Vegetarianism: what if we didn't eat meat

[Fluke?]

A bit of a silly one really as it ain't gonna happen but one of a little disagreements/debates over a pint I sometimes have with my vegitarian (nigh on vegan) other half.
So basically her point of view (which of cause I respect!!) is that people should not eat meat (obviously!). Although humans are natuarally omnivores we have the intelligence to create a diet that does noy require meat. We have only historically had a requirement for meat becuase it provides us with a range of nutrients that our body needed, and we can now get these nutrients from non-meat food.
OK, fair enough, I agree in principal to the above. Humans can survive perfactly well sans meat.
My issue however, and one I'd be interested to hear what other think about this would be what do you think would happen to all the lovely cows and pigs and sheep and chickens that you see all over the countryside. Do you really believe that you would see any lovely cows and pigs and sheep and chickens if we didn't eat them?
Would anyone keep them, and feed them and breed them?
Would anyone give up the acres and acres of land for them?
Essentially would most of these animals we use for foodstuff become extinct?
I know we get dairy products from them but would that be enough?
I know vegitatians would not really think about "what if.." if the rest of the world suddenly had a change of heart overnight but its an interesting thought non the less. (or maybe it's not )

 

[pooley]

No meat= No alpha males

 

[Mrs Seabiscuit]

right.

 

[Cosimo]

No meat= No alpha males

No meat = slow death.

 

[mattyg]

If we had never eaten meat NON of us would be here

That in itself is s good enough reason for me


1 12" deep pan MEATFEAST on its way..........

 

[Mrs Seabiscuit]

No meat = slow death.

STEAK! NICE JUICY STEAK mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[pooley]

^^ nomnom

 

[Mrs Seabiscuit]

^^ nomnom

Indeed it was

 

[memyselfandi]

Vegetarianism -> no bacon -> invalid.

 

[Jon123456]

I think there are two important arguments to consider:

1. If we did not eat meat, the vast majority of these animals would never have experienced the gift of life in the first place. i.e. they would have been deprived of the opportunity. Are the vegetarians saying they would have preferred that the (eaten) animal would have been better off by having no life in the first place?

2. More animals are killed in the creation of many vegetables than in the creation of meat. For example, a combine harvester kills countless mice, snakes, insects and small mammals, as it hacks through acres of wheat.

 

[Mrs Seabiscuit]

Vegetarianism -> no bacon -> invalid.

mmmm bacon *drools

 

[Usher]

I live in a semi rural area, when we moved here 15 years ago all the surrounding fields had cows & sheep & we used to enjoy watching the cows go to be milked by the farmer down the lane, he's now packed in the milk as it was not worth the work involved so now he has let out all the land to horse owners.
In fact all the fields round here now have horses, the posh peoples status symbol. So the answer to the OPs question is a horse takeover or if there is a food shortage in the future then a horse takeaway

 

[malfunkshun]

Eating meat freed up a lot of oxygen to power our larger brains. Where would we be without it?
It is also the case that hunting for meat advanced human communication, invention, tool manipulation and so on, things which need the extra brain power.
So, human evolution and eating meat (actually being able to eat a bit of everything helped but meat more so) go hand in hand. Sure, we can modify our diets to not eat meat but it is unnatural and, usually, unnecessary.
The down side being that a meat heavy diet allows earlier weaning, so more offspring can be produced.

 

[Mrs Seabiscuit]

I think there are two important arguments to consider:

2. More animals are killed in the creation of many vegetables than in the creation of meat. For example, a combine harvester kills countless mice, snakes, insects and small mammals, as it hacks through acres of wheat.

That is a fantastic point. Must find a veggie to put that point too!

 

[dowie]

if we had objections with killing animals for food then milk, eggs etc.. would also be problematic or much more expensive.... what to do with all the baby boy cows/chicks....

Chickens stop laying after 3 years but live for several years longer - do we keep spending on feed for a bunch of chickens the majority of whom are no longer laying eggs... and look after a whole bunch of cocks who will never lay eggs

Completely cutting out meat for ethical reasons but continuing with milk, eggs etc.. still ends up with buying products subsidised by the killing of animals.

Then again every time a tree is felled thousands of insects get killed, every time a road or house is built we end up killing a bunch of animals/destroying habitats... we can't avoid killing animals and farm animals mostly wouldn't even be here if we didn't require them for food.

I try not to eat meat for every meal and I do think it is unnecessary - it used to be a luxury. I do have an issue with mass production of chickens - even non-battery farmed chickens are often still produced in a cramped barn.... I try to eat free range - this rule gets broken when drunk and ordering a halal chicken kebab.

I'm happy to eat meat but I'd also be happy to see meat become more expensive and animal welfare rules be tightened.

 

[Usher]

The quest for meat is causing damage to the planet,hundreds of miles of virgin forest burned so they can graze cattle, the same cattle that endlessly fart & damage the ozone layer

 

[deuse]

STEAK! NICE JUICY STEAK mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM want.

 

[Jon123456]

Let us all eat meat, as I don't think the vegetarians have a leg to stand on (pun). But, more welfare to animals. Reduce inhumane practices such as tiny pens for pigs, battery chicken hell and in my opinion, slaughter of conscious animals by a slit to the throat.

 

[Glaucus]

Let us all eat meat, as I don't think the vegetarians have a leg to stand on (pun). But, more welfare to animals. Reduce inhumane practices such as tiny pens for pigs, battery chicken hell and in my opinion, slaughter of conscious animals by a slit to the throat.

Yep, and eat the whole animal. saying that prices would rise if everyone started eating the cheaper cuts.
Steak and kidney
Haggis
Black pudding

Drool

Let alone things like chicken thighs which idiots avoid and other cheaper cuts. Often placing the word disgusting in front off it. Mind boggling how we have got so far removed from food. People think one prime muscle attached to bone is disgusting, yet another prime muscle attached to the bone is amazing.

Pigs is such a stupid one, we ban on welfare ground normal pig raising, thus making British pork better but more expensive. then allow everyone to import pork that isn't raised to the welfare standards in the UK. How is there not an import ban on such meat. And how do people believe the Denmark advertising crap, their pork is far worse than ours.

I think there are two important arguments to consider:

2. More animals are killed in the creation of many vegetables than in the creation of meat. For example, a combine harvester kills countless mice, snakes, insects and small mammals, as it hacks through acres of wheat.

What utter utter nonsense. The vast majority of animals are mass produced and thus grain fee, even those that aren't are still grass fed in the winter, so that statement is utterly retarded. Far more combine harvesting happens in the name of meat production than for vegetarianism. Don't forget meat production is very inefficient, so even mire crops need to be cut down to feed animals, than us directly.

 

[Dis86]

I think there'd probably be a lot more fat women...

All female veggies I know are on the tubby side of the scale. (Heh, no pun intended!)