Reply To: Meat eating and the flexitarianism
It is reactionary behaviour from both advocates and opponents of veganism.
I have experienced it from both sides, long before vegetarianism became a popular targeted market.
I changed on medical advice as my BMI was the same as a poor Bangla Deshi and I was experiencing lots of problems I won’t go into here. I started using fish and chicken and now I am fully fledged omnivarian again and I notice some of the previous sneerers are now vegetarian.
My fighting weight is now a good 10 stone.
Any changes won’t come from confrontation, but as a result of growing self awareness in general of the plusses and minusses of particular choices and also the availability of real choice.
I think the sausage roll example will taste as bad and as good as the real thing, but I wouldn’t want it imposed upon me. Quorn is tasteless without adding stuff to it. The fuss about this one is a surprise as quorn sausage rolls have been around for some time.
I do like some of the alternatives and I still use them, most of my food shopping is done for me now, so I’ll eat what I am given, or become inventive with what is available, but as a heavy smoker my taste buds are shot, a cue for anti-smokers to gang up on poor nicotine addict, but some of those ready made ones are as stuffed with chemicals , sugar derivatives etc or unnecessarilly covered in rubbishy cheese as the other cheap food.
Broccoli and cauliflower are much better on their own in my view and the availability of a variety of peppers now, along with olive oil which used to be expensive and sold in tiny bottles, a terrific additive to root vegetables such as potatoes after cooking in boiled water, frazzled briefly in black peppered olive oil, present choices which were not previously available to economically disadvantaged sectors of the workforce and retired or reserve armies of labour.
My dad had to go out and engage in hard physical graft on a meagre ration of six slice (if lucky) of bread with cheese or corned beef on alternate days, so he badly needed his meat fix of mince and tatties when he got home. It was about one pound of mince between six of us, so ‘relatively’ changed days indeed.
I have only ever once had a good vege-lasagne and it was home made. The best real lasagne I ever have had was bought for me by Vic Vanni and Campbell Mc Ewan in Dinos. Trust Vic to know where the real Italian experience could be had.
I would think we should cease fire on this one.