What baffles me is this idea that a vegetarian diet is very restrictive.
IANAV. I am a very happy omnivore. Yet, I eat “vegetarian” meals all the time. I’ll bet the prostelytizing carnivores like the OP do too. A “vegetarian” meal is not necessarily a pile of tofu–it’s just a meal that does not involve meat. I had an apple and cheddar for lunch yesterday. I guess that is a vegetarian meal, but I sure didn’t think of it that way. It’s just what I felt like having. Then I had chicken and broccoli from the take-out Chinese place for supper. Again, that’s just what I felt like having. I don’t require meat at every meal, and I’m just as happy eating no meat at any given meal.
Anyway, all of this is directed at people who express concern that children won’t be healthy if raised without meat. Meat is nutritious, but so are boatloads of other foods. It is really easy to get adequate (and more than adequate) amounts of protein and other nutrients on an ordinary lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. When you start moving into the realm of veganism, things get trickier. Vegans have to be more careful, and kids, by definition, are not careful eaters. It’s possible, of course, to raise a healthy vegan child, but the parents must be vigilant.
Why shouldn’t vegetarian parents raise their kids vegetarian? Especially when there is no reason to believe that it’s harmful at all. The kid may remain a vegetarian, or may become an omnivore later in life. Like anything else, you raise your kid according to your values and practices, and then the kid picks and chooses what he will take with him into adulthood. I’m going to raise the Beansprout as an omnivore, because that’s what I am. At some point, he may choose vegetarianism. No biggie. If he chooses vegetarianism at a time when I am still cooking for him, I will happily accomodate his wishes part of the time, just like I would accomodate any other food need or preference part of the time.
As to the OP–it’s not too hard to read between the lines–you’re hostile towards vegetarians/vegetarianism. Maybe if you looked beyond that, you could learn a thing or two from them.
As far as the crazy couple–well, it’s been said already, but I’ll say it again–they weren’t vegetarians/vegans (cod-liver oil!). They were just crazy/abusive.
The thing I’m wondering is that since breatharians absorb their nutrients from the ambient energy around them, if you irradiate them (like with an x-ray, or fallout from a nuclear bomb,) will they get fat?
Hell, for that matter, if they face a stiff breeze will they explode?
As for the OP, it’s just a little more proof that some people simply do not deserve to breed. I hope that the child grows up healthy and has a happy life in spite of its natural parents.
Hell, judging from what the latter half of the article said, I hope the baby makes it past its first year. Those two fuckers almost killed the baby, and would happily finish the job if given the chance.
Well, heptapod, it’s just a ridiculous question to ask really. How is a baby or toddler supposed to make a decision about their dietary needs/wants above the obvious “COOKIE!!” request? And it doesn’t sound very fair to require a vegetarian/vegan to cook and feed meat to their child if that isn’t their lifestyle.
I’m a vegan and have been for over 5 years. I cook meat for my boyfriend, we have meat in the house, it’s really not a big deal. As far as your saying your friend said “oh I made a vegan meal because I don’t eat meat” yeah? So what? A lot of food is vegan. I didn’t realize they were supposed to bend over backwards to accomidate your overbearing need for meat at each and every meal. Whenever I have company I cook pasta or something, just because my guest eats meat doesn’t require me to make it for them.
And Scylla?
All I can say is who cares? Why do you care what anyones beliefs are? Are they imposing them onto you?
“the problem occurs when people start to believe their personal preferences are universal truth and act accordingly” the key words you failed to pick up on is PERSONAL PREFERENCES. If they’re not hurting you, who gives a damn? Why is it a “problem?”
I’m vegan because I think animal products are icky. Bottom line. If someone has a problem with it, I believe that problem is due to their own insecurities, not my dietary preferences.
My only problem is when a vegan comes to MY HOUSE and gets pissed off at ME because I cooked food with meat, eggs, cheese, fish or milk in them because that’s what I eat.
I prepare foods in my house that are within my normal dietary boundaries, and if someone comes over and asks me for some food, they best not bitch at me because I didn’t make something they like.
Would you get pissed off if a friend you invited over got upset because s/he was trying very hard to lose weight and you served fried chicken and chocolate cake for dinner?
There’s a difference between something you LIKE and something you CAN EAT. Vegans and vegetarians get very ill if they consume meat/animal products (depending on how long they’ve been that way) I know if I eat any animal products I get DEATHLY ill, i’m in the bathroom for HOURS. And no, it’s not in my head, in some cases I won’t even realize I’ve eaten it (it’s in something and the person who made it forgot) until I’ve been in the bathroom for awhile. I think that’s what some meat eaters don’t get. It’s not like vegans/vegs can just eat some of that steak or chicken to “be polite”. But i’m sure you can eat some of the pasta they made for you without puking up your insides. THAT’S the difference. If you were allergic to seafood, would you get mad if someone invited you over and served lobster and shrimp?
I look forward to the day when the extremist vegans/vegetarians start turning on each other in classic internecine warfare, each proclaiming their way is the only way.
Of course, none of them have sufficient muscle mass to make the battles interesting, but it might be good for a few laughs.
Or if you had a friend with a severe allergy to tomatoes, and you were serving spaghetti?
I mean, if they got pissed at YOU for eating YOUR cheese or YOUR eggs, that’s one thing. But I wouldn’t blame them for being upset if you served them meat, when they said they don’t eat it, or cheese.
My kitchen is not a restaurant. If a person comes to MY house and asks me for some food, they can either eat what I cooked or not eat.
Did you or did you not see that part about asks me for some food? As in, I didn’t invite them to dinner, they showed up and invited themselves into my refrigerator.
And I have had vegan friends complain that while I prepared some dish just for them, specially, if I invited them over, it was rude of me to have meat for myself and the other meat eaters in attendance.
I made vegan spaghetti for one particular person who was visiting, including noodles, from scratch, no animal products. I also made a meat-version that was for all the meat eating people who were coming over. I kept them in separate pots and bowls, but that didn’t stop the vegan from telling me that I was an inconsiderate fool for having meat on the same table she was eating at.
That pissed me off a bit, yeah. I went out of my way to cater to her dietary concerns only to have her tell me that she can’t eat in my house because there was meat on someone else’s plate?