question was Parents always worry...about vegetarians?

July 27, 2007

When I was younger, I was in a program for junior zoologists and

naturalists. I had the pleasure of studying under Barry Wakeman who,

at the time, was the curator of Ed at the Cincinnati zoo. He was a great

environmentalist. I am however unsure if he was vegetarian, vegan, etc.

I do know he ate daddy longleggers and black ants, as he taught me. :-)

Barry was very good at getting us to think. We had a discussion on

vegetarian vs omnivore.- pros and cons. The only real block we had was

farm land. And it's a question I am not prepared to answer. I now it

takes a great deal of land to raise cattle etc.. but if the whole world

went meatless.. wouldn't we need just as much land to raise crops? Some

animals make their homes in fields, when we till- clear etc.. we destroy

their homes. It was never answered really. It was only offered BY

CHILDREN as a con.

How would you answer that?

Steph

" We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means

doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case,

the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. "

C.S. Lewis

On

Behalf Of vegton

Thursday, July 26, 2007 4:40 PM

Re: Parents always worry...about vegetarians?

I feel your pain! Sometimes I want to print up a list of the

most " stupid " questions I get along with my answers so when someone

starts in on me I can just hand them my list so they can leave me

alone. One of my favorites is " don't you think vegetables feel

pain? " Ugh! If someone is truly interested in why I eat the way I

do I'm more than happy to educate them, but if they're going to ask

stupid questions (and they know darn well they're stupid) I really

don't want to waste my time.

And what's with meat eaters purposely shoving meat in their mouths

in front of me and saying things like " mmmmmm..... " ??? Sorry, now

I'm thinking about all those annoying things people do to me.

Tonia

@gro <%40>

ups.com, Kadee M <abbey_road3012

wrote:

>

> I know what you mean... I hate hate hate it when people say I

don't " like " meat or something with meat in it. It's not simple

dislike!! It's disgust, loathing, nausea, etc. I don't *like* cooked

spinach, but I'll eat it. Grr.

>

> I also cannot stand having to explain to everyone individually

what exactly we do eat. If someone asks me that, I ask if they're

considering going vegetarian. If they say yes, I'll give them all

the information they want and then some. If not (which is the vast

majority of the time), or they're " just curious, " I tell them to

look it up on the internet because I've had that conversation

entirely enough times the past nearly eleven years. I don't want to

seem rude, but really it's a lot more rude for them to waste our

time with stupid questions that could be answered by simple common

sense than it is for us to refuse to answer a question that we've

answered a million times before. I just want to sit down and

flipping eat my food!!! Geez!!!

>

> " diana.platt " <diana.platt

wrote: I just spent a week with my

parents. My daughter, who is a very

> picky eater and is a demanding child, learned to eat some new

foods

> while we were there (peanut butter). My parents who are not

> vegetarian always make joking comments about who is going to eat

what

> and what I will or will not " like " (it is usually some kind of

pig).

>

> Now that I have a child and am raising her vegetarian until she

can

> make an informed choice of her own, it seems like all we talked

about

> was what people eat. Finally when the topic was raised about

what I

> was going to eat for the 10th time, my mom got it sort of....she

> said 'oh she just doesn't eat meat, but we will have lots of non-

meat

> sides and she will fend for herself. I know she will not

starve'.

>

> I was pleased until we got home and I got a call about two days

> later. Seems like my mom was talking to her other nurse friends

> about high need (fussy) babies and someone said that they had a

> patient that was very fussy but that she was not getting enough

> protein in her diet-maybe that was why my daughter is so fussy.

>

> Arrrggggggg! I told my mom to think about all that my daughter

ate

> while we were there especially the protein. I said, do you think

she

> is starving? We both laughed!

>

> I guess it takes time for people to realize what they are saying

and

> no matter what mothers always worry....I know I do!

Kadee Sedtal

>

> " When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven

or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's

not, mmmmmmmm, boy. " -Jack Handey

>

> Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from

someone who knows.

> Answers - Check it out.

>

July 27, 2007

Raising cattle takes up a whole lot more land per pound of " food " produced than

crops do. If the world went meatless and we planted crops where the cattle had

been, we'd be making use of land that was already " ruined " for wildlife and not

having to mess up anymore. If all the land was used for crops instead of cattle

or feed for cattle, we'd have a lot more food without using up anymore land. I

forgot the actual percentage but well over half of all the grains grown in the

US are grown to feed cattle!! Imagine if not only that land was made available

for human food to be grown, but all those millions of acres that are currently

being used to raise cattle!! More food, less land, A LOT less pollution to the

air and water. All good.

RnScarlson <scarlson1 wrote: When

I was younger, I was in a program for junior zoologists and