2 questions about being vegetarian?!
(1) ive read stuff here like mcdonalds French fries is soaked in beef oil, which came from animals. For you vegetarians, when you eat out & something looks like it is vegetarian like French fries, are you still inquisitive about stuff like were these French fries bathed in beef oil or if common sense tells you it doesn’t look like it has meat in it, do you just not bother, do you just eat it?
(2) if youre a vegetarian for ethical reasons, obviously you wouldnt want like a car w/ leather & stuff. But say you work in an office & all the chairs are leather. or a family member has leather seats in their car. You don’t like it, but do you just live with those situations? Like would you refuse to ride in that car?
Answers: Hi, Im currently exploring vegetarianism. Right now, im just trying to cut meat out of my diet and besides obvious stuff I can eat like cheese pizza, just exploring the “fake meat” foods like veggie burgers/stuff. I am hoping to eventually become vegetarian. I have 2 questions:
(1) ive read stuff here like mcdonalds French fries is soaked in beef oil, which came from animals. For you vegetarians, when you eat out & something looks like it is vegetarian like French fries, are you still inquisitive about stuff like were these French fries bathed in beef oil or if common sense tells you it doesn’t look like it has meat in it, do you just not bother, do you just eat it?
(2) if youre a vegetarian for ethical reasons, obviously you wouldnt want like a car w/ leather & stuff. But say you work in an office & all the chairs are leather. or a family member has leather seats in their car. You don’t like it, but do you just live with those situations? Like would you refuse to ride in that car?
1. McDonald's fries are no longer cooked in beef tallon (in USA). This was a big controversay a handful of years ago, not from the vegetarian population but from the hindu population as the hold the cow to be sacred, and many of them don't eat beef.
Source: Fast Food Nation, (the book)
1. (continued):
hmmm... Well truthfully when it comes to fried foods, its really anybodies realm. You have to realize that many many foods are deep friend, especially chicken and even fish (ex: calamari). Its really personally up to you. Consuming foods (like french fries) that are deep fried in the same oil as chicken and fish, doesn't cause any extra animals to die. Its a personal decision, whether you vegetarian due to aims of perfection or just to reduce animal suffering. If you aren't trying to "pure," and just want to reduce sufferng than eating foods cooked in the same frier, doesn't add any harm to any animals. Now a majority of restaurants now of days, use *healthier* frier oils, as oppose to the classic lard. In fact, lard (animal fats) are hardly ever used anymore. I personally don't worry about it, due to this relativelly recent health crusade going throughout america.
I'm a vegan, so i'm overtly cautious of food, especially if things like meat, cheese, eggs or dairy look to be in my food. But after a while it becomes *almost* second nature.
2. You probably wouldn't want a car with leather seats, no. But many parts of cars are made with animal by-products, there are no completely vegetarian/vegan cars. Does this mean you should not drive? Also many products you don't realize contain animal products, like schoolbooks which may or may not use animal products in the glue of their bindings. Does this mean you shouldn't go to college or read books? Arguably, they purpose of vegetarianism/veganism is to reduce animal suffering, not personal perfection. Refusing to ride in a car that has leather seats, doesn't reduce any animal sufferings, it just makes you appear to be stuck up and bratty. Though if you know someone buying a car, you definitely should convince them to do without the leather seats. If you work in an office and are given a leather chair, then you should probably just use it, unless you are comfortable enough with your employeers to bring in your own animal-friendly chair, andmake sure that the leather chair doesn't just get thrown away, but is put to good use. Say someone needs a new chair, you could give them the old one. The main point is vegetarianism and veganism isn't really about personal perfection or purity but is more about reducing animal suffering, refusing to sit in a leather chair doesn't save any animals, refusing to buy a leather chair does.
Good to hear your considering vegetarianism!
For your first question..I don't eat Mcdonalds much. I never heard about the beef grease or whatever, sounds gross but the main reason why I don't eat there is because there's not a whole lot on the menu for me.
For the second question..no I would never buy a car with leather seats, not that important to me, but not to say I would never ride in one.
I try not to make people feel like they're living their lives wrong just because my idealisms are different.
Hope this helps good luck.
To answer both questions. Money is a very powerful thing. So i support companies that support the beliefs and me. I buy from local places that have veggie food. I give my money to places that good the people and animals! so really fast food places are out!
I usually have some food with me, so I am not super hungry and buy crap from fast food places!
My mother in law has leather sofa, and thats her choice. But in my house we buy non leather items. My husband is not a veggie, but he respects my choices. Also non leather things are often cheaper for furniture!
If i know someone well, i would maybe tell them of a geat new item, ie shampoo that is ethical. and then they can decide!
So really I personally do not buy leather and things, i try to tell people, but really its their choice!
I find those fake meat foods to be highly processed, so personally I would avoid them for health reasons.
Yes those Mcdonalds French Fries are deep fried in beef fat and their ice-cream is thickened with pig fat.
I hate the bland & greasy taste of Mcdonalds chips because they are frozen, stored in plastic bags, then stored for months in a deep freeze, then deep fried. Just foul.
However, I occasional eat French Fries (chips in Australia) that are freshly cut and fried in vegetable oils.
It is really only vegans who are extremely hardcore about not using ANY sort of animal products. The hardcore vegans I personally know, would change the leather seats in cars. They would also avoid non-vegan condoms and avoid other animal related products.
However, most vegetarians I personally know, will avoid products tested on animals and leather shoes, but I don’t think they would worry too much about changing seats in cars.
I think the vegetarians and vegans I know would avoid buying a car with leather seats in the first place, but I doubt they would refuse to ride in a taxi with leather seats.
Given that most car seats are made from material or vinyl – maybe not something even worth thinking about!.
You can get too pedantic about the whole thing and everyone has their own set of limits anyway. I can only answer from personal experience and people I know - everyone is different.
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1st: i don't eat out much, but when i do, i'm not super inquisitive, i choose carefully..and if i'm that conserned i will look it up before i eat there.
2nd: i'm a veggie for ethical reasons, but because i wasn't put on this world with infanant money.. my car has leather seats. now, i did get this car before i became a vegitarian, and had i gotten it after i would of for sure not gotten it. it's still the first car i got when i just turned 17, i plan on having it for many more years, i figure the least i can do is use it to death. there is no point in waisting, and going to buy a new car, because all cars have some animal byproduct, there for in a way i would be going against my beliefs...
so with the deal in caring about others cars -n- stuff, obviously i can't scold them, that would be hypocrytacal..and i also don't believe in pushing my beliefs on people, so i wouldn't bawl them out anyway.
live and let live
first off all, im glad you are considering becoming a vegetarian! im 13 and have been one for almost 3 years now and love it!
anyway, to answer you questions, my family is very healthy...very rarely do we eat out a restaurants unless its a macrobiotic one. (you should research macrobiotics its really cool!) we eat mostly organic foods. mcDonalds isnt a place i would go eat at because most of the food there has at least traces of meat if not cooked in beef or pig fat.that is how a lot of chain restaurants work. for your second question, i really just live with the fact that many things in my environment at school and outside-school activities contain leather and stuff like that. it does bother me but i just try and block it out b/c there are way more meat eaters than vegetarians out there so its very hard to make an argument or change something like that. *so ive learned. any way...hope i answered your questions!! :-)
p.s. i eat a lot of veggie burgers, nuggets and hot dogs. they are really good to keep your protein level up since meat is the normal persons source of protein. also beans have lots of protein if thats gonna be a problem
first of all congrats :)
and now to answer your questions:
1) okay so about mcdonalds fries- they used to be cooked in beef oil, but got sued and now it's cooked in vegetable oil. sounds veg, but it's not. they stil use beef flavoring. i think that's disgusting. anyhow, if i'm not sure if something is vegan (i am vegan) or even vegetarian, depending on the restaurant and the waiter, i might ask or i might just ask for it without it and avoid the conflict. if it comes with it and i don't know, i'll either ask or just avoid eating it.
2) okay if i worked in an office with leather chairs, i would ask for one without animal products on or in it since i'd be there for a while. however if it were in a car i were in, i wouldn't care. it's not my car. i may be a little uncomfortable but there's nothing you can do.
Although McDonalds stopped using beef tallow for frying (long before the lawsuit), they continue to use beef flavoring in the fries, which was the real reason for the lawsuit. All the lawsuit achieved was to get McDonalds to declare that this was indeed the case, and they got financial compensation for the obfuscation by McDs. They have not stopped using beef flavoring, and they probably will not. The lawsuit was not intended to get them to stop doing it.
-whenever i eat out i ALWAYS ask "is there meat in that, oh can i please get it with out the meat?" they have never made a big deal out of it, sometimes they say "youll have to pay full price" i smile and agree.
-I would not refuse to ride in a leather seated car. some people just refuse to buy it themselves, because they dont want their money supporting leather factories etc.
-i dont think that mcdonalds fries are "soaked" in beef juice, they ARE cooked in the same oil that chicken nuggets are cooked, if you are ok with eating that.
If you try to force idealism on yourself, then it can backfire. You eat according to how you are. Trying to make yourself some way by enforcing a diet, is putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. Your body will tell you what it does and does not need. If it goes off meat by itself then go along with it. Do it gradually. First steer away from beef. Eat chicken and fish instead. Then ditch the chicken. Eventually the fish will disappear too. By then, ensuring a sufficient supply of protein becomes an issue. You can get all your protein requirements from vegetable sources, but there is a trick to it. It requires a combination of cereal and legume grains. So bread is from cereal grain. For legume grains, start eating more lentils, mungbeans etc. Soya beans are different. They have more complete protein, so can be thought of as being like a dairy food.
(1) Food cooked in animal products is not vegetarian. When you eating out ask what oil they cook in, call a head, check their web site.
(2) I would not buy something with leather but refusing to get in a freinds car, for example, is not going to help anything. The product is has been sold so it doesn't matter. The harm is already done. Not going in the car will just cause tension. Its best to just ignore it.
Whenever I eat out, I always ask my waitress to check with the chef how my food is made - if it's made in a meat-free area, what it's cooked with, and so on - and if the chef can make exceptions. And then I don't order soup, since I don't want angry chef spit in it.
About the leather goods, I don't mind what other people have. It's my belief not to purchase leather - it is not their belief. If they want to eat a rare steak smothered in sour cream whilst sitting on a leather seat, I don't have a problem with it. It's their choice to do so, not mine. It's their car, not mine, so why would I force my beliefs on them by refusing to sit on a leather seat?
1 - I wouldn't give McDonald's one cent even for an orange juice.
2 - If I needed a place to stay, I would eat, sleep and relax on a leather couch with no problem. I wouldn't have one in my own home even if it was second-hand and free of charge. Sitting on a leather seat in no way contributes to the suffering of others. Paying for a product wrapped in animal skin does though.
Refusing to take a ride in a car just makes the witnesses view vegan*ism as a spacey cult. They'll think it is about discipline and OCD when it is about reducing suffering for the sake of others and not about elevating ourselves above others.
When eating out, I always ask what's in the food, I have a right to know and they will have to tell me the truth or I'll sue them -- or they could simply just say we're not telling you and it's your choice to eat it or not, then I wouldn't eat it.
McDonald's uses oil for their fries I believe. Not the good kind of oil either. Lots of stuff to put on pizza besides cheese anyway.
Leather in a car... no, not my car, but in some other car... yeah, I'd take a ride. I do my own part, I lead my own life, for myself. I influence others by being an example -- thus, I don't preach or tell people what I think etc. unless they ask. I find that keeping my mouth shut and just living my life makes a very good example for others; better so than preaching etc.