Vegetarianism

Maybe I'm not the right person to open this discussion, because I'm mostly anti-vegetarian when it comes to this topic.

There are a number of types of vegetarianism, which exclude or include various foods.
Lacto-ovo vegetarianism includes animal products such as eggs, milk, and honey.
Lacto vegetarianism includes milk but not eggs.
Ovo vegetarianism includes eggs but not milk.
Veganism excludes all animal flesh and animal products, including milk, honey, eggs.
Raw veganism includes only fresh and uncooked fruit, nuts, seeds, and vegetables.
Fruitarianism permits only fruit, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant.
Su vegetarianism (such as in Buddhism), excludes all animal products as well as vegetables in the allium family (which have the characteristic aroma of onion and garlic): onion, garlic, scallions, leeks, or shallots.
Macrobiotic diets consist mostly of whole grains and beans.

Strict vegetarians also avoid products that may use animal ingredients not included in their labels or which use animal products in their manufacturing e.g. cheeses that use animal rennet (enzymes from animal stomach lining), gelatin (from animal skin, bones, and connective tissue), some sugars that are whitened with bone char (e.g. cane sugar, but not beet sugar) and alcohol clarified with gelatin or crushed shellfish and sturgeon.

Individuals may describe themselves as \"vegetarian\" while practicing a semi-vegetarian diet. In other cases, they may simply describe themselves as \"flexitarians\". These diets may be followed by those who reduce animal flesh consumed as a way of transitioning to a vegetarian diet or for health, environmental, or other reasons. The term \"semi-vegetarian\" is contested by most vegetarian groups, which state that vegetarians must exclude all animal flesh. Semi-vegetarian diets include pescetarianism, which includes fish and sometimes other seafood; pollotarianism, which includes poultry; and macrobiotic diets consisting mostly of whole grains and beans, but at times may include fish.

I personally find myself eating less meat in the hot season, but I generally see vegetarianism pointless (with the exception of someone who is vegetarian because of strict religious beliefs, like Jainism).

What are your opinions about it?
I could write a ton about it because I've discussed this a lot with friends...

I myself am an omnivore,thus i consume everything that comes into my path,be that a tasty piggy,turkey,poultry,rabbit,fish of any kind (white and red) various invertebrates,or a juicy tomato,potato,onion,milk,honey,salad,paprika,cabbage etc.

And,my i quote the great Bartholomew J. Simpson: \"Sorry Lis, I can't be a vegetarian, I love the taste of death\".

I myself don't oftenly eat meat, but I do eat fish.
I actually prefere a plate of vegitables and fish, though if I would relly want to eat some meat (it doesn't happen that often) I wont be holding back urges. And if there is nothing else to eat, I wont hesitate in eating meat

I am not veggy!


Mes hommages.

T.

I'm not a vegetarian, couldn't do it. I love the taste of meat.

Personally, I don't mind vegetarians, unless they try push their lifestyle onto others, fact is, it's not as healthy as a diet with some meat (and I don't mean fast foods and the like) because it lacks the amount of nutrients, such as iron and protein that some meats contain, nothing in a vegetarian diet contains that. Red meat is good for you if prepared correctly and you don't eat too much.

I did Home Economics for part of High School, dropped out in 4th year due to missing too much and luckily I remember some of the stuff about nutrition we had to learn.

Kuroboshi wrote:

Personally, I don't mind vegetarians, unless they try push their lifestyle onto others, fact is, it's not as healthy as a diet with some meat (and I don't mean fast foods and the like) because it lacks the amount of nutrients, such as iron and protein that some meats contain, nothing in a vegetarian diet contains that. Red meat is good for you if prepared correctly and you don't eat too much.

Agreed with the statement about vegetarians trying to push their lifestyle onto others, however, I think things like lentils and (soy?) beans are a good protein source? Along with things like spinach (and possibly broccoli if I recall correctly) which are very high in iron content, therefore, I would question the statement about nutrition. I know there are many vegetarian Chinese soups which have high iron content as well, I think due to red..Dates? Or something similar.

Personally, I could very easily turn vegetarian as I have very little meat in my diet as it is. There are tons of tofu options that are very realistic replacements for meat as well, and they taste great so, I'd be fine without real meat.