You see, one of the folks visiting is lacking some very important vocabulary...
- Vegetarian doesn't mean "I eat all vegetables". Believe it or not, it's completely okay to be a vegetarian and still not like broccoli. But a certain family member has twice this past week given us crap over the phone about it. She honestly thinks most vegetarians restrict their diet only because they love vegetables so much - not health reasons, not environmental reasons, and certainly not because factory farms treat animals inhumanely. She keeps telling us that we're weird and not really vegetarians. She believes 'vegetarian' means you like the flavor of all vegetables.
- Lobster is not a vegetable, and is, in fact, an animal. This same relative actually told my wife this week that lobster and crab are not animals. Not "they don't have feelings" or "they're just bugs" or any of the usual crap that people say to create an artificial divide between "lower" animals and us. Any of that, I could have accepted - if she'd said "they're invertebrates, so they might not even feel pain" I'd nod along quietly while still choosing not to eat them, but there'd be no outrage on my part. I'm happy to agree to disagree, and just generally not worry about differences of opinion in such subjective matters.
Clearly, someone's point of view was erroneous. Just to be sure it wasn't me with the disconnect from reality, I looked both words up in my hard-cover dictionary and on the internet. What I read simply confirmed what I already knew to be true:
- I (and my 7th grade biology teacher) was right - Lobsters and Crabs are Crustaceans, Arthropods, and Invertebrates, and thus Animals. King Phillip Came Over From Geneva, Spain. Kangaroos Play Cello, Orangutans Fiddle, Gorillas Sing. They are from Kingdom Animalia, as opposed to being plants, fungi, or some sort of prokaryote.
- I am also correct that I am, as I've always maintained, an ovo-lacto-vegetarian. I suppose it's possible she thought we were Pescetarians, but not from anything I've told her. There's lots of 'plant-based diets' that fall under the vegetarian and semivegetarian banner -
"The reasons for choosing vegetarianism may be related to morality, religion, culture, ethics, aesthetics, environment, society, economy, politics, taste, or health." -wikipedia
So it's a lot more complicated than her simple "love 100% of veggies" definition.
Hopefully, by ranting here, I've gotten this out of my system, so I'll be able to enjoy a nice visit with family this weekend without having to go ballistic. *fingers crossed*
3 comments:
What if you kindly raise an animal. Sing to it... take it for walks... never feed it chemicals... let it have friends over... etc. Then one day just quietly sneak up and kill it quickly and suddenly so it feels no pain, or very little. Now can you eat that animal? I mean it is still meat but happy meat. It is better for the environment, it was never abused and best of all it tastes pretty good deep fried in another animals fatty tissue and served with coleslaw. Just curious?
Yes, that would be far more humane. If I had the money to raise my own, and could thus ensure their fair treatment and as painless of a death as possible, I might not be a vegetarian. I don't have that money / option, and so I choose the path I'm on.
And in the years I've been a vegetarian, I've had several people try to trick me into eating meat without my knowing. Relatives and strangers alike have claimed various dishes had no meat, and not revealed the truth till I'd eaten half the plate. "Oh that? That's just turkey sausage, that's not meat!"
If I can't trust my mother-in-law (or a good friend's mother one thanksgiving, or a regular customer at the gamestore I managed, or several restaurants) to not lie about what's in the food, then I probably can't trust anyone when they claim an animal was killed humanely and without pain.
Of course, even if there were a way to ensure the animals treatment, there's still several other reasons to avoid meat:
* Livestock takes lots of land and water and grains. By cutting meat out of your diet, you significantly reduce your environmental impact.
* 70% of domestic grain use in this country goes to feed animals.
* It takes an average of 6.9kg of corn and soy to put 1kg of pork on the table.
* 1kg of beef takes 3,000 liters of water.
* Most livestock are constantly given growth horomones and antibiotics. Animals are a chemical buffet.
* All that indiscriminate antibiotic use could breed a super germ.
* Red meat has been directly linked to colon cancer in multiple studies.
* Mad Cow is an epidemic waiting to erupt in this country. We grind up old animals to make the feed for their grandchildren, which results in loose undigested prions that lead to mad cow.
and my personal favorite:
* Being vegetarian means I can't eat anything at McDonald's (or any other fast food place except Subway). That does amazing things for your health. I turned vegetarian while working in a Mall environment. Overnight, I had to stop eating at the food court on my lunch breaks, and my health improved noticeably after just a couple months.
Oh, and even if you treat a lobster humanely, it's still not a vegetable.
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