --- Katt * <felinewitch wrote: > > Ok, I just tend to tell people that I do not eat > animal products rather than > saying " I'm vegan " . I learned I get less of an in > your face confrontation > that way. > > When people ask why, I tell them I stopped eating > meat and fish because I > got sick of the taste (which is why I became a > vegetarian some time ago), > and add that after a good amount of research into > dairy and egg industry, I > decided that it wasn't the healthiest way to go... > > Aside from that, the meat industry (and no one in > Europe will argue this > with me) is uneconomical, and often to the question > " Are you for preserving > the rainforest? " I get a resounding " Yes " . Then I > explain that because for > some reason, though no body in europe eats that much > meat anyway, the gross > overfarming of animals has reached the stage where > we can no longer feed our > own, and are importing soy as high energy fodder > from, guess where, > ex-rainforest land. > > Pretty much everyone by now has been pretty well > educated about the > deforestation of rainforest and how it affects us in > the long run. Most > people will at this point see not eating animals in > a different light, and > it gets those people wh for some reason have an > aversion to listening to > touchy-feely " I love animals and couldn't ever eat > them " arguments to listen > as well. > > During the Uruguay round of the WTO at the end of > the 80's, the USA > explicitly 'urged' European countries to cut back on > their own production of > 'oil-crops' under which soy falls as well. With the > result that Europe can > only cover 10 % of it's animal fodder market by > itself and relies on South > american countries (or the USA if they don't mind GM > food) for the other 90 > % of it's cattlefodder. > > Switzerland alone imports 64'000 hectares of it > annually to feed it's cattle > (as well as 12,000 hectares of grains and 19,000 > Hectares of rice). This > makes no economical sense, especially now when the > EU has to boy up > perfectly healthy animals by the ton and process > them to fuel because no one > eats meat as much as they used to anymore). > > As for the " But meat is good for you " I simply reply > " no, it's not really " > and send them to look at the evidence (I have long > lists of places to go for > those who care). Most people at that point will say > " You're right, but I > could never give up meat " , I'll urge them that they > should give vegetarian > living a try, to borrow my cookbooks and to perhaps > only eat meat once or > twice a week instead of all the time. Most people > who tried this actually > like the change. > > Perhaps I am dealing with understanding people, who > knows, but in summer I > think I'll try to convert my grandmother, by cooking > lots of yummy food for > her > > See ya, > > Katt > _______________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at > http://www.hotmail.com. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.