I am a meat-eater. I have nothing against vegetarians, vegans and pesca...tarians? I have to admit that I had no idea what a Pescetarian was until I remembered that one of my favourite vloggers, KatersOneSeven, is one. Anyway, I would go so far as to say that I agree with the philosophy/ies behind the aforementioned dietary ideologies. I do not think that animals should be treated cruelly just for my benefit.
That being said, I can't help but find veganism/vegetarianism/pescetarianism just a little bit silly. Humans, my nerdy friends, are omnivores. In order to be fully healthy we need to source our nutrients from a wide range of places, and yes, that means animals and animal products. That is not to say that I think we have the right to be cruel to animals; I'm not naiive about where that tasty bit of bacon I had with my lunch came from. I just think that there are widely available sources of cruelty-free animal products such as free-range eggs and meat from animals that have been raised and slaughtered in an humane way. I know that somewhere, an animal died so that I could have a delicious meal, but I try to go for cruelty-free products where possible.
Pescetarianism does have quite a good health benefit, what with all that omega 3, but I personally dislike fish/seafood, so I just couldn't live that lifestyle. Secondary to that is the fact that our seas are terribly overfished, which is pretty bad for the ecosystem.
Veganism is what really gets me. Like I said, there are cruelty-free sources of milk and eggs, and if you go for those, nobody is harming/killing some poor animal for your benefit and you are still able to get essential nutrients from those sources. It just seems...illogical, to me.
If I were to go with any of the alternatives, I'd be a Vegetarian, because I could still have eggs and milk, and could get most of my other nutrients from fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes. I make a mean Dal (Indian lentil-based stew-type-thing). But really, I do like meat too much to give it up.
Anyway, it is not for me to dictate who eats what. One of the great things about the whole thing is that I can choose what I eat. In that way, we're all pretty lucky, really. I mean, if I feel like eating an apple, I can just stroll to my fridge and grab one. Heck, I can change my mind and go for an orange, or a stick of celery, or a sandwich instead. And that's pretty awesome :)
See you next week! Am I right in assuming that I'm picking the topic?
Darn it, you beat me to it, I thought I'd at least be able to post the first late post of the week xD
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know vegetarian and pescetarian diets can be perfectly healthy (after all there are cultures that have been vegetarian for ages), you just have to make sure you eat the right things. Vegans like to pretend their diet is healthy, but tend to forget about all the substitutes that come with their soy milk (I used to go near-vegan for weeks at a time by accident for a long time, and I feel a LOT better since I started to make sure I consume a minimum amount of dairy)
(there's some feminist school that believes all "true" feminist have to be vegetarians (not vegans!) because making animals our "slaves" (which apparently only includes killing them, not keeping them for eggs/milk/etc.) equals human slavery, and concentration camps, and the "enslavement" of women and whatever else. They're my favourite utterly batshit feminists of all. Some of the funniest (if disturbing) reading I ever had for uni.). I think most vegans have a somewhat similar, if more moderate, attitude to animal products.
(and yes, it's your turn next week :) )
I like what you said in the end there that you choose what you eat... and maybe taking it a little further is the fact that a lot of these issues are rich people's problems.
ReplyDeleteFor instance here, a third world country, people wouldn't worry too much about killing the animal. They just know that they need to take care of the animal because one day this animal will feed us.