I have been thinking about vegetarianism lately. About what makes them tick. I get veganism. That makes sense. No animal products whatsoever. It actually has some rationale and logical boundaries.
But vegetarianism? All of the vegetarian cookbooks I have include a lot of egg dishes. It doesn't make sense to me. The last I checked, eggs were just chickens of unrealized potential. I don't think it has changed.
If people are vegetarians for health reasons, then the eggs thing doesn't make sense, because you might as well have lean chicken breast and not get the cholesterol included in egg yolks.
If people are vegetarians for animal ethics purposes, then both milk and eggs don't make sense. Why draw a line at killing animals if you support animal exploitation. A lot of cows and chickens don't live in the best environments and probably don't LOVE what they do. It could almost be seen as slavery.
I am not for or against being vegetarian. We eat mostly vegetarian because our (meaning specifically mine and Richard's) bodies seem to respond better to less meat in our diets and we physically feel better eating more fruits, vegetables and grains. But I like meat occasionally and I have never felt bad eating eggs or any other animal byproduct. I have no ethical reservations, whatsoever. The fact that Richard thinks that meat is weird-- ESPECIALLY eggs, just gives us further reason to eat less of it. But it has no tie to any concern for animals.
I guess you could call us flexitarians, or flexi-vegans.
So why do vegetarians eat eggs? why are people vegetarian? that is my question.
50+ Vegetarian Dinner Recipes
3 days ago
4 comments:
I am no vegetarian but the egg thing might because the eggs are unfertilized maybe? Good luck finding an answer to that one.
Exactly. Unfertilized...No brothers and sisters that might come after you if you eat their sibling for dinner.
We have to get our protein in as many ethical ways as possible...beans and legumes can only go so far. And too much soy has it's drawbacks. So, buy some free range eggs. Free range chickens are as happy as a chicken can be.
I will accept dairy, too, from a hormone free cow. Maybe they don't like being limited to milk production, but they do it anyway (and we drink it) because it is part of the cow/human social contract. And, dairy products are super tasty, so I am not going to discriminate.
With the Eggs thing, my goal someday is to have some of my own chickens so that I can get my own eggs from happy chickens (like my in-laws used to have). They do produce a lot of eggs, so I don't think that they'll particularly miss them.
One of the reasons that we try and be vegetarians (I say "social carnivores" meaning we eat meat only on social occasions) is doctrinal: the whole "eat meat sparingly" from the Word of Wisdom.
that is exactly how I feel! The word of wisdom is fairly specific and definite when it says "eat meat sparingly and only in times of winter or famine"
hmmm. Social carnivores. That probably sums up what we are.
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