Do you eat meat? (thread-related spam only)

[fable]

So does anyone up here love the flavor of vegetables? I've actually found myself really enjoying broccoli, green peppers, and raw onions, asparagus and spinach in recent years. If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect my wife was using subliminal tapes while I slept (excpet that I'm a far lighter sleeper than she is), or that one of my Wiccan deities was attempting to remold my nature.

Better do a ritual exorcism, just in case, I suppose.

I recall reading an American Civil War book of reminiscences a few years back that had a passage which really struck me about this. It concerned a private who recalled Joe Hooker--a blowhard who failed when put to the test, sadly, but forced the suppliers to bring him fresh vegetables. The men raved about each kind. I guess, after years of hardtack and green corn (which caused them to joke that they could bend over and hit a dime at fifteen feet), even a carrot would be something to look forward to. Possibly.

Naaaaah...

[Ned Flanders]

I'm not a big fan of raw veggies. Steamed broccoli is one of my faves. Grilled or sauteed aspargus is quite good. Corn is alright but I don't know if it really counts. Red bell peppers, red and yellow onions, garlic, spuds. Yeah, I like 'em, but I'm still a carnivore.

[Chanak]

Yeah, I do. Asparagus raw or cooked; romaine or leaf lettuce; peppers of all kinds (the hotter, the better); spinach (I often use spinach on a sandwich instead of lettuce); beans of every kind (except limas); red potatoes; young celery shoots; tomatoes; onions...I like them all, pretty much, and I'll eat them raw or cooked. I started getting into eating lots of fruits and vegetables during the hot summer months in Tennessee when I worked as a carpenter for a home builder. It was lighter on the stomach, didn't slow me down, and the fruit was absolutely refreshing and revitalizing when I was zapped in the heat. Several apples, a few bananas, and an orange or two for lunch was better than Gatorade. I also started buying bags of fresh cut and washed spinach, and would take one with me to work as a snack. Just dump some vinaigrette on it and add pepper...instant snack.

Granted, veggies aren't as filling as meat, but I like them just the same. I find my food cravings seem to follow a cycle which corresponds to the seasons. I pretty much listen to these cravings very closely, and suspect this may be one reason why I'm still in great shape health-wise, despite all the "unhealthy" foods I consume.

[C Elegans]

Originally posted by Grendel
What a horrible thought. A piece of wobbly tissue in a plastic dish? Where is the free range there I ask? And, what species are we talking here - concept seems open to ethical abuse (slip a little human muscle in there..., and the thought of chowing down on mouse muscle just doesn't do it for me. Not even with horseradish.....

No, why is that horrible? Cloned tissue, for instance cloned human muscles, would be no more unethical to eat than other tissue without a nervous system?

Originally posted by Chanak
Oddly enough, I don't see whale mentioned here. As anyone who has tasted a whale steak will attest, it's better than beef. Really, it's true.

You think so? I'm personally not very fond of whale, I've only eaten Minke whale and Fin whale though, there may be other species that taste differently. When I was at Greenland a few years ago I was staying in a small village at an island off the west coast for a while, and there was simply nothing else to eat than fin whale. The climate and terrain does not allow any kind of agriculture or animal keeping except some very limited sheep farming in the very south part. In the summer, people in the North eat seal, whale and fish. In the winter, they eat seal and polar bear.

Originally posted by fable
So does anyone up here love the flavor of vegetables? I've actually found myself really enjoying broccoli, green peppers, and raw onions, asparagus and spinach in recent years.

No, I'm not really a vegetable lover unless it is cooked in some nice way with a lot of spices. Onion, spinach and asparagus I like though, but generally I'm more of a fruit eater.

[Enchantress]

Originally posted by fable
So does anyone up here love the flavor of vegetables?

Yes, I love vegetables, especially raw in a salad.

Clearly you and I will live forever.

[Scayde]

Well, Sometimes I eat the salad and baked potato that comes with the steak if that counts.

[Grendel]

Originally posted by C Elegans
No, why is that horrible? Cloned tissue, for instance cloned human muscles, would be no more unethical to eat than other tissue without a nervous system?

With the obvious aside that not all humans have a nervous system... I think the point is a little more subtle. All meat (read the version derived from land dwelling critters) is derived from things WITH a nervous system. I may be perverted, but I want my meat to be afraid of me.......

unethical - problem here is the source of the tissue. Obtaining it straight from the animal raises no new concerns over those voiced for millenia by the carni/veggi camps. Deriving tissue from stem cells however, raises a number of concerns. Who are we eating and do they know?

[Scayde]

Originally posted by Grendel
Deriving tissue from stem cells however, raises a number of concerns. Who are we eating and do they know?

ROFLMAO......Now this is a question I have never before even considered

[Chanak]

Originally posted by Scayde
Well, Sometimes I eat the salad and baked potato that comes with the steak if that counts.

We need to go to the Texas Roadhouse here in town soon. I keep having visions of a 20 ounce steak, medium rare.

[Ned Flanders]

by chanak
We need to go to the Texas Roadhouse here in town soon. I keep having visions of a 20 ounce steak, medium rare.

I suggest you up your dosage Chan; I'm pretty sure you can find a 32 oz. or 40 oz. steak. Think BIG VISION!

[Scayde]

Originally posted by Chanak
We need to go to the Texas Roadhouse here in town soon. I keep having visions of a 20 ounce steak, medium rare.

Pick me up at 7 ?

[Aqua-chan]

Ever since I was dragged off to a Good Charlott/Newfound Glory concert last week (I want those five hours of my life back, dammit. ) where they were handing out pamphlets showing animals in the slaughterhouse, I just haven't been able to look at anything that isn't innocently and neatly processed. *shudder*

[fable]

Originally posted by Aqua-chan
Ever since I was dragged off to a Good Charlott/Newfound Glory concert last week (I want those five hours of my life back, dammit. ) where they were handing out pamphlets showing animals in the slaughterhouse, I just haven't been able to look at anything that isn't innocently and neatly processed. *shudder*

You think that's bad? Take a look at people weeding their gardens and cutting limbs off trees. Now, *that* is disgusting.

More seriously, I can see your objection to meat processing plants and slaughterhouses; they are horrific places. But what alternatives are available, when so many people want meat, and want it at affordable, streamlined prices? Does anyone know if there are large meat-packing corporations that use more humane methods to breed and/or kill animals for their meat?

[Aqua-chan]

Originally posted by fable
You think that's bad? Take a look at people weeding their gardens and cutting limbs off trees. Now, *that* is disgusting.

More seriously, I can see your objection to meat processing plants and slaughterhouses; they are horrific places. But what alternatives are available, when so many people want meat, and want it at affordable, streamlined prices? Does anyone know if there are large meat-packing corporations that use more humane methods to breed and/or kill animals for their meat?

Well, I find the sight of blood significantly more disturbing than the sight of sap.

I grew up in Minnesota, but we raised dairy cows. But I remember there being several slaughterhouses in town where they actually did the cow in at the place where they sold it.

I remember a conversation with a relative who still lives in that general area. Way back when the city was completely agricultural, the school would take kids on field trips to see what happens to cattle when they are sold. These little kids were given the step-by-step tours of the entire process from the putting down of the animal (I don't remember exactly how, but I seem to remember something about a gunshot to the head. ) to the selling of the meat. They actually followed one cow through the entire thing.

Now, call me a farm-kid-gone-soft, but that just sounds quite disturbing to me.

One such place I visited years and years later when visiting said family member had blood all over the equipment in the back room. Apart from being extremely unsanitary looking, it just made my skin crawl from the images I recieved from that. I found myself turning out the door and heading for the less-fresh, though neatly packaged ground beef.

But I don't know. You can't put drugs into animal's system if it's meant for human consumption, and other than that, I can't think of any humane (and cheap) ways to kill an animal. I never had this problem before... We just decaptitated the chickens and turkeys and that was it. (Mind you, I could never do this, either.)

Sometimes it's just better not to look. I've been sticking to the veggies section lately, but definetly not on purpose. I can't give up meat for good - I'd miss my rare steaks and cheeseburgers. Hopefully it's just one of the phases that came a little to late for me.

[Kameleon]

BLOOOOOOOOOOOD

Ahem. Yes, I quite like a bit of meat every so often...

[Enchantress]

Originally posted by Kameleon
BLOOOOOOOOOOOD

Ahem. Yes, I quite like a bit of meat every so often...

Oooh err, missus!

Well, you are an engorged member...

[fable]

Originally posted by Aqua-chan
Sometimes it's just better not to look. I've been sticking to the veggies section lately, but definetly not on purpose. I can't give up meat for good - I'd miss my rare steaks and cheeseburgers. Hopefully it's just one of the phases that came a little to late for me.

Why not go off red meat, altogether? I mean, if it's a matter of the gore, then there's a lot less of that involved with fish.

As an aside, it's funny how we Wiccans, despite being portrayed in films as female vegetarian environmentalists, often eat things like chicken and beef. And occasionally forget to throw away wrappers outside. And are in some cases, as mine, male.

[Aqua-chan]

Originally posted by fable
Why not go off red meat, altogether? I mean, if it's a matter of the gore, then there's a lot less of that involved with fish.

As an aside, it's funny how we Wiccans, despite being portrayed in films as female vegetarian environmentalists, often eat things like chicken and beef. And occasionally forget to throw away wrappers outside. And are in some cases, as mine, male.

A good portion of my diet is red meat, but dumping it off my general selection could be a possibility. I'd miss it, but I just don't have the same sympathy for fish as I do cows. I don't know why - I've been attacked by both . But maybe that is a good idea. I'll see how long I last.

I just had a full supper of barbequed ribs before I typed this.

Heh. Who would have ever have thought that we may actually be normal (Or, in our cases, as close to normal as any SYMer can get)? Got to love Hollywood for all the little favors they do us.