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Hurray! I have
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Hurray! I have
Hurray! I have been saved from guiltily eating animal products for the rest of my life!
Some of you might know how horrible animals are treated on factory farms: the hens are crammed in cages and hardly get to move IN THEIR LIFE, the pigs get their baby teeth crushed without painkiller, the baby cows are torn away from their mommies, etc. It`s so horrible that you can`t look at a single PETA photo without wanting to kill the people who are doing this with a chainsaw!
I never thought I could be a vegan, ever. But now I know how to make fake meatloaf. And choc chip cookies without dairy and eggs! And chocolate peanut butter pie without animal products!
So now I can say bye to meat, dairy, and eggs. Poops on you evil animal killers!
Soy milk is better then real milk.
submitted by Emerald, age 11
(January 13, 2012 - 10:12 am)
(January 13, 2012 - 10:12 am)
Yes, factory animals are grossly mistreated and kept in conditions that would send any decent person screaming for liberty.
Yes, vegan alternatives (supposedly) taste good.
But cows are still delicious and I will continue to eat them without any kind of regret or guilt. Though, admittedly, I eat grass-fed, free-range animals whenever possible, not because of any humanitarian motive but because they taste better and are better nutritionally.
Frankly I look at PETA (a suspect organization if I ever saw one) photos and, if I have an emotional reaction at all, it's along the lines of, gee, this looks similar to some pictures I've seen of people in third world countries. Perhaps we should get some cows down to them before worrying about a bunch of animals?
Good for you for taking a stand for what you believe in, though. If you're interested in animal rights I'd suggest you look up organizations besides PETA, because PETA does some very strange things sometimes (look up PETA controversies, you'll see) and they tend to get very bad press most of the time. If you want balanced opinions, logic, or rationality at all, look for a less extremist group.
And I think you're totally wrong about the soy milk; I think it's vile.
(January 13, 2012 - 3:21 pm)
I agree with TNO, PETA does... endorse and "make" a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with helping animals.
I've seen some videos of animals getting cut open and cooped up and it really annoys me when one of my very stereotypical friends says that the animals are fine, but I could never become a vegan or a vegitarian. I love meat too much and don't have any will power, so props to you, Emerald! And I've never eaten soy milk, or anything organic really. (Our milk is just the generic, mass-produced decent and cheap kind that take up all the room on the shelf things.)
I don't know any vegetarians and vegans in real life. Everyone in my school eats meat as far as I know.
(January 14, 2012 - 9:07 pm)
I recommend you try organic food sometimes. It's more expensive, but it really tastes much better; when my brother was little, he could always tell the difference between organic and normal broccoli and refused to eat the normal kind. Of course, some people notice the difference more than others.
(January 15, 2012 - 3:53 pm)
Nobody in my family is the type who is willing to spend more money on organic foods. And most of what we buy from the grocery is usually junk food or ingredients for cooking, since for meals we just buy takeout then refrigerate it. (It's not greasy takeout or anything, just Filipino food that we're too busy to cook ourselves.)
I've never been too big on milk at all, to be honest. I drink one bottle of Ensure a night (Ensure is chocolate milk) and have ice cream a couple of times. That's about my regular dairy intake.
And there's not just soy and regular and chocolate milk; there's RICE MILK! :D (ricericerice) ((I know how to cook it.)) (((People in my school call me Rice.))) ((((but not because I like rice -_-)))) We used to buy some when my brother and I were little because my brother is allergic to milk. Well, he's not allergic but it's not good for him. So if you don't like soy or regular milk, there's always RICE MILK!
(January 15, 2012 - 6:46 pm)
I like rice milk too! There are also almond milk and coconut milk, but I don't like them.
(January 16, 2012 - 5:51 pm)
TNO, you might be interested to know that there is
an organization dedicated to sending animals like cows to 3rd-world
countries. It's called Heifer International. They also send other meat animals and animals to
do things like produce milk and eggs, and conditions for the animals are
usually much better there since the people they're sent to don't have
enough money to produce the horrible conditions that are so common in
America. While I don't agree with everything you said in that paragraph, I thought you might be glad to know that some people are doing exactly what you mentioned.
I've always liked soymilk, but I've never been able to drink real milk, so I can't talk. I don't see that it matters, anyway; our taste buds are just wired to like different things.
(January 15, 2012 - 3:43 pm)
I am also against mistreating animals and I'm trying to convince my family to get organic stuff. So far we just get organic milk. I think it would be hard to live without meat, though I don't eat eggs anymore. Also, meat is important when you're growing because of the fat so maybe you should try to eat a little bit of meat or kidney beans (they are supposedly like meat). I could become a vegetarian...
(January 15, 2012 - 2:22 am)
Meat has important nutrients, but it's possible to get them from other foods, too. Kidney beans are one example, but there's a lot of protein in pretty much all beans, actually. Nuts and nut products are also a good source, as are peas.
(January 15, 2012 - 3:55 pm)
I read Chew on This as my summer reading book going into 7th grade, and although it scared some of my friends into being a vegetarian, I just thought it was gross. I try not to let emotions get in the way of my food.
(January 15, 2012 - 1:38 pm)
I read that book.
(January 15, 2012 - 3:24 pm)
I'm going to respond to one person at a time, I think. This post is replying to Emerald.
Emerald,
congratulations on getting successfully going vegan! It isn't always
easy, but if someone really feels strongly about it, it's usually well
worth it for them. I've been vegan since I was 8, although I hasten to
add that since I'm severely allergic to dairy and eggs anyway,
going vegetarian and going vegan are the same to me, which means the
latter is much easier than it normally would be. :) I've never regretted
it or wanted to start eating meat again, even though I once went to a
summer camp where people were very rude to me about it. I hope
nothing like that ever happens to you; it was not a pleasant experience.
Fortunately, this was summer camp, so I never saw any of them again.
I
think part of the problem with the meat industry is that they need
people to work for it, but people who genuinely care about animal
welfare usually don't want to work with animals who will be killed. They
don't feel comfortable with it. Unfortunately, that means the people
who do end up working with them tend to be exactly the people who should
never be trusted with any living creature. Of course there are a
few people who work in the system trying to make it better, but they're
the exception, not the rule. Still, you may want to keep them in mind before making broad generalizations like, "Poops on you evil animal killers!"
Of course, that is assuming you are talking about the people who directly
do the horrible things to the animals. If you were also including those
who support it by giving them money in return for animal products, I really
think you're going too far. After all, you yourself said, "I never
thought I could be a vegan, ever." That implies that there was a time
when you, too, ate meat, dairy, and/or eggs. Unless you really think
that you were evil at the time, it doesn't make sense to say it about
other people who are just doing what you used to do.
I agree with
what others have said about PETA, though. I'm very passionate about
animal rights, but I definitely don't agree with everything they've
done. Even when I completely agree with what they're advocating, I often
think they go much too far in their... tactics. Like TNO said, there are many other animal rights organizations that are worth looking into. If you still prefer PETA, that's fine. I just would advise looking at some others, too. If nothing else, you'll be able to read about all the different people who feel the same way as you do and are doing something about it! That's always really encouraging. It's the main reason why I'm going to reply to TNO now, actually.
Interestingly, Detc says whog. Apparently he has strong feelings about the rights of hogs, although I don't know what those feelings are.
(January 15, 2012 - 3:37 pm)
Ima:
I agree with you about PETA sometimes going a little bit wacko....and yes, people have done stuff like waving their chicken around and going "Hey, EMERALD`SREALNAMEGOESHERE look what I have!"
And I`m not saying eating animal products is evil even if you know what`s going on. ( "OMG tht person has steak he must be evil!") Even if you`re just a vegetarian or eat animal products a bit that would still be good.
Also when I`m getting mad at evil animal killers I`m only addressing:
1. People who are evil.
2. and also kill animals.
Not one or the other.
(January 17, 2012 - 4:00 pm)
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for posting this. I've been a vegetarian all my life, although it was only recently that I found out about how the animals are treated. I know that not many people know about it, so I'm glad that people can read about it here, because there are so many people who read this.
(January 18, 2012 - 5:22 pm)