I have no problem not eating meat; I think the issue would be if I told myself that it wasn’t allowed. Forbidden fruit and all. I’d give in, and have the guilt. I’ll stay an omnivore, and just make the meat servings less often/smaller.
I would like to become vegetarian, but I just cannot overcome my craving for meat.
I could see becoming a vegetarian, but only of the “ovo-lacto” kind, as long as I had access to a lot of good vegetarian restaurants of the Italian, Eastern and Middle Eastern variety (i.e., if I remained in NYC or moved to another urban area with diverse cuisines readily available).
I would think I could happily rotate indefinitely between pizza and pasta with zucchini, eggplant parmagiana or lasagna, vegetarian curries, samosas and dosas, felafel/hummus/grape leaves and feta, Chinese chive dumplings, fried rice with eggs, peas and scallions, etc.,… but I know I couldn’t make all that food very quickly or easily myself.
My reason for even considering vegetarianism (and I have) would be the ethical concern of taking life to sustain my own. I recognize that we as a species evolved to hunt or scavenge animals as part of an omnivorous diet. But I also recognize that there is an ethical question posed by the taking of an animal’s life to sustain my own where, strictly speaking, it is not necessary to do so.
The solution to me should be a personal one. If I am willing to kill to sustain myself, I should be able to do just that. If I can’t bring myself to do the deed when put to the task of, say, killing a chicken (plucking and cleaning it being post-mortem work), then in an ethical sense I have not earned the blood right to eat its meat.
Despite this conclusion, I admit that I have not gone forth and put myself in this position. I’m pretty sure I could do it, though it would not be pleasant. So my conclusion is that I can eat meat, but should do so relatively infrequently, no more than once per day and often only a few times a week (celebrating my wife’s 40th birthday at a Brazilian rodizio notwithstanding).
I’ve had several near-vegetarian periods. Further, way back, there was a time when my diet could be described as vegan + meat (no milk, no eggs, etc). Some of the vegan milk substitutes can be very nice on selected foods. I particularly remember using a coconut-based cream substitute on apple crumble as being particularly excellent.
However, I would not turn vegetarian - let alone vegan - by choice. Not only is meat very tasty, but being a tall person, it’s a much more efficient and cost-effective method of energy input.
I have drifted into what is essentially a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. I do not enjoy most forms of meat (especially fish…seafood is the most disgusting form of meat to me, absolutely the last kind of meat I would eat).
Generally I don’t miss meat. I used to eat beef burgers all the time, but now that so many restaurants have a Gardenburger patty option I am happy with that.
There are occasions when I miss certain things like BBQ ribs or sausage that I used to enjoy, but those cravings never lasts long enough for me to actually seek out and eat meat.
I was a vegetarian for about a year, when I went away on a business trip for a few months. It was so difficult to keep it up when I couldn’t cook for myself and often had to figure out my food options on the fly that I just ate whatever was reasonably healthy.
I would have no problem going back as long as I cook for myself mostly. Only thing I would really miss is sushi. And yes, I consider that meat, any vegetarian who doesn’t is kidding themselves, IMO.
I don’t eat a lot of meat anyway, maybe once in a blue moon I’ll eat a hamburger. Ordinarily, I tend to keep pretty veggie already.
So yeah, I could pretty easily go vegetarian.
I also think it’s a pretty stupid argument to say “Oh, I could but vegetarians are just too arrogant and assholish, I could never tolerate that.” Is that really your guideline for identifying as part of a group? “Well I’ve always wanted to be a Libertarian but they’re just such jerks, I could never do it.”
Grow up. Assholes come in all flavors.
I only miss Thanksgiving turkey. Otherwise, I couldn’t care less.
I used to think I could become a vegetarian, because frankly I am tired of chicken, turkey and burgers. Even losing my sense of taste for ham and other pork stuff.
However, now that I live with a vegetarian (not as an SO, so we don’t share food) I find that a good bit of the food he eats is heavily seasoned and spiced. He enjoys Thai and Indian food, spicy bean burritos, garlic and spicy hummus, etc.
I don’t just dislike hot spices, my body has bad reactions to them. Like, too much ketchup and my face goes all red and hot. So I don’t think I could get into seasoning my tofu and beans enough to keep me eating.
I’d probably starve, or just eat cheese, cake and french fries all day.
And like someone mentioned upthread, I’d get frustrated trying to find something quick at a drive-thru. Yeah, I can grab a veggie sub from Subway or seek out a BK veggie burger, but I am a lazy sod and that’s no fun. One night me and roomie were out drinking and needed food, and we had to find a Denny’s so he could get some pancakes (I don’t begrudge him this - I was the one who suggested it, feeling bad that all he could get at a drive-thru was french fries).
Switcher here. I was a vegetarian for 10 years, and don’t recall particularly craving meat, although I would eat it on occasion when traveling or in social situations where there weren’t other choices. I’ve been a nonvegetarian for 12 years since then, and I don’t think I’d have that much trouble switching back. I don’t cook much meat anyway – I taught myself to cook while I was a vegetarian, and I don’t really cook meat all that well.
During one of the two above periods, I was a total pain-in-the-ass jerk about everything. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one.
Seriously, though, there are indeed many jerkish vegetarians out there, but I think they stand out in most folks’ minds because their diet is so different from what they eat. The fact is that many people are very weird about food, theirs and yours. But meat-eaters who are control freaks about dietary stuff are “picky,” while vegetarians are “self-righteous jerks.” For me, the most eye-opening thing about becoming a vegetarian was how many meat-eaters take it as a criticism of them no matter how you put it, and how many will take it as a challenge to get you to eat some meat by wheedling or trickery (or take particular joy in pointing out that some veggie item has a meat aspect to it, like the maple syrup thing above). I can think of more stories like that – of carnivores taking offense at the very idea of being a vegetarian – than instances of vegetarians I know being unreasonably demanding or preachy.
I can’t give up meat. I know in my mind that its bad for me, that I’d probably end up happier and healthier being a vegetarian, but I get weird cravings for things a lot. And most of those cravings are meat-based. And if I dont satisfy those cravings, I would be thinking about it all day.
I do want to apologize to the veggies out there though. I was one of those overbearing and obnoxious carnivores that liked to pick on vegetarians. I pestered a friend’s cousin about her meal a few times and regret acting like an ass about it.