Talk to me about being a Vegan?

robj20 said:
Is it even possible to go fully vegan, ie no animal products in your life.
Food wise I can see it being easy though.
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It is possible, but it's not really the point.

"Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals."
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https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism

I've highlighted the key bit here "as far as is possible and practicable". Sometimes it's not possible, but that doesn't fundamentally change your beliefs.
 
robj20 said:
I see, their is a get out clause. Lol
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lol vegans aren't trying to find ways out so they can start eating animals again, it's just sometimes these random scenarios appear where you just cannot avoid something that is derived from an animal. Just because these random scenarios exist doesn't take away from the overwhelmingly positive effects veganism has on the animals, your health and the planet.
 
haaammit said:
The only downside to everyone becoming vegan is that many species of animals would become extinct as there would no longer be any use for them!
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I'm sure some farm animals would still exist but they wouldn't be breed and killed in the billions. The planet would certainly be in a better state without so much animal agriculture. If we keep on abusing the planet we will be extinct.
 
My advice if you want to go vegan is try and avoid fake meats and processed and refined crap. Maybe try a hybrid which allows stuff which doesn't really have a healthy or nutritionally complete alternative.

Cook from scratch is a must. And it's pretty hard to get decent alternative to cheese and butter that are actually healthy and tasty.

Milk is easy. You have coconut, rice, oats, almond, hazelnut, the list goes on and on.

Eggs is another which is hard to replace.

Today

Toast with butter and avocado. Salt and pepper.

Butter is much healthier for you than vegan alternative. The only option I'd replace it with is coconut oil which doesn't work for most swaps. Margerine is awful for you. I'd rather just use butter. So be weary of vegan alternatives.

Vegetable pie with roast potatoes. Pie made from scratch. Vegetable's all fried in a pan then cheese sauce added and seasoned then put into dish and covered with pastry. Broccoli, runner beans, sweetcorn, carrots, etc.

Pastry will have butter in it and again cheese. I'm not vegan but I do try and cut my dairy products where I can. Like milk. I haven't bought cow's milk in like 8 years. I'm not proper vegetarian either my wife is therefore it's just easier to cook veggie meals than 2 seperate meals and she doesn't eat frozen or tinned food. Has to be from fresh.

Majority of meals are Indian which is traditionally a vegetarian diet. The crap you get in Indian restaurants isn't what people in India eat.

If you put vegetarian thali into YouTube that will give you like 30 different Indian meals you can do.
 
LiE said:
I'm sure some farm animals would still exist but they wouldn't be breed and killed in the billions. The planet would certainly be in a better state without so much animal agriculture. If we keep on abusing the planet we will be extinct.
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Why would you have farm animals if you weren’t farming them? No point I’m afraid. And keeping animals in zoos etc. is cruel. You have to accept that by going Vegan you lose all farmed animals. Given that it’s cruel to keep them then it’s fine as I’m 100% against animal cruelty. I wouldn’t kill them prematurely but I wouldn’t let them breed because what kind of a life would they have?

We’d also lose cats as pets, as they are obligate carnivores and as there would be no supply of offals and trims they would no longer be viable as pets. Again, probably not a bad thing as keeping pets can also be seen as cruel. Many dogs just go mad locked up in houses while their owners are at work.

And the free’d up land could be used to grow cereals and biofuels. Obviously you need a large amount of organic matter from somewhere but that can probably be solved by chemistry as can the issue of fertiliser.

It’s refreshing to see people accept that by using chemicals and food additives it is possible to make facsimiles of animal protein that can replace chicken as the blandest of carriers. We grow most of our own food but we do rely very heavily on three local organic meat farmers (chicken and beef) for our fertiliser. If we had to go to chemicals then it would be much more difficult. The issue of humous and soil erosion is particularly difficult in East Anglia where I live most of the time.
 
WJA96 said:
Why would you have farm animals if you weren’t farming them? No point I’m afraid.
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I think I'm just being more realistic and believe that some farm animals would still exist, even if I don't think they should be kept like in zoos.

WJA96 said:
And keeping animals in zoos etc. is cruel.
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I know, but it doesn't stop it happening. If the world went 100% vegan that doesn't mean 100% of those vegans do it for ethical reasons, so many will still see no issue with going to visit farm zoos. If there is even a tiny demand, there will be supply. This ties into my point above.

WJA96 said:
You have to accept that by going Vegan you lose all farmed animals.
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I'm vegan for the animals and this is common knowledge. However as mentioned above, I'm a realist.

WJA96 said:
using chemicals and food additives
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I think there is this idea that fake meat is made using some crazy chemicals, the ingredients are pretty basic, nothing sinister. It's mostly just various plant derived proteins.

e.g. This is the Aldi beef burger
Water, Rapeseed Oil, Dehydrated WHEAT Protein (10%) ( Protein, Flour), Onion (8%), Mushroom (6%), Protein (6%), Pea Protein (5%), Beetroot Powder, Flavouring, Thickener: Methyl Cellulose; Vegetable Fibres ( Fibre, Psyllium Fibre), Salt, Onion Powder, Malt Extract, Black Pepper, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid.
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haaammit said:
The only downside to everyone becoming vegan is that many species of animals would become extinct as there would no longer be any use for them!
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Not really a great argument. Keeping animals alive in horrible conditions is nothing to be applauded. I still eat meat but made a choice to only buy better quality now. I don't think it is fair to treat animals so badly.
 
200sols said:
I still eat meat but made a choice to only buy better quality now.
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I wouldn't buy into that, it's mainly marketing to ease peoples consciences. When the animal is chopped up on the supermarket self, do you think it's grateful that it has a red tractor stamp on the packet or RSPCA approved?
 
LiE said:
I wouldn't buy into that, it's mainly marketing to ease peoples consciences. When the animal is chopped up on the supermarket self, do you think it's grateful that it has a red tractor stamp on the packet or RSPA approved?
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I don't buy supermarket meat. Also, if you accept the vast majority of people will not stop eating meat the alternative then becomes giving the animals a better life when they are alive. Of course it is possible but money dictates most things.
 
I dropped dairy from my diet to help with skin and it helped, and i actually prefer it. Normal milk to me is a bit yuk, but i occasionally have a pizza, plus cheese at xmas.

I did 6 months meat free but often had a sunday roast my mum made. I didn't notice any difference until i started regularly eating meat again, to which i felt better. I slowly stopped the only at weekend thing also. Meat replacement products are quite poor. Some are super fatty and made me feel not good, others are bland. Vegan style oven stuff i never liked, filled with peppers, mushrooms or spices, which i hate. I buy the occasional thing still to try out but they're often disappointing. I love chickpeas, lentils, etc, but my god how hard is it to not make a ready type meal not bland!? That microwave rice for example i can eat by itself if i'm in a rush, and it's just rice and seasoning. Why can't companies get lentils done similarly.

My advice is get local chicken. Chicken isn't so bad on the environment, and if local it's hopefully not been transported alive, or been stored in factories. Chicken is very versatile in cooking, though not something i like either :p
And you will have to get your cook book out!
Classics like beans on toast are still winners at least.
 
200sols said:
I don't buy supermarket meat.
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Again, the animal doesn't really care if you bought it direct from a farmer who tells you they had a great life. There is nothing justifiable about being raised to be killed, when we don't need to eat them. The conditions you may perceive to be better, but that makes no odds to the animal who is slaughtered.

200sols said:
Also, if you accept the vast majority of people will not stop eating meat the alternative then becomes giving the animals a better life when they are alive.
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We should be advocating for more plant based options, better alternatives, more education and awareness. The more demand for plant based foods the less viable animal agriculture becomes, it's already unprofitable without government subsidies. Animal well fare will never be at the top of the list when there is money to be made from selling their chopped up body parts and secretions. Also it doesn't fix the massive issue of the damage animal agriculture causes to the planet.
 
LiE said:
Again, the animal doesn't really care if you bought it direct from a farmer who tells you they had a great life. There is nothing justifiable about being raised to be killed, when we don't need to eat them. The conditions you may perceive to be better, but that makes no odds to the animal who is slaughtered.
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Are you being deliberately obtuse? I think the animal would rather live a nice life on the land being cared for rather than sat in a gestation crate or in a battery farm.
 
I'm happy with just cutting down to meat once or twice a week. Not from a moral POV, more for health and environmental sustainability. Don't drink milk either, but that's because I just don't like it! Vegans have an impact on the planet as well of course, wild land put to work farming crops etc but if we ate less meat there'd be lots more land/resources to convert to growing plants.

WJA96 said:
Why would you have farm animals if you weren’t farming them?
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Most of the animals we keep in farms have been selectively bred for their farm qualities, they wouldn't exist in nature.
 
Got to agree about Tesco being a good source for vegan food. I'm not vegan, but I only really noticed the other day that a lot of my meals are vegan anyway (porridge for breakfast, Huel for lunch).

I do find my self being tempted to buy more vegan things, mainly to try it. I guess there is a part of me in seeing that it's a good thing overall as well.

It will become more mainstream and popular, I think part of the reason why at the moment is the price. Many vegan items are flipping expensive compared to their meat equivalent. But top tip, you do seem to find a lot of vegan things in the reduced section.
 
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