I’ll eat just about anything if you cook it right. Plant, animal or fungi, there are very few things I wouldn’t try at least once, but for some reason I am uncomfortable with lamb and veal. I have no objection to raising cattle for slaughter, and I’ll eat a three-egg omelet without shedding a tear for the potential embryos I just consumed, but the thought of cooking and eating an infant just gives me the willies.
So McDonald’s new Lamb McNuggets don’t interest you in the least? 
I really really like veal. I’ve never had lamb. If I really stop to think about where my meat comes from, yeah, it kinda makes me sad. But it’s how life works. People are built for eating meat. We breed and raise these animals for food purposes. So yeah, it’s sad that it’s a baby and didn’t really get to live very long, and I would never be able to kill, slaughter, or so all that to an actual animal myself… but I am a consumer, I am a carnivore. And they are yummy.
When you are eating lamb, you are not eating the tiny, fluffy, ‘gambolling’ lamb but instead a small, young sheep which isn’t halfway as cute, and has had an enjoyably free-range life in a field somewhere for a fairly decent length of time. The problems some people began to have with the ethical nature of eating veal was not due to the fact it’s the flesh of a very young animal (which in the case of veal, unlike the lamb, it is), but with methods used to produce the majority of veal during the last few decades - without wishing to go into too much detail (it’s not terribly pleasant), ‘factory-raised’ veal meant that the animal was removed from its mother after a couple of days, tethered in a tiny stall without sunlight, water or any space to move around in. The calf would be force-fed a liquid diet and would not leave the pen until taken for slaughter. This method produced the palest flesh, which was attractive to consumers.
However, there is more and more truly ‘free range’ veal available these days, although the flesh will generally be darker and less tender/have a coarser texture. The effects of the vegetarian and ethical eating movements are beginning to be seen in farming methods, although it’s a slow process - a small but significant proportion of consumers are now willing to pay a little more or purchase a less-‘standardised’ product if they are aware the farming methods used were as humane as possible.
:looks around: oops, sorry, I appear to have mistaken this with Great Debates…
I love roast lamb, especially with rosemary-mint jelly and a huge pile of french beans and parmesan-roast potatoes. However, I don’t eat veal because I got so used to disapproving of its production methods that it’s just no longer a part of my diet, and I wouldn’t want to eat it unless I have purchased the raw meat myself and was sure it was from an ethical source. I have no problem with eating flesh but I like my meat to be happy!meat wherever possible.
Only if its overcooked. Yummy.
I have no problem with it at all. While I’ve heard of people disliking veal (my mother for one), this is the first time I’ve ever encountered the concept of feeling odd about eating lamb from a non-vegetarian.
Roast lamb is pretty standard fare in my family. Veal is not, because of the reasons Potter lists - cruel treatment to produce the most desirable end result.
No.
I cannot understand the thrill of veal. Pale, tasteless meat is to me a waste of money. Give me well-aged beef any time.
Lamb is fine, but to be honest the tastiest “sheep-meat” I have ever eaten is mutton in the form of a bihari kebab at a Pakistani restaurant here. Spicy and so long marinaded it is butter-soft, almost like pate.
I don’t care at what age an animal is killed as long as it doesn’t cause undue distress to the mother (ie killing an unweaned five-day-old infant) and as long as it is killed humanely, and has lived its life in humane conditions.
According to this SDMB Staff report, lamb is technically the meat of a sheep that is less than one year old. I’ll leave it up to your conscience to decide whether that’s old enough, but I can confirm that the animal is fully-grown by then.
It tastes delicious In My Humble Opinion.
I think I’d be a hypocrite if it bothered me (although I’m not accusing anyone else of that).
If anyone cares I’ve ranted on this before, one could probably search a find it, if one cared. But let me hijack this just a little.
[Little Hijack]It is the single most surprising fact of this world that the slaughter of animals for our eating pleasure is so unquestioningly accepted. I believe that it is stark proof that we are capable of embracing self-reinforcing delusions in order to suit ourselves. Of course, I say “we”…[/Little Hijack]
[Really Big Fucking Hijack] “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” Genesis 1:29
Can anyone tell me what that is meant to mean?
BTW after “the fall” God says (I paraphrase) “You’re so fucked-up already you might as well eat flesh now.”[/Really Big Fucking Hijack]
Anyway, enjoy your dinner.
I’m sure we could think of more surprising facts if we cared to.
If you feel the need to use the Bible as a culinary guide (I don’t), you need to read Leviticus, or any of these other references.
On point one, er, go on, name some.
On point two, er, I don’t, my conscience is my guide, I am in fact a God-fearing, Evangelical Atheist. I only dropped that quote in because I’m surprised that the ever-so-ethical-religious among us, hardly ever bring that up.
I am easily surprised, obviously.
Did I sense some defensiveness in your pithy post, I wasn’t sure if the “if we cared to” bit wasn’t some subtle, coded attack?
More like your hijacking this post to espouse your own little vision, whilst calling people “deluded”.
No defensiveness, no attack, just an opinion (just as yours is an opinion). It seems to me that the only one on the attack is you. It also seems very strange to rely on a Biblical quotation to criticise eating of meat in a thread where nobody has declared an interest in their ethics based on the Bible. Even stranger for an athiest to do it.
BTW, there’s no entry in the Guinness Book of Records for “single most surprising fact of this world”, nor, I suspect is there ever likely to be. But I’ll take a punt that somebody being a God-fearing Athiest might make it into the top three.
A propos Do you find anything wrong with eating lamb or veal?
Yes! IMO it is the consequence of delusional thinking.
Better?
I have no problem eating either. I often use a mixture of veal and beef to make my beef stew. It goes over very well.
We had lamb for lunch this past Saturday. It was nummy.
…but it doesn’t address the OP. Which is asking specifically about eating lil’ kiddie animals. Your problem seems to be with meat in general.
I never cook lamb or veal at home, so when I go out to eat, the first thing I look for on any menu is lamb or veal. mmmmmm
No, I have no problem eating either, if they are prepared well (which is why I don’t attempt to cook either.)
Obligatory Simpsons reference:
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