Anti Vegetarianism

This issue is near and dear to me as a 16 year vegetarian.  It's 2006 and we still have to put up with a lot of flack just for the fact that we choose not to eat dead animals.  We've heard them all, (and they're all quite lame)...

- "What do you eat? Lettuce?"
- "You're pretty big for a vegetarian."
- "How about you have this big juicy steak."
- "So you can't even eat seafood?"
- "Vegetarian: Indian word for bad hunter."

Of course, I have comebacks for most of these, but they may be offensive so I won't list them.  The real question is this:  Why is it that some meat-eating people feel so threatened or offended by the fact that we don't eat meat?  If anything, it's more meat for them.  Perhaps it's just not "normal" to be vegetarian.  Or maybe it threatens their cultural heritage or their industries.  One of the many famous vegetarians, K.D. Lang even had her songs taken off the air in her native province of Alberta which is a big beef producing area.  Are they scared of us?  Do they think we're weak because we don't like to make animals suffer?  If anything, we're smart for eating food that is generally healthier, doesn't require defrosting, and makes meal choices at restaurants easier and cheaper.  I won't get into the philosophical aspects. 

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And why do food producers do so little to cater to us?  According to Wikipedia which references http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2000may/2000maypoll.htm, approximately 3% of the population is vegetarian.  That's quite a niche market if you ask me.  Food producers often tell you if food is kosher, why not tell us if something is vegetarian so that we don't have to read food labels closely?  I propose the following code for all food producers to put on their labeling...

V - vegan
OV - ovovegetarian (contains eggs)
LV - lactovegetarian (contains dairy)
OLV - ovolactovegetarian (contains eggs and dairy)

(Props to places like almost every ethnic restaurant, Trader Joe's, Burger King, Taco Bell for offering veggie options.)

Now if only airlines would bring back vegetarian meals, then I could fly without starving.  Wait a second, they need to bring back meals in general first.

+ Atul

Comments

[Joe]

I think it may have something to do with the fact that a lot of us vegetarians stopped eating meat for moral/ethical reasons and some people who eat meat feel like vegetarians are attacking them or questioning their morality. I've dealt with a number of family members who are what I'd call "churchy". They seemed to feel that I was going against the wishes of God, because He obviously put those animals there for us to gnaw on.

[Atul]

Joe,

That makes complete sense and I can't believe I never thought of it that way. I think this insight will help me handle future situations. The ironic thing is that the people who make fun of us are retaliating by questioning our morality by making fun of it. I never get good answers on why we pet some animals while we eat others.

[Jen]

It baffles me no end aswell.I do agree though they want to make us feel uncomfortable and try to find gaps in our morals to make them feel better about the serious gaps in theirs!
I get into disputes alot with people who want to argue with me about vegetarianism/veganism.

[Tracy]

Here, here. I've been a veg for 20 years. It's something I really value in myself.
In addition to veg food label ratings, meat and dairy producers should be required to mark their products with a cruelty index rating.

Vegetarians and humanitarian meat eaters alike need to band together and fight for legislation. I think down deep 98 percent of the populations sees the insanity in the way we treat our prey animals.

[Adam]

I am not a vegetarian, but I have to agree with most of the things you said. I do not condone the mistreatment of animals, it is something I certaintly feel strongly about, but people have always killed animals to survive. Animals kill other animals to survive. And really, that is what humans are. If we stopped eating chicken, the chicken population would skyrocket. We'd have chickens coming out our ears! Same with other animals killed for their meat. It's part of the circle of life. Vegetarians kill animals too. Think about how many animals were killed or displaced when land was cleared to make room for vegetables? Unless you eat organicaly, the pesticides used on vegetables also harm animals.

I am not trying to change your views on vegetarianism, I respect and applaud you for being able to live without meat, even if it is something I do not believe in. I just wanted to share my views on the subject.

[Jared]

We eat animals because we are omnivours. Our ancestors ate animals. Our closest relatives in the natural world are omnivours. Nearly the entire world eats animals. The hydrochloric acid in our stomachs is great for digesting meat. We don't have the enzymes to adequately break down the cellulose in plants. Follow the rules of nature...morals have nothing to do with it.

[Atul]

Jared,

Thanks for commenting on my blog. I thought I'd write directly to you because that blogpost is old so probably nobody else will likely read your comment or my response. I respect your opinions and thoughts on our digestive system. I have read the contrary comments about our stomach acids, that we can't digest meat like carnivores because our acids aren't strong enough. This might explain why we have to cook meat and I also find it interesting that we can't kill animals without tools unlike other omnivores or carnivores. To me, this points to us being vegetarian. I haven't read about us not being able to break down cellulose, but I think that refers to fiber which is an important part of a proper human diet. No doctor or nutritionist ever said to eat less fruits and vegetables, but some of them do say to reduce consumption of red meat.

My roots are in a part of India where for many hundreds of years, my relatives have not eaten any meat or eggs, only dairy. With the population as it is and the number of relatives I have had that have lived 90+ years, I can tell you that meat is not necessary for a healthy human life. This is a myth. I also want to clarify that if my survival depended on it, I would eat meat. I come first, but I dont' need to eat meat to survive so I dont'. And I also know that eskimos for instance can't grow crops so they have had to eat meat to survive. I don't fault them for it. What bothers me is meat eaters who are so threatened by vegetarians that they feel the need to ridicule our lifestyle. I would guess that a significant portion of meat eaters would stop eating meat if they observed what happens in a slaughterhouse and meat-packing facility. Because they don't see it, they pretend it doesn't happen.

As for morals having nothing to do with it. Why is it cruel (at least in the U.S.), to chop off the heads of cats and dogs, but not cows and chickens? That's hypocrisy. They all feel pain equally. I'm not saying I'm totally consistent. I'm sure some of the things I do may impact animals, but at least I try not to hurt them, (all of them, not just ones that make good pets). What separates humans from beasts is that we have the capacity for compassion. By the way, most of my friends and family eat meat and I don't chastise them for it. I do however defend my views when somebody questions them.

Sorry this is long. But as you've seen, I like to write.

Take it easy,
Atul

[emily]

Ever stop to think that non-vegetarians have no problem with you? Maybe they just don’t appreciate how full of yourself you are, your pompous attitude is quite frustrating and being a non-vegetarian I don’t really appreciate the preachy, self-righteous impression you are portraying.

[Atul]

Emily,

Thanks for the comment. I'm not saying that all non-vegetarians have a problem with us. But some of us that do don't respect our choice. I'm not trying to be pompous, but it seems like you are the same way. I'm wondering how you came across my blogpost about this anyway. If it was by searching on antivegetarianism, then I'm betting you are "against" us.

I'm not being preachy because I don't tell other people to become vegetarian. That being said, why do you eat (I'm assuming) cows, pigs, and chickens but (presumably) don't eat dogs and cats. Don't they feel pain equally? I don't think any scientific study could prove that they don't. I'm guessing you couldn't get yourself to chop an animal's head off so what makes it OK to have somebody else do it. If I were to hire a hitman to kill somebody, it's still murder. I find this to be hypocritical, but that's just my opinion.

[Madalyn]

Emily, maybe what you pick up as "self righteous" is a guilty conscious. Vegetarianism is a form of pacifism. I do not seek out people to argue my beliefs with. But it is the case 99.9% of the time when I tell an inquiring omnivour that I am a vegan, I recieve ridicule and defensive criticism.

[Atul]

Madalyn,

Thanks for posting what you did. I like the use of "inquiring omnivour". We used to have a tabloid here with a tagline, "inquiring minds want to know."

By the way, I posted this article over a year ago and comments have been scattered since that time, so I don't know if you'll get responses from anybody else for a while. I get emails when somebody comments so I know right away.

Take care.

[Frances]

You say 3% of the population are vegetarian. Is this of the world or the country u live in? My bet is a lot more than 3% of the worlds population are malnourished. Lets start there before any gaps in the market are found for picky eaters.
I am opposed to idealogical vegetarianism simply because i believe that we should save HUMANS. (840 million malnourished human-beings in the world. 300 million of those a children).

Perhaps you should start a post about sending all your unwanted meat to Africa?

Regards.

[Frances]

To clarify, the above post is based solely on a human rights angle. I am not ridiculing all vegetarians, i am just interested to read your thoughts on this matter.

Regards.

[Atul]

Frances,

Sorry for the delay in responding and thanks for your comments. I know you're not trying to ridicule anybody.

You make a good point. Meat is food for hungry people. I would advocate giving the meat from animals already slated for slaughter to the needy, but transporting it across the planet where people are truly hungry would be difficult.

Once that meat is consumed, we could produce much more food by farming grains, fruits, vegetables on former cattle grazing land. Producing equivalent food energy content through meat is much less efficient than doing so by growing plants. Plus, cows produce methane whereas plants get rid of carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. So there's an environmental angle to this as well.

Take it easy,
Atul

[Jenn]

I don't think meat eaters specifically try to make vegetarians feel bad, and it Definately isn't because we feel threatened by you. Rather, most of us omnivores, whenever we meet a vegetarian, it seems the vegetarian person feels a need to "get in our face" about our choice to eat meat. I think most of the time, the comments you may hear, are from a person who has suffered this kind of aggravation, and intends to "throw the first punch" if you will. Of course there are some naturally rude people out there who will simply try to make fun of you, but from my personal experience, the vegetarians are usually the agressors in trying to convince me to stop eating meat. As a dangerously anemic person, I can't do that. Personally, I just wish vegetarians would quit being so pushy, I'm fine with them not eating meat, but they need to leave me alone about my chicken.
Another thing is, most vegetarians I know are vegetarians because they are worried about animals being mistreated etc. I agree that animals should live well, and not be kept in tiny cages and pumped full of hormones, I think a chicken should live a happy little chicken life and a long one before it goes to the dinner table. But primarily, I am not worried about animals that much, don't get me wrong, I like the little critters, but I am Much more concerned with the state of HUMAN kind, and as long as there are starving HUMANS, animals should go to feed them. Of course I'm not starving, but I also think it is a very natural thing for people to be omnivorus, we always have been and our bodies are made to live that way, just like our ape relatives. Naturally, too much meat is bad, just as too much of anything is bad. I eat a varied and healthy diet, I'm proud of that, that is what I think every person should aim for, rather than get caught up in all the politics of what they're eating. Of course this is mostly in reference to vegetarians who are that way because of reasons other than religion, which is a whole other story.

[David]

The problem with the world: People are so concerned with themselves and HUMAN kind that they have become completely complacent of everything else that is just as important to life as the human race.

Thinking about you and your race alone is just a tad selfish wouldn't you say?

I think that when humans learn to think further than their own shorts arms - they will see that there is far more to this planet than just people and peoples own needs. There is a world of beauty that was created in harmony so that everything could live TOGETHER peacefully - not to be imbalanced by one race of selfish beings. The world comes as a package.

Eating animals to survive is fine - this keeps life in balance... there's no doubt about that. However, farming billions of animals so that people in western lifestyles can be spoiled for choice of chicken burgers, lamb kebabs, steak tartar, lobster bisque, veal or jelly is WRONG and GREEDY. Do humans NEED any of those things?

If you were a chicken in this current mass meat farming industry, how would you feel? Would you be happy? Would you wake up in the morning, look around at the thousands of sad chickens around you, look up at the roof above you, breathe in to smell rotting corpse, know that your time is coming soon, feel your crippled legs and think aahhh... I'm so glad to be alive?

I think not.

Well I suppose the 97% of people just prefer not to think about it...

You know... sometimes it takes a small, brave group of the population to stand up for something - even though it may seem an impossible feat.

I urge you 3% to keep at it. Don't live your life being miserable about everyone else's bad choices, but be proud of the fact that you are doing something amazing for your planet and keep at it - no matter what anyone else says!

People are NOT superior to animals and we never will be!

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." - Albert Einstein

Nice blog here Atul!

Dave
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[KS]

and what when all became vegetarians and eat all the plants and grass etc - and all these animals will copulate and multiply - i think you want some disaster!

[Chris]

I would have agree with what Jenn said above and point out that it is merely because of a few "bad egg" vegetarians who are extremely self righteous in their views, and thus feel that it is their duty in life to make those who do eat meat as uncomfortable as possible by badgering them. As with vegetarianism, it is personal choice to eat meat. This means that we meat eaters appreciate our right to not be harassed as much as the vegetarians do.

[James]

I've been a vegetarian nearly my whole life (about 16years) and I hate this whole 'us and them' attitude. None of my friends and even girlfriend are vegetarians, and just as I don't preach to them, they don't preach to me. Some posts talk about self righteousness and yes a lot of veggies are self righteous..but not all. It's just a diet choice, I don't have a problem with meat eaters..it's their choice. And to shun them and preach about how they are wrong would be an awful thing to do in my mind. I've had a hell of a lot of abuse over the years for being a veggie, but it's never made me tarnish everyone else, because that would make me a hypocrit.

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Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

[saga remy]

This means that we meat eaters appreciate our right to not be harassed as much as the vegetarians do.