Who feels guilty about eating meat?

[Old Salt]

I have started to eat less fish not more, because of the state of our oceans and what the fish are eating. I saw a documentary showing what's inside a fish's belly, *ugh*...

I always liked wild fish but I guess in lieu of all the pollution, farmed fish might be better for us??? BTW, don't buy Tilapia from China, the last two batches I bought tasted like mud! Contitions in the ponds are not sanitary in many cases because the effluent of the surrounding farms runs into them. Get the Tilpia fromSouth America instead!

 

[Old Salt]

I'm human and therefore an omnivore. I eat beef, pork lamb, chicken, fish etc..but I also eat plenty of vegetables and occasional vegetarian meals. No problem.

Until recently I felt the same! It's only during last few years that I have become aware of the factory farming and the cruelty to animals involved in this. Especially chicken!
I stopped buying regular eggs and have been paying ridiculous prices for free range eggs! They don't taste any better (in fall, winter and early spring) since free range quite often means picking the same food the caged ones get, except that they peck on the barn floor! Add organic and they usually feed outside in the spring and summer, so I hope to experience the wonderful, old fashioned taste of eggs, remembered from my youth! You gotta have some worms in the mixture! But at least they are not forced into a tiny cage where they can barely move!

 

[Della]

Yes, I feel guilty. My son is vegan and although he never preaches and encourages me to eat whatever I want, I still occasionally see the Animal Rights videos that pop up on YouTube after he's been on the computer and they're shocking.

We have meatless meals every night of the week except Thursday which is usually fish night. What I have trouble giving up is milk, cheese and eggs. I used to think those things were fine because nothing had to die, but then I learned about the cruelty in dairy farms and chicken factory farming.

 

[Old Salt]

As an alternative, has anyone tried the meatless hamburgers on the market! How do you like them?

 

[hearlady]

I just wish I could afford to eat only grass fed and pasture raised animals. They're still a bit pricey but I suppose I could join some kind of co-op.
I get it when I can. I don't like the factory farming these days although I know people need to eat.
North Carolina used to raise pigs "on the ground". Now most farms have sold out to the factory farming out of necessity or greed.

 

[hollydolly]

As an alternative, has anyone tried the meatless hamburgers on the market! How do you like them?

My estranged husband is vegan.. he is horrified at the idea of eating meat.. and he enjoyed the plant burgers..he swore there was no difference, altho' I believe the put a lot of onion and spices in them to make them taste of something

 

[Lady]

As an alternative, has anyone tried the meatless hamburgers on the market! How do you like them?

I tried Vegi burgers and it was rather like eating cardboard .

 

[Lewkat]

I am a beef eater and venison as well. I love lamb chops, but not pork. Pork is rich and heavy. I am a big fish eater though and prefer it to all else.

 

[Old Salt]

I just wish I could afford to eat only grass fed and pasture raised animals. They're still a bit pricey but I suppose I could join some kind of co-op.
I get it when I can. I don't like the factory farming these days although I know people need to eat.
North Carolina used to raise pigs "on the ground". Now most farms have sold out to the factory farming out of necessity or greed.

I used to live above a farm and was awakened every morning when the cows were herded from the barn to the grassy, lush fields behind it, and then back to be milked later on. That's the way farming should be done. But with too many people clamoring for cheap food, factory farming was almost inevitable!

 

[Fyrefox]

Vegetarian themes figured in a number of Gary Larson’s Far Side comics. I mostly eat hot dogs and hamburgers if I have meat at all. Being a predator, however, I’ve made this compromise; I stalk my pizzas before pouncing on them…

 

[Della]

As an alternative, has anyone tried the meatless hamburgers on the market! How do you like them?

My son has tried them all. He used to really like Morningstar Grillers but they aren't vegan, just vegetarian. Morningstar has a big variety of "burgers" though, and you might like some of them. He gets an "Impossible" burger at Burger King sometimes and likes them pretty well. We've found all the Gardein vegan products to be pretty good --fake chicken, fish and meatballs. We have spaghetti every Monday night and I bake their meatballs to put on top and he loves that. When we have salmon or cod he has the Gardein "fish sticks."

 

[Old Salt]

My son has tried them all. He used to really like Morningstar Grillers but they aren't vegan, just vegetarian. Morningstar has a big variety of "burgers" though, and you might like some of them. He gets an "Impossible" burger at Burger King sometimes and likes them pretty well. We've found all the Gardein vegan products to be pretty good --fake chicken, fish and meatballs. We have spaghetti every Monday night and I bake their meatballs to put on top and he loves that. When we have salmon or cod he has the Gardein "fish sticks."

We don't have Morningstar in the Maritimes but Burger King is feasible! Thanks for sharing your liking of meatless food. In connection with Vegan food choices I tend to react with great reluctance, even though some of their dishes might be quite tasty, because some of their no-nos include eggs and milk! I think they are going too far!

 

[Pinky]

As an alternative, has anyone tried the meatless hamburgers on the market! How do you like them?

I like the veggie burgers on offer at burger places here (Harvey's). Have been eating them for many years.

 

[Ronni]

I don’t feel guilty for the animal’s sake. I don’t know what that says about me because I am a deeply compassionate person. On the other hand, I’m also a pragmatist.

We eat red meat occasionally. The rest of the time it’s chicken, fish, tofu. Occasionally pork or lamb.

I enjoy some of the Morningstar Farms patties, but don’t consider them a meat alternative. They taste nothing like meat, they’re just tasty in their own right.

I’ve cooked impossible burger meat occasionally. Very tasty.

 

[CallMeKate]

As an alternative, has anyone tried the meatless hamburgers on the market! How do you like them?

I have a serious problem with fake meat burgers and I've tried a bunch of them. They just upset my stomach and I can't help it. *BUT* I don't have an issue getting sick with veggie burgers and black bean burgers, so I buy Morningstar Farms black bean burgers and Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burgers sometimes and I like them both... pan fried and then eaten like a regular burger.

 

[JustDave]

I've mostly stopped eating meat, but there is no guilt involved. I've just lost my taste for it. Someone posted a picture of a juicy T-bone, and that looked good, but in America, especially more and more, meat means hamburger, and I think the processing has changed from when I was a kid, and a finicky kid at that. Today every bite I take is with the hope that in this bite, I won't find a bone fragment like the last bite, or that the whole burger is not tainted by liver and entrails. I've tried different brands and different markets, but I think it's all processed in big central plants, maybe even by robots that don't want to waste a bit of the cow whether it's edible or not.

My doctor recommends chicken, fish, and nuts. He doesn't mention red meat. Fortunately, I still like chicken and fish. Nuts would be great if it weren't for the calories.

Some stores have several grades of hamburger, based on fat content, but if it were up to me, I would grade hamburger based on meat content.

 

[Capt Lightning]

Well if you worry about what animals and fish eat, consider that many crops are grown using cow 'manure' as a fertiliser, and chicken 'manure' is often used as a garden fertiliser. Enjoy your vegetables.

 

[JustDave]

Cow manure is for sale in bags at Lowes and Home Depot. Plants absorb water and nutrients from the soil by sucking up moisture with dissolved organic matter in it. How much fecal matter ends up in the plants is a good question. I suspect it's all processed by the plants and converted into plant material, but I don't know that for sure.

You pay big bucks extra to grocery stores that sell organic products, which means it's grown with raw fecal matter. Milorganite is a commercial fertilizer made at a human waste treatment plant near Chicago. You would think the stuff grown with chemical fertilizer would cost more. I mean really, human excrement is a pretty cheap raw material. Cities spend a lot of money just to get rid of the stuff because it's toxic and carries all sorts of diseases, some of which are deadly..

 

[Rose65]

I like and eat meat in balance with fruit and vegetables. It provides good nutrition. Moderation is the thing, don't overeat or overdo anything.

 

[Michael Z]

I don't feel guilty. The meat I eat is primarily deer meat, and even that was mostly obtained from deer killed by cars that I get in the late fall. And I do hunt as well, but am not that great a deer hunter, but still get one once in a while. I try to avoid factory farm meat mostly because of the unhealthy nature of it. But I sure enjoy a nice fatty steak from a restaurant once a year.

 

[Muskrat]

I do not “feel guilty”. I feel that human diets that are meat based are unsustainable for the planet in the long run. So I practice doing more plant based eating.

 

[Repondering]

I live in an agricultural region that produces a lot of beef and pork through intense, confined, factory-like conditions that depend on regular antibiotic dosing and application of growth hormones. I'm not persuaded that eating meats from those "feed lots" as they're called is a healthy proposition. Besides, I think they're a cruel way to force animals to live their short, unenviable lives.

My diet is primarily plant based.....not wholly though: I do eat pasture raised organic eggs and wild caught salmon and sardines.

 

[oldaunt]

I just had bacon with my strawberry pancakes......

 

[StarSong]

Yes, I feel guilty. My son is vegan and although he never preaches and encourages me to eat whatever I want, I still occasionally see the Animal Rights videos that pop up on YouTube after he's been on the computer and they're shocking.

We have meatless meals every night of the week except Thursday which is usually fish night. What I have trouble giving up is milk, cheese and eggs. I used to think those things were fine because nothing had to die, but then I learned about the cruelty in dairy farms and chicken factory farming.

I abruptly moved to a low-oil, plant-based diet more than 9 years ago. Watched two movies within a week, "Vegucated" and "Forks Over Knives." Between those films and plenty of research I realized two things:

1. Factory farming is a cruel, disgusting horror story - check some YouTube videos if you have the stomach for the truth. No surprise that slaughterhouses don't permit filming of their "procedures," but some folks have captured and published videos on the sly.
The saying goes: If slaughterhouse walls were made of glass we'd all be vegetarians.

2. Ample evidence shows plant based diets are simply healthier for human bodies.

That said, I do eat some cheese and dairy products (but not daily) and occasionally a little fish. For pancakes and baking I often substitute ground flax seed or an egg replacement product in place of eggs and applesauce in place of butter/oil, but sometimes it's not possible to do so without a significant change in texture.

I rarely miss meat. Dairy free cheese is improving but still has a long way to go and is probably no healthier than regular cheese.

As an alternative, has anyone tried the meatless hamburgers on the market! How do you like them?

Among the major brand meatless burgers, Impossibles are more beef-like but I prefer Beyond's flavor/ Even so, I only eat them if we're invited to a BBQ. My main use of Beyond burgers is to mix them up with other ingredients to create my Grandmother's Italian meatballs.

I generally avoid veggie burgers, fake meats and dairy subs including vegan cheeses. My diet is focused on fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables (including plenty of potatoes and sweet potatoes), plus dried/canned beans, legumes, tofu, and rolled oats, plus a bit of whole grains and and pasta.

DH eats cheese, eggs and sometimes fish, but no meat.

 

[InTheWoods]

I feel guilty. But it takes a great deal of education and work to eat vegetarian or vegan, and I barely cook at all. It has long been a distant or impossible looking goal to get away from eating meat. I don't eat veal because of the cruelty, but otherwise I am not following my conscience.

I've never sewn my own clothes. I know it was normal to, in my grandparent's days, but I can't imagine going to that much trouble -- jeans and tee shirts and polo shirts and jackets are so cheap and available and there's nothing wrong with them. I buy quiet, economical clothes, and I'm happy with that. But food turned out differently in human history somehow. It takes a lot of work to maintain a typical diet, unless you live above a cafeteria or something. For vegetarian or, especially, vegan diets, it's even more difficult. There's so much else I want to be doing.

Honestly, I wish I could buy bags of Purina Human Chow to handle the utilitarian task of maintaining sound nutrition, so that at least a great many meals were taken care of easily. It's fun to go out to a restaurant (or at least it was before the pandemic), but that takes so much time if you're going to do it for every meal, and it is so dear.