So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

You are way ahead of the New York Times Man.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/we...6cb&ei=5087%0A

Interesting article, makes you really think.

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 29, 7:43 PM ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.

Breaks my heart

[mgoblue]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

exCarabbaFan, you're probably in college, right? Just wondering, I've seen this way too much when I was in school. God knows how many people I saw go vegetarian for a year "for the animals".

If you can keep it up, then go for it and more power to you. Seems like you have better motivation than others, but I've just seen people do it because it's the "chic, in thing" while joining a billion of the green earth clubs on campus. A year later they're back to where they were at, eating meat, etc.

No way I could do it though, I don't like veggies enough. I could probably go without meat, but no chicken, turkey, eggs etc would suck big time.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

exCarabbaFan, you're probably in college, right? Just wondering, I've seen this way too much when I was in school. God knows how many people I saw go vegetarian for a year "for the animals".

If you can keep it up, then go for it and more power to you. Seems like you have better motivation than others, but I've just seen people do it because it's the "chic, in thing" while joining a billion of the green earth clubs on campus. A year later they're back to where they were at, eating meat, etc.

No way I could do it though, I don't like veggies enough. I could probably go without meat, but no chicken, turkey, eggs etc would suck big time.

I feel you mgo, and yeah I am in college, this exact line of thinking I am very conscious about. I am not doing it as an en vogue thing.. more doing it to prove to myself that nothing has power over me, and that I can re-train myself at a whim. I'm doing it out of a symbolic protest that there are people out there who are dying because they simply have nothing to eat. I totally understand what you're saying though.. I am not on some crusade to beat my chest to save the world one cow at a time.. but I am just more conscious about the environment. I don't use grocery bags anymore, I recycle, I don't litter etc. Just other little things that I can easily do to make some positive impact.

I was a big a meat lover as any. Had a steak every week, and chicken/pork/other beef with almost every meal on my Filipino diet. So to completely shun all that and find alternatives has been quite an experience. I have no clue how long it will last, I'm thinking a while as I've found some tasty alternatives.. but believe me I was crazy about meat.

I must note, I am not a vegetarian, but a pescatarian. I consume fish, because #1 they don't harm the environment, and #2 they provide the important oils for nutrition.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

Overfishing and all the pollution that comes from the fishing industry definitely does harm the environment... But yeah, not nearly as bad as industrual feed lots that use tons of clean water as well as grains to feed cows (who themselves contribute to a decent part of our greenhouse gas emissions).

I love food too much to be a vegtarian (or even a pescatarian... damn Chinese/Mexicans and their beautiful pork creations), but I certainly respect people who are doing it for the right reasons. I primarily eat vegetarian at home (bought my first package of frozen chicken breasts in over 2 years last week), but I can't stop myself from getting BBQ Pork Dumplings, Pho, Tamales, Green Chile, Banh Mi, and all the other delicious **** that has meat in it. Pork for the win...

"Dad, those come from the same animal..."

"Yes Lisa.. some MAAAAGICAL animal."

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

LOL! at the Simpsons reference.

And you are totally right on the OVERfishing, that indeed harms the environment.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

Oh, and by the way, my ish is veggie burgers/'chicken' on English Muffins... they're the perfect size and hold up to toppings better than regular buns/bread. My favorite is a burger with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, arugula (drizzled with olive oil/balsamic) and provolone cheese. THAT's a burger -- tastes better than most real burgers...

And I don't know if you're up on those frozen Edamame in steam bags yet, but those are basically my faovrite thing in the world. I'll just devour one of those bags on my own with just some sea salt for dinner sometimes -- so much good soy protein in there... and they're tastier and than any potato chip (IMO of course) and WAY healthier.

Also, baby carrots (or that good bagged spinach) dipped in hummus is a great healthy snack.

And here's a recipe for a nice Italian-style stew with no meat in sight:

1 large can chopped/crushed tomatoes
1 medium white onion, diced
1-2 cans of white beans (I like S&W)
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 containers of vegetable broth (depends on consistency desired)

Basically just saute the onions in olive oil until they're getting limp, then add the garlic late in the process so it doesn't burn. Throw the beans in (I've also added cans of corn to this and it tastes great) as well as the tomatoes and then add broth as desired. Just cook it until it starts to boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Now the key part -- make sure to get some fresh basil, some stale bread (baguettes or other crusty bread works best), and chop extra onions to be added to the soup when served. So the bread: cut/tear the bread up into pieces (I like 1-2 inch pieces) and add it to the soup when it is nearly done cooking. It acts as a thickener and provides some texture/weight to the soup that makes it fill you up faster. A wooden spoon should stand up in the stew when it's done.

To serve: ladle the soup into bowls, add a small amount of raw diced onions, torn basil leaves, and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with some nice crusty bread. It's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser (extremely tasty and great for winter nights) and it's super-easy to make -- soup is great vegetarian food because you can combine a lot of quality ingredients in a big, easy, cheap meal that you can also freeze or use for up to a week.

[mgoblue]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

LOL! at the Simpsons reference.

And you are totally right on the OVERfishing, that indeed harms the environment.

Plus most of the fish we eat probably comes from fish farms...how truly humane is that?

Just teasing...good for you trying to do something when you care deeply.

Honestly I don't care enough, especially when I know that anything I do doesn't mean crap...In order to fix carbon emissions it needs to be a global change, done at the government level. Just IMO.

Oh, be careful when you do start eating meat again. I've heard of vegetarians getting sick when trying to come back to meat because their stomachs can't handle meat anymore.

[Chief Illinimac]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

Life is too short to not eat meat, IMO. But if you believe in this, then good for you. Nice to see when people stand for something, even if I don't feel the same way.

[Flyboy]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

I actually got a detention in 6th grade for making a vegetarian cry to our teacher because I kept moo'ing in her ear during class, after she had given a presentation about how people shouldn't eat cows.

Man, I was such a badass in 6th grade.

You just earned major cool points.

[USF11]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

I started out my lacto-vegetarian lifestyle yesterday, and I feel confident I can never consume any meat for the rest of my life.

My main concern: I'm pretty "muscular" and I'm fearing that I'll get skinny. Obviously I weight train to stay fit, for those who practice this lifestyle, I'll be fine right?

Also, any tips? One of my veggy friends said she takes an iron supplement and suggested I do the same, and a multi vitamin. I understand for men my age [19-51], the daily allowance for iron is 8 mg. So should I be taking a pill with a little less than that? Also with the multi vitamin, any advice on how much dosage should be in it? And any other tips as well?

I've done my fair share of research, but I'd like to get some personal responses as well.

I hope you are doing this to get a girl. There is not ANY other reason period to go veggie, Our teeth were made to chew flesh.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

Meat tastes too good.

[USF11]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 29, 7:43 PM ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.

Breaks my heart

Heres the problem, Government Corruption.

There is more then enough food to go around.

[superjames1992]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

Cattle were made to eat. They are good for nothing else. We must eat them as they were intended to. They are here for us to eat, so why pass them up? They are tasty and if we don't eat them, they will overpopulate, which is not good either.

Just like deer. If it were not for hunters, the deer population would become too much and the dear would start to starve because there would simply not be enough food for all of them.

I can understand being a vegetarian because of the possible health benefits (though I think we need meat because we were created to eat meat), but I just don't understand the environmental benefits. If I have to make an pig miserable (and how do we know they are miserable anyways), then so be it, as long as it makes me happy. Animals are inferior to humans and should be treated as inferior. We are morally higher than them.

Okay, done with my rant!

[Stumbleweed]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

You do know that cows are essentially a manufactured item at this point, right? It's not like there were millions of cows roaming around the prarie before we started breeding the bejesus out of them. It's a human-created problem and it would require a human-created solution, namely castration of the majority of bulls to prevent population growth. That is, if we ever decided that it's more worth it to feed other humans than it is to feed animals intended to be eaten by (primarily wealthy) humans.

When we get close to running out of potable water in the relatively near future, then maybe we'll make that decision. As it is, it's a shame that cows in America have safe drinking water and many people around the world don't, and are dying from preventable diseases due to drinking contaminated water.

Heh, appreciate the comedy in your nice Book of Genesis view of things. I like when people rely on creationism arguments...

[Chief Illinimac]

Re: So Who Else Doesn't do the Flesh Thing

Heh, appreciate the comedy in your nice Book of Genesis view of things. I like when people rely on creationism arguments...

I don't know if this is sarcasm or seriousness, but let's keep the religion talk to a minimum, before the downward spiral starts.