Hiya

[KichigaiNeko]

[*Deidre*]

Welcome, Fromper!

[SteelCurtain]

Fromp. Welcome.

[Fromper]

So what're your reasons for being a veggie?

Interestingly, I keep saying that I'm atheist and veg for the same reasons - logic, reason, and independent thought.

Animals feel pain and fear, and just want to be left alone. Modern, first world humans have access to enough variety of food that we don't need to eat animals to survive, so why contribute to the death and suffering?

To me, being asked why I'm veg is kinda like being asked why I'm an atheist. In both cases, I always want to turn it around and ask the questioner why they aren't.

[pocaracas]

Because meat tastes good and no veg can substitute that flavour.

[Rahul]

Because Homo sapiens evolved from meat eating ancestors. In fact there is an almost certain chance our species would not exist if it was otherwise.

Oh yeah. Welcome, Fromper!

[Fromper]

Because meat tastes good and no veg can substitute that flavour.

Actually, depending on the type of meat, there are fakes (usually soy based) that do a pretty good job of replicating the flavor and texture. Beef is a tough one, though. But it's also just about the least healthy thing humans regularly eat, so you shouldn't be eating it anyway. Various studies have shown that people who eat the most beef are also most likely to have heart disease and several types of cancer. Even if you're going to continue eating meat, I highly recommend cutting out the red meat, for health reasons.

But all that aside, you're basically saying that a few moments of pleasure for your taste buds are worth torturing and killing a poor, defenseless animal. And yes, almost all of the animals that people eat exist in conditions that would generally be considered torture long before they're killed.

Because Homo sapiens evolved from meat eating ancestors. In fact there is an almost certain chance our species would not exist if it was otherwise.

True, but irrelevant. Our ancestors also relied on rape to propagate the species, lived in caves, didn't wear clothes, etc. I don't see you trying to live up to those other caveman ideals.

It's been proven that we can be perfectly healthy without it, and substitutes that contain the same nutritional content are easily available in any first world country today.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for welcoming me here, even if we don't agree on dietary ethics.

[Whateverist]

Because meat tastes good and no veg can substitute that flavour.

Actually, depending on the type of meat, there are fakes (usually soy based) that do a pretty good job of replicating the flavor and texture. Beef is a tough one, though. But it's also just about the least healthy thing humans regularly eat, so you shouldn't be eating it anyway. Various studies have shown that people who eat the most beef are also most likely to have heart disease and several types of cancer. Even if you're going to continue eating meat, I highly recommend cutting out the red meat, for health reasons.

But all that aside, you're basically saying that a few moments of pleasure for your taste buds are worth torturing and killing a poor, defenseless animal. And yes, almost all of the animals that people eat exist in conditions that would generally be considered torture long before they're killed.

Because Homo sapiens evolved from meat eating ancestors. In fact there is an almost certain chance our species would not exist if it was otherwise.

True, but irrelevant. Our ancestors also relied on rape to propagate the species, lived in caves, didn't wear clothes, etc. I don't see you trying to live up to those other caveman ideals.

It's been proven that we can be perfectly healthy without it, and substitutes that contain the same nutritional content are easily available in any first world country today.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for welcoming me here, even if we don't agree on dietary ethics.

I think you have a good attitude. We don't agree about diet but I appreciate you being a veggie. I'm not as moved by the suffering of animals as you are but I do think you make smaller demands on the ecosystem than I do so thanks. My preferred solution would be a drastically smaller human population so that our eating meat wouldn't be a problem. Tell you what, I'll try to cut back.