Once you have made the choice to go veggie, it’s likely that friends
and family members (even non-friends and non-family!) will constantly ask
you why. Some will delight in trying to dissuade you from your choice.
They may also ask you challenging questions in an effort to make you question
your decision. Don’t be intimidated! Feel confident in knowing you
have made a positive, healthy, ethical decision – one that is good
for you, good for the animals, and good for the environment. One
of the most annoying thing about being a veggie is being asked the same
questions
over and over again!
Here are some of the most commonly asked questions and
some suggested answers. Always feel free to contact us for help and support.
0 Isn't vegetarianism unhealthy?
0 Isn’t
protein only available from meat?
0 Isn't eating meat natural?
0 Isn't vegetarian food more expensive than meat dishes?
0 Doesn’t
cooking vegetarian food take a long time?
0 What would happen to the farmers?
0 If we all went veggie what would happen to the animals?
0 Aren't
animals less intelligent and less important than humans? As
the top of the food chain, shouldn’t we be allowed to do what
we like with animals?
0 If
you’re a vegetarian, why are you wearing leather shoes?
0 Isn't vegetarianism just a fashion?
0 Wouldn’t
vegetarians eat meat if they were starving on a desert island?
Isn't vegetarianism unhealthy?
Vegetarianism is a healthy choice as long as a wide range of foods
is eaten. Chocolate and chips are vegetarian, however, they do
not represent a balanced diet. Research comparing a balanced meat
diet
to a balanced veggie diet found that the vegetarian diet was the
healthiest. (The Oxford Vegetarian Study).
Isn’t protein only
available from meat?
Protein is available in all foods apart from refined white sugar
and some oils and your protein needs are automatically met by a
balanced, varied diet. Meat does provide protein, however it is
only one source. Nuts, beans, eggs, soya, textured vegetable protein,
Quorn, and lentils are all excellent sources of protein.
Isn't eating meat natural?
Arguing that an action is natural can be quite problematic. A common
argument used by meat-eaters is that because we have canine teeth
this is evidence that we have been ‘designed’ to eat
meat. However we also have a short intestine which is not ideal
for meat consumption so bang goes that design argument!
Along with sharp claws, all meat-eaters, since they have to kill mainly with their teeth, possess powerful jaws and pointed, elongated, "canine" teeth to pierce tough skin and to spear and tear flesh. They do NOT have flat, back teeth like us which vegetarian animals need for grinding their food. As for our sharp teeth, gorillas are entirely vegetarian – as are almost all primates – and yet have far longer and sharper canine teeth than human beings!
Most people have other people kill their meat for them anyway and would be sickened if they had to do the killing themselves. Instead of eating raw meat as all flesh-eating animals do, humans boil, bake, or fry it and disguise it with all kinds of sauces and spices so that it bears no resemblance to its raw state. If humans excelled in pouncing upon animals, tearing their still-living limbs apart with their teeth, and then feasting on the warm blood, then perhaps we’d have to agree that nature provided us with a meat-eating instinct! However the human digestive system, tooth and jaw structure, and bodily functions are completely different from carnivorous animals.
Scientists and naturalists, including Darwin, agree that early humans were fruit and vegetable eaters and that throughout history our anatomy has not changed. The diet of the ancestors of human beings was vegan until they began hunting about one-and-a-half million years ago but even then meat formed just a tiny part of their diet. Even if some of our ancestors ate meat to survive, we certainly don’t need to do so today.
Isn't vegetarian food more expensive than meat dishes?
Pre-packaged foods (ready-meals) are expensive whether they are
vegetarian or meat–based. Vegetarian dishes in restaurants
tend to be lower priced than most meat dishes, and preparing vegetarian
food from scratch at home can be very inexpensive. As is true with
cooking non-veggie food, the cost all depends on the ingredients
you choose and the quality of the products you buy.
Doesn’t cooking
vegetarian food take a long time?
Just as in meat-based cooking, there are some veggie dishes that
take a long time to prepare and there are others that are super-quick.
It all depends on what you are in the mood for and how much time
you have on your hands. For some quick, easy recipes click here
What would happen to the farmers?
Vegetarians need farmers too! Who do you think we get our vegetables
from? There will still be plenty of jobs for farmers! If everyone
in the world went veggie, some livestock farmers would move into
arable farming while others may move into other food-related industries.
As with all industries, if the demand for a product goes up, numbers
employed in that industry will increase. If the demand goes down,
fewer people will be employed. Vegetarians are certainly not trying
to put farmers out of work but if farmers did become unemployed
that is no reason to keep farming animals for food. If it is right
to stop it, the employment prospects of those who work in the meat
industry are no reason to keep it going. As has been pointed out,
if we got rid of all crime, the police would be out of work and
if we got rid of all illness, doctors and nurses would be out of
work: but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to get
rid of crime and illness does it?
If we all went veggie what would happen to the animals?
Let’s be realistic! If we did all go veggie it wouldn’t
happen overnight and therefore the number of farmed animals would
also reduce gradually. We would certainly not be over-run by wild
packs of farmed animals or have to look after ‘spare’ farm
animals.
Aren't animals less intelligent and less important than
humans? As
the top of the food chain, shouldn’t we be allowed to do
what we like with animals?
Some argue that animals have less intelligence than humans but why
should we use this rationale to measure them? Are more intelligent
humans more important than less intelligent humans? Pigs have been
proven to be smarter than dogs, yet many people will happily eat
a pig while shuddering at the idea of eating their pet dog. All animals
have a value within themselves. They also have the ability to suffer
mentally and physically. If we consider ourselves a compassionate
human race, we need to reconsider our relationship with all animals,
not just the ones we keep in our homes.
As for being at “the top of the food chain”, what do you think would happen if you put a hungry lion and a weapon-less person in a room together?
If you’re a
vegetarian, why are you wearing leather shoes?
First of all, it may be the case that your shoes are not made of
leather; they just look like they are. There are lots of vegetarian
shoes on the market these days. Secondly, many vegetarians have leather
products from their pre-veggie days and have made the choice to continue
wearing them rather than have them go to waste. There are also some
people who are not comfortable eating meat, yet continue wearing
leather. It is a question of where you as an individual choose to
draw a line. Of course, if you are not comfortable with an animal
dying for your dinner, you probably aren’t comfortable with
them dying for your clothes and footwear either.
Isn't vegetarianism just a fashion?
Some people do change diets as they change fashions. However vegetarianism
has been around for literally thousands of years. For example,
the Greek philosopher, Plato (427 – 347 BC), and his teacher
Socrates (470 – 399 BC) were both vegetarians. As were Albert
Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, George Bernard Shaw, Charlotte Bronte,
Gandhi, Tolstoy… but Hitler wasn’t! Vegetarianism is
nothing new, and it is not just a fashion! (If lists of famous
vegetarians ring your bell then visit The
International Vegetarian Union. )
Wouldn’t vegetarians
eat meat if they were starving on a desert island?
Wow! You’re really getting desperate for an argument now… In
the unlikely event that a bunch of vegetarians ended up on a desert
island, some would eat meat in this life-and-death situation and
others wouldn’t. As with anything, it is up to the individual
to make a choice with which they are most comfortable. On a desert
island you might also have to run around without many clothes, sleep
in a cave, never have a proper wash, brush your teeth with a stick
and wipe your bottom with leaves, but that doesn’t mean you
would necessarily do those things after you’ve been rescued.
We hope these questions and answers are helpful to you. If you think there is a question that we have missed out or if you have a better answer please let us know. Your suggestions will help us to keep helping future young vegetarians.
Good luck!
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