Veg Chat Midlands

My daughter is off on an overnight school trip soon, so a form with her dietary requirements was filled in. A friend was privvy to a discussion on the subject in the school's staffroom that went like this (almost verbatim):

" They've put down Vegan in the dietary section. What's a Vegan ?"

Moments silence, then...

" Is that a Vegetarian that doesn't eat fish ?"

Got to laugh eh ?

And this person is a teacher!!! i hate to think what she teaches the kids!!

I'm veggie and when i get asked if i eat fish (stupid people) i always use an expression that i got from VIVA - If it's got a face i don't eat it. If they still don't understand then they really are stupid!!

a fish is not a vegetable

i tend to respnd to that "do you eat fish" thing with humour along the lines off

""ahh yes the fish second cousin the the carrot and distant relation the mushrrom" it tends to make people a little sheepish ....

One women however even argued that the fish was a vegetable because it didn't breathe like a mammal or a bird did ..... needless to say even the other meat eaters sniggered about that lack of reality.

Rob i recall many years ago going on a school trip and living for a week on cheese and potato pie presumably when faced with a vegetarian student that was the only food they could come up with that did not involve meat or that well known vegetable the fish. God only knows what the few veggies woudl have done if we'd been vegan

What a friend of mine does is tells her kids teachers they have allergies to all animal products i tell you, you've never seen such quickness to ensure the food on trips away is indeed vegan

beccaxx

Have you had the question? 'but vegetables are alive until you kill them to eat them'
What would your reply be?
I have said in the past that vegetables don't bleed and that animals are sentinent beings, but I have been told they do, as they leak juice when cut.
My friend is a meat eater but hates cutting flowers as they die Doesn't see the cruelty with animals dying just so she can eat them

I have also told chip shops in the past that I am allergic to animal products, to make sure that the chips have not been cooked with fish etc and not in lard.
I asked the one guy if they were cooked in lard, smelt funny in there, he said no, so I told him I was allergic and that I would sue if I came out in a rash, he quickly told me he was sorry he was mistaken, it was lard!!!!
Amazing how they can suddenly remember

Paula

paulakatkins wrote:Have you had the question? 'but vegetables are alive until you kill them to eat them'
What would your reply be?
I have said in the past that vegetables don't bleed and that animals are sentinent beings, but I have been told they do, as they leak juice when cut.

Often, for soem reason it seems ot prey on their minds instead of the horrific deaths caused in slaughterhouses ..... i tend to respond by asking if they have ever witnessed a carrot fleeing for its life? this is normally followed by soem spluttering, incoherent mumbling about vegetables not having legs anda change of topic.

My friend is a meat eater but hates cutting flowers as they die Doesn't see the cruelty with animals dying just so she can eat them

Cognitave disonance is amazing, i had to sit through my step mum telling me how badly battery hens were treated (i've known this since i was 6 for goodness sake) but that she was still going to eat them because she liked eating the meat. sometimes smilign and walking away is the only response one can make ... without screaming.

I have also told chip shops in the past that I am allergic to animal products, to make sure that the chips have not been cooked with fish etc and not in lard.
I asked the one guy if they were cooked in lard, smelt funny in there, he said no, so I told him I was allergic and that I would sue if I came out in a rash, he quickly told me he was sorry he was mistaken, it was lard!!!!
Amazing how they can suddenly remember

Paula

Isn't it just we did the same thing at the local bakers to make sure what he used was entirly animal product free and bless me if he isn't now a veggie himself

beccaxx

Hi Becca,

Thanks for the reply. Wouldn't it be great if we could get everyone to become veggies as easy as your baker

There was a programme last year about slaughterhouses, did you see it?
Think it was Channel 4 if I can remember right.
It amazed me how people sat and watched the animals being killed and then ate the fresh meat, still warm before the chefs cooked it.
It wasn't a true picture anyway as it was done on a small basis, half a dozen animals at a time and it was all done properly, to the book.
I've seen what goes on in big scale slaughterhouses and it was nothing like that

My dad used to offer me black pudding all the time cause it wasn't meat.
They say veggies are strange people

Paula

paulakatkins wrote:Hi Becca,

Thanks for the reply. Wouldn't it be great if we could get everyone to become veggies as easy as your baker

There was a programme last year about slaughterhouses, did you see it?
Think it was Channel 4 if I can remember right.
It amazed me how people sat and watched the animals being killed and then ate the fresh meat, still warm before the chefs cooked it.
It wasn't a true picture anyway as it was done on a small basis, half a dozen animals at a time and it was all done properly, to the book.
I've seen what goes on in big scale slaughterhouses and it was nothing like that

My dad used to offer me black pudding all the time cause it wasn't meat.
They say veggies are strange people

Paula

In my personal opinion they aught to take every single person who eats meat to a alrge scale industrial slaughterhouse just after they have all visited a large scale industrial factory farm, at the very least it would get folks thinking about just what their "food" (blah) goes through before it is eaten.

I have a friend (we met through conservation work) who hunts (shooting not hounds etc) and his theory is everyone who wants to eat animals aught to kill and prepare their own or go veggie or vegan, he reckons that would dramtically reduce animal suffering in one very quick move.

I tend to agree but goodness knows withthe meat and dairy industries having such government backing even in this country let alone the US i can't see it happening voluntarily.

i've been in an industrial slaughterhouse and it will never ever leave me just how little those animals were thought of byt he staff there, maybe not their fault maybe its the only way they can do their jobs and sleep at night but lets just say respect for the animals was the last thing i saw on those occasions.

I couldn't do it now though.

LOL black pudding not meat well i suppose not although congealed dead animal blood doesn't precicly make it a vegetable either

My nan used to try and sneak lamb cassarole passed me when i was alot younger by claiming the lamb was mushroom

She meant well i know but still it meant one had ot be on ones toes when eating there, often we ended up with cheese sandwichs

ahh well i assaulted my baker with my cooking and that of a friend of mine, we errm appealed to his taste buds and then regaled him with tales about animal abuse left lots of viva and CIWF leaflets around he is a very commited veggie now and lives somewhere in the wilds of scotland (invernesshire) on an organic farm no less. (envy him)

beccaxx

Hey guys, to be honest the only way i can get by being friends with people who are none veggie/vegan is by knowing that they are ignorant too the goings on, if i though for one second they though about the pain and suffering and were at peace with it as they ate the meat, i just couldn't know them. I do have friends who put up a very good argument and perspective as to why the eat meat. and thats where i leave it down to personal choice. Its the people who are so uninformed and seem to take pleasure in eating a kfc simply because i'v just informed them of the fact the chickens are treated like footballs, those people can carry on reading the sun newspaper happily if they want too...as i slowly concoct a master plan too slap them all....
What do we all think of Mr Hugh Fernley Whittingstall? i remember watching the programme where he made the guests kill the chicken before they ate it. His point of view was ' This chicken had a comfortable, happy existence, now i am taking responsibility for ending its life' basically saying that if one eats the meat one should take responsibility for were it has come from, how it dies etc etc. I thought it was a pretty interesting perspective, and although we all know the view of slaughter portrayed on tv *as you guys have stated above* are completely none accurate, still seeing the life being drained out of the animal seemed too turn a few of the guests. What bugs me though is that there will be programmes that focus on one particular animal, like chickens at the moment and people will say 'yes now i have seen how it happens i just couldn't eat a chicken again' as they happily chomp on a burger. Do these people really need to see every animal abused and killed before they stop eating every kind of meat? grrrr
xxxAnkaxxx

rob wrote:My daughter is off on an overnight school trip soon, so a form with her dietary requirements was filled in. A friend was privvy to a discussion on the subject in the school's staffroom that went like this (almost verbatim):

" They've put down Vegan in the dietary section. What's a Vegan ?"

Moments silence, then...

" Is that a Vegetarian that doesn't eat fish ?"

Got to laugh eh ?

This does not suprise me after all how many places offering vegetarian options still offer fish for veggies? It is sad though that there is so much ignorance in those education. I had hoped things had improve from when my son was at school 18yr ago but it seems not! try sending them some educational stuff from the vegan society.

paulakatkins wrote:Hi Becca,

Thanks for the reply. Wouldn't it be great if we could get everyone to become veggies as easy as your baker

There was a programme last year about slaughterhouses, did you see it?
Think it was Channel 4 if I can remember right.
It amazed me how people sat and watched the animals being killed and then ate the fresh meat, still warm before the chefs cooked it.
It wasn't a true picture anyway as it was done on a small basis, half a dozen animals at a time and it was all done properly, to the book.
I've seen what goes on in big scale slaughterhouses and it was nothing like that

My dad used to offer me black pudding all the time cause it wasn't meat.
They say veggies are strange people

Paula

Black pudding UGH! It has always disgusted me its animal blood with great chunks of fat how can anyone find that appealing?