Question 98

Are you a vegetarian? Why?

• Yes. I am convinced that it will keep me healthy longer than eating meat will. (Dale)

• I don't eat red meat, but I eat fowl, fish, eggs and milk. My disabling migraine headaches went away when I stopped eating red meat. I don't argue with a pragmatic solution to a problem. (Liz Huth #658)

• Yes and no, I am a Vegetarian 4 days a week.

  >Why?

  To raise a cow and feed a family you use about 10 times as much land as you would if you would feed the family on a Vegetarian diet.

  But of course I couldn't stand it without cheese. (YodelFish #1645)

• Nope...

  > Why?

  Because nothing compares to a medium rare steak mignon with wild rice, asparagus in sauce hollondaise, and a dry red wine. (Matthias Weiss)

• No.

  >Why?

  New York strip steaks, prime rib, BBQ pork ribs, bacon, bratwursts, Peking duck, salmon steaks, ...

  Need I say more? (Chris Nelson #135)

• No. I like meat and vegetables and plants and mushrooms and anything else that isn't poisonous. I'm an omnivore and proud of it.

  I can be pretty picky sometimes with regards to food though. I don't like to eat stuff that smells bad to me. I like raw broccoli dipped in some ranch sauce, but not cooked broccoli because it smells bad to me. Go figure. (Elroy Willis)

• Quite frankly, I don't care about non-human animals that much. I wouldn't eat my pet (if I had one) and I wouldn't eat anything that qualifies as a person. Anything else is fair game.

  On the other hand, there are some meats I avoid for health reasons. I've been cutting back sharply on beef, and have been eating poultry and seafood instead. (Frank Wustner #119)

• I try to minimize my intake of meat, but I'm not a complete vegetarian. My reason is purely economic. When I found a statement to the effect that it takes so many dozens of pounds of feed to produce one pound of meat (a sensible concept), I decided it made more sense to eat a little further down the food chain. (Nemo #1331)

• Hmm...I'm primarily a vegetarian because I don't want to hurt animals. However, this is not an absolute, since I am not vegan. I use some dairy products, and occasionally eat eggs. Additionally, at least at present, even vegetarianism doesn't completely stop animals from coming to harm.

  Anyway, the main idea is to not harm animals. If I were to discover that the plants I was eating were sentient, I would mostly likely think twice about whether I should give up on the whole idea (thus starting to eat animals again) or find a way to eat only synthetic food. (Dan McEwen #1617)

• Yes. Mainly because the resources used in producing animals for consumption are a major cause of environmental degradation, possibly second only to the global warming. Cow farts don't help with that either.

  My secondary reason is because eating meat isn't necessary and is often harmful to your health. I intend to live as long as possible.

  My third reason is that I don't like the idea of raising and slaughtering so many sentient creatures. This is an aesthetic point I admit. However everyone who eats meat should visit an abbatoir.

  I occasionally miss prime rib, but that's about it, now that veggie burgers are so good. (RandallG #320)