Love Me, Love My Tofu

[Alusdra]

I'm a bit surprised that so many people would be so vehement about their partners being vegan/veggie if they were, but not surprised at the preference existing.

I pretty much view vegetarianism/veganism as a religious choice. Or at least a spiritual one. Especially vegans seem to base their belief that eating animals is wrong on a belief that animals are equal to people versus ones that base it on the welfare aspect. Welfarists I see as more trying to change society so that they can eat meat in good conscious, whereas people that feel that it is always wrong would never again eat meat, even if that meat were grown in a test-tube. Thus- if the decision to go veg/vegan is based on a philosophical belief that non-human and human animals are equal- then I would say it is a 'religion'.

So I guess where I am going with that is, I would say that having similar moral beliefs is a very important foundation to a relationship and therefor I can definitely see why vegans/veggies would be so strongly motivated to find partners with similar eating habits. Because, really, it isn't diet- it's morality.

Thanks for calling us omnivores, Thalestral. I'm a shameless scavenger in true omnivore fashion and it irritates me that vegetarians/vegans label me as a 'meat eater' as if that's all I ever consume. If you give me free food I will never turn it down. Lots of vegetarian dishes are so tasty- and good to know the recipes for if cooking for large groups. It seems like there's inevitably a veggie in there, so might as well make most of the meal veggie, too. (Harder to cook vegan- but I did last night for mixed company- 1 veggie, no vegans, though).

[wheeky-UK]

Alusdra i think is my soulmate hehe. That is exactly how i see things, only thing is is that i cant write very well and getting my point across is a bit of a struggle. Calling some forms of vegan/veg a "religion" is definatly the way i see it, so maybe because im a evolutionist i find it difficult to see the way some of you do.

It is true about using the word omnivore, i am a true omnivore and base most of my feeding habits on fruit and veg, i do however mix some of that with meat.

Thanks Alusdra for unknowingly posting what i really meant to say, im sorry if i came across in a bad way, i really didnt mean too.
Im sorry if i caused anyone any grief

[thalestral]

Heh, no problem - I really dislike it when people label themselves or are labelled as herbivores and carnivores, it's just silly

You didn't come across badly wheeky-UK, I'm just a grump It gets hard when anyone makes generalisations and unfortunately there are a lot out there used by both veg*ns and non-veg*ns.

[Maisiepaisie]

Originally Posted by wheeky-UK

im sorry if i came across in a bad way, i really didnt mean too.
Im sorry if i caused anyone any grief

You didn't, don't worry The people who really irritate me are the ones who turn their noses up at any meal that doesn't contain meat.

Originally Posted by wheeky-UK

However i do have a confession and must say that after watching many of the films people have posted on this forum, i do watch what i eat more often and do not eat as much meat as i used to. its just very difficult.

If 5 people did this it would probably save more lives than one person cutting out meat completely. Every little helps.

I agree about veganism being similar to religion, however there are no set rules like in religion and often vegans disagree amongst themselves on various issues. There are a number of vegans who I think are complete idiots. They annoy me because I feel they present a bad image for vegans and animal rights and turn people away from both. I don't follow any religion but rather base my morals on my own sense of right and wrong.