should i become vegetarian?

[mollykins]

i either don't like some meats or the ones that i find edible have no flavour, so whats the point in eating meat?

beef and lamb i have to cover in onion/ mint to make it edible, but then the texture is either dry, fatty or chewy.

chicken pork and most fish don't taste of much so whats the point.

and once i had a tuna sandwich, before i went scuba diving, not realising there were tuna in the water, and i felt really bad, plus i want to be a marine biologist and i'll feel really bad then.

so whats the point in me eating meat?

[mollykins]

plus i don't like the idea of eating animals that have been trated cruely during their life and eating discusting parts of them, i eat free range stuff when i can but there's sometimes when you don't know whats in the meat you're eating. If i have to go to a fastfood place, i have a veggie burger or something.

[ummmm]

If it is dry, fatty and chewy then it's being cooked wrong.

I didn't eat meat for years...from about the age of 13 until my 20's because I didn't like it. I had no ethical reason not to though. Someone served me meat and not wanting to be rude I ate it. It was lovely. My taste buds had obviously changed over the years.

I still like to cook veggie meals and to be honest the lads barely notice there isn't meat in them. I wouldn't announce the fact though.

Still don't like sausages and bacon.

[mollykins]

I can't stand eating something blo o d y or even pink so i hav to have it well done, which makes beef dry and chewy, plus my dad has to buy the fattest piece of lamb he can else he says there's no flavour but i don't like the flavour or the fattiness.

[mollykins]

you jsut announced the fact though . . .

[ummmm]

No....I don't announce the fact that there will be no meat in our dinner. Or the boys will moan. If I just serve it they barely notice and if it's tasty then they don't mind.

If I told them there's not going to be any meat then they would have a negative attitude towards it before they even tried it.

[joggerjayne]

Why be a vegetarian?

Why not be an omnivore, but just eat what you fancy?

[mccfluff]

you've answered your own question here really, you don;t like meat and you have an ethical problem eating fish, so just go veggie. its not that hard and its easy enough to be creative and make different meals. (i'm not veggie btw just eat veggie a lot as its cheaper!) oh and that's another benefit its much much cheaper esp if you shop at markets

[ummmm]

Helluva lot cheaper....

But Molly's only 16 I think....

[mollykins]

yeah so its difficult to go veggie at the moment.

[mccfluff]

so i take it you live iwth your parents?

[mollykins]

yeah

[mccfluff]

have you talked to them about it at all? my brother went veggie when he was about 13 my mum was good but my dad was quite dismissive.

if your serious about it talk to them and offer to cook for yourself and when youre confident maybe cook for them as well?

[mollykins]

If my dad could be, he'd be a carnivore. I tell them, but they just 'oh there's not much you can eat, you'll soon get fed up.'

[mollykins]

I make my own packed lunches and don't have meat in them anymore, plus on the odd occaison i'm school dinner, i go for the veggie option. Plus when i'm at a restaurant, i mainly go for the veggie option.

[mollykins]

Plus because i want to be healthy and am slowly eating less and less meat, i rarely have a fried breakfast, so i normally make my self a toasted sandwich or scrambled egg on toast with stuff like peppers and tomatoes in it, eggs are edible but are nicer with other strong flavours with them.

[mollykins]

plus i need protein.

[mccfluff]

i think that is a preconception a lot of people have, so why don't you just tell your parent your going to cut back on the meat and make your own dinners for a while, go out and buy a decent veggie cook book or go online and try it out for a couple for weeks see how you get on.

this is a good site but also try bbc good food and delia online

http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/