Recently, i walked into a cafe and asked if they'd do a veggie wrap for me even though it's not on their menu. The sprightful young waitress at the counter was halfway through her lunch salad, but cheerfully confirmed my order.
Just before paying for my meal, she asked me out of the blue: "Are you a vegetarian for moral or health issues?"
My mind went blank for a min.. whatever happened to religious? That's usually the no. 1 reason in Asia. but i managed to reply. "Moral...?"
She happily gave me a hi-five. "Great, i like you already! Same here. I love meat, but realised i love animals more. So no more meat for me in the last 3 years" she declared with a resolute, determined expression on her face.
Though i shared similar reasons with her, I was amused by the unexpected dialogue...reminded me of my own encounters that eventually propelled me in the vegetarianhood direction - A documentary on Leonardo Davinci (he was said to be a vegetarian for his love of animals...how enlightening was that in his era?), a gruesome "Anti-killing" advertisement in Copenhagen that showed frozen-packed human body parts in a grocery store (that was absolutely horrific!), the selections of HUGE chunky frozen meat (enough to feed an entire family for a week) being sold in Western stores, the environmental pollution that poultry over-farming causes...
Never really a meat fan in the past, i just decided not to eat it if i can help it (eg. precious food going to waste...that's like slaughtering the chickens n throwing them away).
Still, i'm letting nature take its course. I dont call myself a true vegetarian cos I still eat fish once in a long while, but otherwise, my meat inclination index is fast dwindling. A month of delectable vegetable dishes in India also convinced me i can live just as happily.
There, a summary of events for those who had wished to know. Wanna join me? haha..
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Dear Earth's Children, our Mother aint feeling too good recently... Her fever and cold seems the cause for all this insanity. On top of this, she's much aggrieved to know that we're caring less, and it's starting to show. Let's not start a civil war, let's remember who we are: We're the Earth's children, linked by centuries and generations. So, how do we help, Mother?
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4 comments:
Weel, i believe you jsut eat in moderation and it will be healthy. too much/too little of is always not good. humans are born to be carnivores (notice our fangs?) and I guess this is just the nature of the cycle of life. i love animals too. a lot. I am trying to cut down on red meat too, though i like it so much. and fish is good, but high mercury levels in the seas now only make it more dangerous for women to consume so much seafood. Even veggies now have viruses and diseases.
how?
eat ourselves? swallow air? wanna start our own farm?
hey, tts a superb idea! u can milk the cows, n i'll make the cheese...haha..
didnt we agree before to take care of each other when we're old? =P
i'll wait for ya til the end of time, mah milkmaid!!
wow.. i always knew that u would be a vegetarian!
altho i am already a white meat person (the smell of lamb or beef makes me retch) but i think i cant go the truly vegetarian route..
>> the foodie point of view: i live to eat! its hard to be a true vegan (no milk or cheese => no ice cream! no cheesecake!) or worse Buddhist vegetarians (no garlic or onion? no sambal kangkong! no garlic naan!).
>> the health freak point of view: i agree with agrasshopper, eventually its all about everything in moderation. the vegetarians i know always have sunken eyes for some reason (even tho they take vitamins to make up for losing some of the more commonly found nutrients in meat)
>> the biological view:
ok this is a bit extreme, but there was also a Times/Economist article sometime back on why men should not be vegetarians. eg compare the biological makeup of humans to vegetarians like cows. these animals have three stomachs so that they can extract all the nutrients they can and have to graze all day to get the nutrients that they need. Well, humans are naturally carnivorous cos we have only one stomach (and incisors) plus as many of us are urbanites, we simply cant afford time to graze all day
Hi puay! so glad to hear from you.
I don't think any debate about whether humans can be vegetarians or not is necessary at all. Humans are officially coined omnivores, but each of us may shift along the carnivorous-herbivorous scale at different stages of our lives as our body needs change. So I guess the most important thing is to really LISTEN to your body needs, and like u all said, eat in moderation.
What i actually meant was that as "affluent urbanites" with an overabundance of meat supply, we've indirectly caused a negative impact on the macro-environmental scale; its profitability encourages more & more farmers to turn to poultry rearing, which produce too much toxic animal wastes that are not properly treated, ending up polluting rivers and soils.
Thus,if developed societies can somehow reflect a healthier diet, the supply / demand chain can lessen such impact.
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