Vegetarian, good for the body 'and' the soul?

[pearl]

This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one when humans collectively eat billions of animals. The habit feels rooted in nature, and in our nature. How can it be a happy holiday if we are not feasting on turkeys, pigs, cows and lambs?
The carnivorous cravings of a world of almost eight billion people have radically changed the definition of life on this planet. As societies get richer, they get more meat-hungry, building up industrial food chains to put steaks on every plate, bacon on eggs, and chicken breasts on buns. The movement of a billion people in Asia into a modern middle-class lifestyle in the last few decades has amplified our consumption of domesticated animals.
The upshot: There are now some 25.9 billion chickens alive, a billion cattle, and about a billion sheep and a billion pigs, all numbers that have been rising and challenging our environment and resources. They are also crowding out wild animals. The biomass of domesticated animals is now dozens of times more than that of wildlife.

The word vegetarian was only invented in the 1840s, but the concept has been around since ancient times. The Egyptians and Greeks realized that meat was clearly dead flesh, in contrast to living plants, and was grounds for abstinence, for various reasons. Pythagoras, for example, taught that animals had souls that were immortal and reincarnated after death, possibly in humans. Some Egyptian priests, and later, Buddha and Pythagoras, chose to not eat meat. Later, religious movements like Hinduism, the Seventh-day Adventists and some radical Quakers made vegetarianism part of their creed. The Enlightenment also included a vegetarian movement. “Often the vegetarian creed has been one of dissidence, comprising rebels and outsiders, individuals and groups who find the society they live in to lack moral worth,” writes Colin Spenser in Vegetarianism: A History.
Is it time for Catholics to stop eating meat? | America Magazine

 

[SalixIncendium]

How can it be a happy holiday if we are not feasting on turkeys, pigs, cows and lambs?

By realizing the holiday is about people, not food.

I manage to be at every holiday invite, despite what's on the menu, and it had no impact whatsoever on my happiness on these days.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I eat a plant-based diet on my own, but I do often consume meat when it is prepared food that is likely to be disposed of (I work in school where individually packaged meals are often thrown out if the child isn't there). I see throwing away the meat to be extremely wasteful and disrespectful.

But since I don't buy or prepare meat myself, I don't consume much meat and my health has been the better for it, since I also focus on whole grains and fresh vegetables and fruit.

I maintain a healthy weight, great cholesterol levels, good energy and heartburn (something that used to plague me) is nearly non-existent.

It also soothes my bleeding-heart conscience, since, to paraphrase a Buddhist quote, animals scream louder than plants.

 

[Wandering Monk]

This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one when humans collectively eat billions of animals. The habit feels rooted in nature, and in our nature. How can it be a happy holiday if we are not feasting on turkeys, pigs, cows and lambs?
The carnivorous cravings of a world of almost eight billion people have radically changed the definition of life on this planet. As societies get richer, they get more meat-hungry, building up industrial food chains to put steaks on every plate, bacon on eggs, and chicken breasts on buns. The movement of a billion people in Asia into a modern middle-class lifestyle in the last few decades has amplified our consumption of domesticated animals.
The upshot: There are now some 25.9 billion chickens alive, a billion cattle, and about a billion sheep and a billion pigs, all numbers that have been rising and challenging our environment and resources. They are also crowding out wild animals. The biomass of domesticated animals is now dozens of times more than that of wildlife.

The word vegetarian was only invented in the 1840s, but the concept has been around since ancient times. The Egyptians and Greeks realized that meat was clearly dead flesh, in contrast to living plants, and was grounds for abstinence, for various reasons. Pythagoras, for example, taught that animals had souls that were immortal and reincarnated after death, possibly in humans. Some Egyptian priests, and later, Buddha and Pythagoras, chose to not eat meat. Later, religious movements like Hinduism, the Seventh-day Adventists and some radical Quakers made vegetarianism part of their creed. The Enlightenment also included a vegetarian movement. “Often the vegetarian creed has been one of dissidence, comprising rebels and outsiders, individuals and groups who find the society they live in to lack moral worth,” writes Colin Spenser in Vegetarianism: A History.
Is it time for Catholics to stop eating meat? | America Magazine

Just goes to show you, there are all kinds of missionaries out there. You don't even have to have a religion to be missionary about something.

 

[Lain]

This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one when humans collectively eat billions of animals. The habit feels rooted in nature, and in our nature. How can it be a happy holiday if we are not feasting on turkeys, pigs, cows and lambs?
The carnivorous cravings of a world of almost eight billion people have radically changed the definition of life on this planet. As societies get richer, they get more meat-hungry, building up industrial food chains to put steaks on every plate, bacon on eggs, and chicken breasts on buns. The movement of a billion people in Asia into a modern middle-class lifestyle in the last few decades has amplified our consumption of domesticated animals.
The upshot: There are now some 25.9 billion chickens alive, a billion cattle, and about a billion sheep and a billion pigs, all numbers that have been rising and challenging our environment and resources. They are also crowding out wild animals. The biomass of domesticated animals is now dozens of times more than that of wildlife.

The word vegetarian was only invented in the 1840s, but the concept has been around since ancient times. The Egyptians and Greeks realized that meat was clearly dead flesh, in contrast to living plants, and was grounds for abstinence, for various reasons. Pythagoras, for example, taught that animals had souls that were immortal and reincarnated after death, possibly in humans. Some Egyptian priests, and later, Buddha and Pythagoras, chose to not eat meat. Later, religious movements like Hinduism, the Seventh-day Adventists and some radical Quakers made vegetarianism part of their creed. The Enlightenment also included a vegetarian movement. “Often the vegetarian creed has been one of dissidence, comprising rebels and outsiders, individuals and groups who find the society they live in to lack moral worth,” writes Colin Spenser in Vegetarianism: A History.
Is it time for Catholics to stop eating meat? | America Magazine

I'm vegan so I'd say so, although the moral theology must be absolutely preserved in my opinion and it must be recognized that it is not intrinsically evil to either eat or kill animals even just for food. Veganism in Christianity takes a different form necessarily.

We eat meat since the animals were given into Noah's hand and then of course in the Life of the World to Come will no longer, neither will anything die. Blessed be God. Such is my opinion.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I associate meat with wealth. Down through History this has often been true. I'm not talking about extreme wealth but relatively better off people. Extremely wealthy people can pay someone to prepare their food, and I'm not talking about them. They comprise a much smaller segment of humanity. If you're doing well you can afford meat, but you can live without it. You will need better food prep skills, more trial and error. Your food may not taste as good because of the increased need for skill.

The Enlightenment also included a vegetarian movement. “Often the vegetarian creed has been one of dissidence, comprising rebels and outsiders, individuals and groups who find the society they live in to lack moral worth,” writes Colin Spenser in Vegetarianism: A History.

I think the author is flattering his readers, so I'd take his words (just in this phrase) as sensationalism. It is human nature to focus upon some aspect of morality which we can maintain so that we can ignore other aspects.

I admit eating vegetarian food is potentially morally superior to eating meat, but this does not change the nature of the human. The human is an omnivore, will have omnivore offspring. If a single human child survives it is potentially a nation of meat eaters. You can achieve nearly the same level of morality as a vegetarian simply by not terrorizing the food and by killing it as nicely as possible. If that isn't true then neuter yourself, because you are a source of evil.

So be nice to animals. Don't terrorize them or make them suffer. Don't let the ranchers keep pigs and animals in squeeze cages. Don't let the chicken farms be cruel to the chickens. That's human-level morality. It is attainable, reasonable and consistent with what we are.

 

[pearl]

I admit eating vegetarian food is potentially morally superior to eating meat, but this does not change the nature of the human.

It doesn't, I love a good steak now and then.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I associate meat with wealth. Down through History this has often been true. I'm not talking about extreme wealth but relatively better off people. Extremely wealthy people can pay someone to prepare their food, and I'm not talking about them. They comprise a much smaller segment of humanity. If you're doing well you can afford meat, but you can live without it. You will need better food prep skills, more trial and error. Your food may not taste as good because of the increased need for skill.

It's been my experience that being vegetarian is no less costly than it was back when I consumed meat. For one that doesn't cook, it can potentially be more costly, especially for those that purchase meat substitutes, i.e. plant based meats. Have you looked at the cost of a pound of Impossible beef or Beyond beef vs a cost of 90% lean ground beef?

I rarely will eat plant based meat anymore, but when I did, it was quite expensive.

 

[metis]

This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one when humans collectively eat billions of animals. The habit feels rooted in nature, and in our nature. How can it be a happy holiday if we are not feasting on turkeys, pigs, cows and lambs?
The carnivorous cravings of a world of almost eight billion people have radically changed the definition of life on this planet. As societies get richer, they get more meat-hungry, building up industrial food chains to put steaks on every plate, bacon on eggs, and chicken breasts on buns. The movement of a billion people in Asia into a modern middle-class lifestyle in the last few decades has amplified our consumption of domesticated animals.
The upshot: There are now some 25.9 billion chickens alive, a billion cattle, and about a billion sheep and a billion pigs, all numbers that have been rising and challenging our environment and resources. They are also crowding out wild animals. The biomass of domesticated animals is now dozens of times more than that of wildlife.

The word vegetarian was only invented in the 1840s, but the concept has been around since ancient times. The Egyptians and Greeks realized that meat was clearly dead flesh, in contrast to living plants, and was grounds for abstinence, for various reasons. Pythagoras, for example, taught that animals had souls that were immortal and reincarnated after death, possibly in humans. Some Egyptian priests, and later, Buddha and Pythagoras, chose to not eat meat. Later, religious movements like Hinduism, the Seventh-day Adventists and some radical Quakers made vegetarianism part of their creed. The Enlightenment also included a vegetarian movement. “Often the vegetarian creed has been one of dissidence, comprising rebels and outsiders, individuals and groups who find the society they live in to lack moral worth,” writes Colin Spenser in Vegetarianism: A History.
Is it time for Catholics to stop eating meat? | America Magazine

I totally agree, thus my wife & I limit any meat eating to one, sometimes two at the most, meat meals per week, and we only do that because of my wife's immunity issues.

 

[pearl]

So be nice to animals. Don't terrorize them or make them suffer.

You reminded me of a story heard years ago on NPR radio concerning a local farmer who raised pigs. They were free range not in pens. When it was time for slaughter the pig was led to a chocolate cake which he enjoyed thoroughly until the kill. Happy pig right to the end

 

[pearl]

I totally agree, thus my wife & I limit any meat eating to one, sometimes two at the most, meat meals per week, and we only do that because of my wife's immunity issues.

Our daughter is a vegetarian, grows her own, but occasionally has meat to balance her 'bloodletting', phlebotomizing, due to her hemochromatosis.

 

[Brickjectivity]

It's been my experience that being vegetarian is no less costly than it was back when I consumed meat. For one that doesn't cook, it can potentially be more costly, especially for those that purchase meat substitutes, i.e. plant based meats. Have you looked at the cost of a pound of Impossible beef or Beyond beef vs a cost of 90% lean ground beef?

I rarely will eat plant based meat anymore, but when I did, it was quite expensive.

Very true. Its expensive, because most people don't want to make it at home or don't have the time to.

Here's a decreasing food price scale as I perceive it: Prepared vegetarian --> any meat --> homemade vegetarian

There is no vegetarian food as inexpensive, as easy to cook today and as variable as grits. You take 1/3 cup of 5-minute-grits. 1 cup water + spices + whatever oil or fat. Put them in a little pot and sit it on the trivet in your auto pressure cooker. Set to 2 minutes. Done inside of 10 minutes, ready to eat with your toast/eggs/whatever. It costs $2.50 US for a 5 lb bag of dry 5 minute grits and lasts you all or most of a month of breakfasts. If you do it right its good. If you do it wrong its bland or overly spiced or unbalanced.

 

[Secret Chief]

This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one when humans collectively eat billions of animals. The habit feels rooted in nature, and in our nature. How can it be a happy holiday if we are not feasting on turkeys, pigs, cows and lambs?
The carnivorous cravings of a world of almost eight billion people have radically changed the definition of life on this planet. As societies get richer, they get more meat-hungry, building up industrial food chains to put steaks on every plate, bacon on eggs, and chicken breasts on buns. The movement of a billion people in Asia into a modern middle-class lifestyle in the last few decades has amplified our consumption of domesticated animals.
The upshot: There are now some 25.9 billion chickens alive, a billion cattle, and about a billion sheep and a billion pigs, all numbers that have been rising and challenging our environment and resources. They are also crowding out wild animals. The biomass of domesticated animals is now dozens of times more than that of wildlife.

The word vegetarian was only invented in the 1840s, but the concept has been around since ancient times. The Egyptians and Greeks realized that meat was clearly dead flesh, in contrast to living plants, and was grounds for abstinence, for various reasons. Pythagoras, for example, taught that animals had souls that were immortal and reincarnated after death, possibly in humans. Some Egyptian priests, and later, Buddha and Pythagoras, chose to not eat meat. Later, religious movements like Hinduism, the Seventh-day Adventists and some radical Quakers made vegetarianism part of their creed. The Enlightenment also included a vegetarian movement. “Often the vegetarian creed has been one of dissidence, comprising rebels and outsiders, individuals and groups who find the society they live in to lack moral worth,” writes Colin Spenser in Vegetarianism: A History.
Is it time for Catholics to stop eating meat? | America Magazine

An excellent OP imo to which I would add just two points.

1. That billion cattle will include dairy cattle, so animal rights (as referenced in the article) is not just about meat production.

2. My understanding is that the Buddha, like the rest of his sangha, ate whatever food was put into their food bowls (by the lay people).

 

[JustGeorge]

It's been my experience that being vegetarian is no less costly than it was back when I consumed meat. For one that doesn't cook, it can potentially be more costly, especially for those that purchase meat substitutes, i.e. plant based meats. Have you looked at the cost of a pound of Impossible beef or Beyond beef vs a cost of 90% lean ground beef?

I rarely will eat plant based meat anymore, but when I did, it was quite expensive.

In my food preparation, I've found that cooking vegetarian recipes that are normally vegetarian(many Indian recipes fit this bill) is dirt cheap. However, trying to take a non-vegetarian recipe and make it vegetarian gets fairly expensive if you do it often enough.

 

[metis]

Our daughter is a vegetarian, grows her own, but occasionally has meat to balance her 'bloodletting', phlebotomizing, due to her hemochromatosis.

I can understand that.

The longest I went without any meat was three months, and then I had a hamburger and thought I was going to die! It set like lead.

 

[kaninchen]

I think one of the most important stages in becoming a vegetarian is when you learn to forget about finding alternatives to meat in your meals. Just think and plan differently.

 

[Vinayaka]

It's been my experience that being vegetarian is no less costly than it was back when I consumed meat. For one that doesn't cook, it can potentially be more costly, especially for those that purchase meat substitutes, i.e. plant based meats. Have you looked at the cost of a pound of Impossible beef or Beyond beef vs a cost of 90% lean ground beef?

I rarely will eat plant based meat anymore, but when I did, it was quite expensive.

Your 'rarely' is my never.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I see nothing inherently moral or immoral about eating meat. A rabbit isn't spiritually superior to a tiger. It's just part of life, and herbivores in the wild are often caught eating meat, too. There was a news story a few months ago about a deer caught munching on a cadaver at one of those body farm forensics facilities, for example. Food is food, and meat is brilliant for getting a huge load of nutrients at once.

 

[Vinayaka]

I think one of the most important stages in becoming a vegetarian is when you learn to forget about finding alternatives to meat in your meals. Just think and plan differently.

Totally concur. We think in terms of a grain, and a legume. The couple of veggies are a natural. My turn to cook tonight so it's red rice, pink dal, brussels sprouts, and eggplant, with cucumber raita. I think it helped us a ton, as we became vegetarian almost 50 years ago when there was no fake meat. So I've never really gotten the concept. I did have a Tofu hot dog maybe 30 years back, but I puked it. But newer vegetarians seem to be smitten with fake meat.

 

[JustGeorge]

Totally concur. We think in terms of a grain, and a legume. The couple of veggies are a natural. My turn to cook tonight so it's red rice, pink dal, brussels sprouts, and eggplant, with cucumber raita. I think it helped us a ton, as we became vegetarian almost 50 years ago when there was no fake meat. So I've never really gotten the concept. I did have a Tofu hot dog maybe 30 years back, but I puked it. But newer vegetarians seem to be smitten with fake meat.

....got room for another at your dinner table tonight?

What's pink dal consist of?