Meat eating

[Motherwoman]

In the news this morning is the topic of eating more meat than is good for the planet again. Do we?

I know I'm preaching to the converted as we all love veggies on this site but not all will be vegetarians, could we manage on less meat or is it too big a culture change? I can remember from my childhood there were meatless meals (cheese and onion pie was my fav, but still needs a lactating cow...)and the big driver was cost. Meat was relatively more expensive so is it cheap meat that's fueling the increase?

Can we as veggie growers make a difference by growing our own?

Answers please on the back of a postcard....

MW

[Westi]

Saw that too & personally feel while they are churning out the cheap stuff (there were a lot of burger eating pics shown) the problem will persist as these animals do not receive their natural diet as they need to grow them quickly. As a result of this there are side effects, for the animal, the planet & no doubt time will show for us & not just in the form of obesity.

I am not a vegetarian but limit my meat as I try to buy better quality meat & as this is expensive I have meat free days to supplement the costs. I truly love the meat free days & truly love the taste of the meat I do have.

Win / Win I'd say.

Westi

[Beryl]

I eat far less meat these days but when I do I buy the best quality I can about twice a week but I do prefer fish anyway, probably 3 times a week other days it's cheese which I love, or eggs.

Beryl.

[Ricard with an H]

I became a vegetarian forty years ago when being a vegetarian was regarded as very odd, my reasons were simple and the very same reasons that are being given us on a regular basis.

I could write a small book about good reasons not to eat meat, however, there is always a good argument for a balanced diet that includes some meat.

These days I do eat a little meat, mostly to be sociable. I'm always aware that I've eaten a dead animal that whilst alive had organisms to keep it alive in sickness and injury. In death those organisms have a sole purpose to dispose of the flesh and it's inside me along with anti-biotic sand other stuff.

I mostly live the life of a bachelor, left to my own devises I naturally return to a vegetarian diet with the occasional change for comfort type and wholly unhealthy food. I love proper German bockworst or frankfurters with lots of fried onion in either a sandwich or a bread roll. Bacon sandwiches or egg and bacon are the rules when we are out camping in our motorhome.

One of my favourite staples is fried cabbage/kale done with garlic,a little chille, mixed into a pile of spaghetti with a sprinkle of cheese. Yummy.

When I had three daughters and a wife to feed I made some fabulous tasting meals that were always talked about. They grew up as vegetarians though they all now eat meat because they find it difficult to be inventive with vegetables and of course they have partners and children to consider.

[FelixLeiter]

In the news this morning is the topic of eating more meat than is good for the planet again. Do we?

Most of the studies into agricultural consumption seem to focus on beef production, which has become a resource-intensive operation as commercial pressures stack up. Sheep and goats, meanwhile, can be grazed on land which is unsuitable for the growing of crops.

So individually, I'm not entirely convinced that we are eating any more meat. It's just that there are many more of us than there used to be, collectively eating more of everything.

[alan refail]

I'm easy about eating Welsh Black beef. It is not allowed to be intensively reared and must live outdoors on fairly poor land. As for Welsh sheep, what else could be produced on the mountains and saltmarshes?
As Felix says, the increase in the consumption of meat is inevitable - world's population is three times what it was when I was born

[Ricard with an H]

Several hundred acres of land around me that was used to grow barley and occasionally rapeseed was sold by fat-cat entrepreneurs once the set-aside payments stopped. Our local dairy and sheep farmer bought the land just to grow wheat to feed his dairy herd and the straw is used as bedding.

In the middle of one field is a mountain of cow-poo rotting down and I'm nearly ready for more, they'll be scattering it all over the fields within a month then the whole cycle starts again early spring.

I like cows and sheep as neighbours.

[Beryl]

I have to agree with you Richard with an H. I am well aware we need the animals to fertilise the soil otherwise our crops would suffer considerably.

Beryl.

[Ricard with an H]

I'm really pleased you saw the veiled point of view I presented Beryl, I have to say that people often don't understand me.

When I became vegetarian the few people I met who were also vegetarian spent a lot of time evangelising, a very uncomfortable situation would present itself at dinner-parties with a vegetarian on the soap-box.

Vegetarians are much less 'holier-that-though' these days.

I draw the line at black puddings, white puddings and that other Scots favourite even though I am emotionally connected to the Scots though the vegetarian version of haggis was nice.

Tonights meal (Home-alone) is new potatoes finished with mint or parsley, some black kale, carrots and cauli with some convenience gravy. It's very sad but I have to have gravy.