Some fails this week!

[featured_spectre]

Humans are a naturally evolved omnivore. We can digest raw meat (raw beef, lamb, pork), however when it comes to poultry it is a different ball game. As for vegetables, we get more nutrients from the raw variety of the foods, however we cook food to make it more warming and less strain on the body to process.

 

If food is cooked, it requires less digestive enzymes, and less calories to process the food.

 

My family find it odd that I like my pork, steak, lamb etc, flash fried for 15 seconds on each side, and my veg blanched. I personally prefer cold food to hot, but thats just me.

[localzuk]

Well, I suppose it is because it is going against the mainstream, and given the way we chew and digest food (canine teeth and no multiple stomachs or cellulose digestion), you could say that humans are made to be carnivores. So people find it odd. They don't like anything different.

I did see something on fml - someone got upset with a girl who kept chickens and killed them for the pot - she was told that she should get her meat from the supermarket instead!

 

See, even that argument is wrong. Gorillas have a very similar tooth layout to us, but they are herbivores. The canine teeth are used as a show of strength, and also used for eating tough plants. The fact we have a specific set of teeth is here nor there - we have the ability to eat a vegan diet and be healthy. We have that ability to choose to not go round eating animals.

 

That's what happens when we build up the idea of intelligence and morality.

 

Highlighting that we can survive on a vegan diet and do so happily should not enrage people. It is unjustifiable to get angry about it - the only reason I can think of is simple guilt.

[sparkeh]

you could say that humans are made to be carnivores.

You certainly couldn't say that, carnivores eat exclusively meat. Humans are omnivores

So people find it odd. They don't like anything different.

I think its more that people don't like being made to think about where their food comes. If people were made to go a slaughterhouse there would be more vegetarians. If they went to a dairy farm then there would be more vegans.

[mac_shinobi]

Whereas knowing that coffee from a shop will be given to you in a hot state is.

 

Assume you mean the likes of starbucks / costas etc versus a shop that just sells coffee granules as apposed to selling hot ready to drink

[hardtailstar]

I think its more that people don't like being made to think about where their food comes. If people were made to go a slaughterhouse there would be more vegetarians. If they went to a dairy farm then there would be more vegans.

 

In my opinion its more of its not taught where it comes from. I know one person who didnt know crisps were potatos!

[localzuk]

Humans are a naturally evolved omnivore. We can digest raw meat (raw beef, lamb, pork), however when it comes to poultry it is a different ball game. As for vegetables, we get more nutrients from the raw variety of the foods, however we cook food to make it more warming and less strain on the body to process.

 

The human body can digest raw pork but it is dangerous due to trichinosis, and this is very prevalent. But you are correct about beef - there are even dishes with raw beef as a component.

[jinnantonnixx]

I stand corrected. But I'm still a veggie

[featured_spectre]

You certainly couldn't say that, carnivores eat exclusively meat. Humans are omnivores

 

I think its more that people don't like being made to think about where their food comes. If people were made to go a slaughterhouse there would be more vegetarians. If they went to a dairy farm then there would be more vegans.

 

Having worked in an abattoir when I was teen, it was actually eye opening (I was one of the people that cleans away the blood). Nothing squeamish goes on, I have seen the process from start to finish, the animals are treated with respect from what I have seen. The one I worked at dealt solely for the local butchers of the area also, not one of the ones that goes through the supermarket, so animals were not intensively reared. Having visited the farms where the animals grew up and were reared, they had a good life. I know it is only a small percentage of the animals in the UK that are like this, however I only ever buy meat from my butcher, never from supermarket.

[LeMarchand]

I've worked at an abattoir, too. It was the only time in my life that I've considered becoming a vegetarian, but not for the reasons that most would assume; I was appalled by the poor standards of hygiene and the fact that they had at least a week's notice before any inspection. As far as I saw, the animals (being killed aside!) weren't treated badly.

[witch]

I have also been to an abattoir - more than once - and what struck me was how scared the animals are and how they knew something was coming. They were pushed around and dragged here and there and it was, in my opinion, very cruel.

In fact that is the main reason I am a vegetarian.

I don't object to eating meat as such but I don't like the way we as a species treat animals.

We eat far too much meat anyway.

Cows for meat have quite a nice life albeit a bit short, but others do not. We may have outlawed the worst pig-rearing methods but other countries have not, and as for chickens...

 

(and yes, sorry, should have said humans are omnivores, not carnivores)

[X-13]

how scared the animals are and how they knew something was coming.

 

Surely, it'd be the same in the wild... From what I've seen on various nature shows [which may or may not represent reality] prey tend to lost it when a predator gets close.

[sparkeh]

Surely, it'd be the same in the wild... From what I've seen on various nature shows [which may or may not represent reality] prey tend to lost it when a predator gets close.

Hmm let's see, on one hand you have a natural situation where the animal has a chance to escape/fight and on the other large number of animals are herded toward someone with a bolt gun and no chance of survival... no its not the same.

Edited April 29, 2013 by sparkeh

[sted]

i know in an abstract way where food comes from and thats enough (imo) i dont read ingredients etc on packets i have no need or desire to know whats in food

[localzuk]

i know in an abstract way where food comes from and thats enough (imo) i dont read ingredients etc on packets i have no need or desire to know whats in food

 

To me, this is an extension of one of the problems we're facing in this and other countries - the abdication of personal responsibility. Handing over such responsibility to others - ie. creating a handholding society of people drip fed only what they need to know.

 

Its a result of our education system and the values we're teaching.

[jinnantonnixx]

i know in an abstract way where food comes from and thats enough (imo) i dont read ingredients etc on packets i have no need or desire to know whats in food

 

Who fancies a nice bit of Soylent Green?

[sted]

To me, this is an extension of one of the problems we're facing in this and other countries - the abdication of personal responsibility. Handing over such responsibility to others - ie. creating a handholding society of people drip fed only what they need to know.

 

Its a result of our education system and the values we're teaching.

 

to a degree thats what happens when people specialise. Go back far enough and anyone in the village could do any job in the village (technically there may of been cultural issues etc) but just look at the average workplace or even family there is no way for instance i could do my dads or sisters job at all i might be able to do mums or brother in laws (but thats because the brother in law is also in it and mums is nta) i have neither the knowledge or skills to do bus mechanic or whatever it is my sister does. You cant know everything and when knowledge becomes external (so books) and you distribute your own knowedge round (20 years ago i would of known phone numbers for say 10 people now i know 2 work and parents i dont even know my own landline number ive outsourced that knowledge to my mobile). Unless you live in the "good life" you are never going to know exactly where that carrot or bacon came from so why worry about what you cant change? and if you cant change it is it worth knowing?

[localzuk]

to a degree thats what happens when people specialise. Go back far enough and anyone in the village could do any job in the village (technically there may of been cultural issues etc) but just look at the average workplace or even family there is no way for instance i could do my dads or sisters job at all i might be able to do mums or brother in laws (but thats because the brother in law is also in it and mums is nta) i have neither the knowledge or skills to do bus mechanic or whatever it is my sister does. You cant know everything and when knowledge becomes external (so books) and you distribute your own knowedge round (20 years ago i would of known phone numbers for say 10 people now i know 2 work and parents i dont even know my own landline number ive outsourced that knowledge to my mobile). Unless you live in the "good life" you are never going to know exactly where that carrot or bacon came from so why worry about what you cant change? and if you cant change it is it worth knowing?

 

You can change what is in your food. You can choose where you get your food from.

[sparkeh]

Unless you live in the "good life" you are never going to know exactly where that carrot or bacon came from so why worry about what you cant change? and if you cant change it is it worth knowing?

Not at all. Go to a farm shop and you know exactly where they come from. Look into your local shop's policies and see what ethical stance they take.

And why do you think we can't change things. If people hadn't made their feelings known in the past we wouldn't have free range eggs and certain standards in animal welfare etc.

[sted]

You can change what is in your food. You can choose where you get your food from.

 

up to a point but you still have to trust whats on the label. How do you know the local farm shop is any better than a supermarket? and i hate shopping at the best of times the idea of ging to 1 shop for this and another for that is enough in itself to put me off

[sparkeh]

up to a point but you still have to trust whats on the label. How do you know the local farm shop is any better than a supermarket? and i hate shopping at the best of times the idea of ging to 1 shop for this and another for that is enough in itself to put me off

But you can't really trust the label can you, the horse meat scandal has taught us this. Doesn't this make you *more* likely to worry about where your food is coming from?

I would suggest that the history of the farm shop food is more traceable than a supermarket.

[CHR1S]

I know where my food comes from, I would prefer the animals to be free range and humanely treated, but, if this means my steak costs twice as much as the other I have to really think twice.

[sparkeh]

I know where my food comes from, I would prefer the animals to be free range and humanely treated, but, if this means my steak costs twice as much as the other I have to really think twice.

Just to clarify, if your steak was cheaper but the animals were treated cruelly, that would be ok with you?

[X-13]

Just to clarify, if your steak was cheaper but the animals were treated cruelly, that would be ok with you?

 

DON'T ANSWER IT! IT'S A TRAP!

[CHR1S]

Just to clarify, if your steak was cheaper but the animals were treated cruelly, that would be ok with you?

 

If I KNEW they were mistreated then I wouldn't buy it. If I couldn't prove it but guaranteed cruelty free meat was twice the price....

[Roberto]

i know in an abstract way where food comes from and thats enough (imo) i dont read ingredients etc on packets i have no need or desire to know whats in food

 

That's fine, but you can't then complain if you end up eating horse or dog when you purchased beef. Or GM carrots that have been irradiated, when you thought you were buying organic.