vegetarian/vegan with no convictions?

[believer]

I am still in the "considering vegetarianism/veganism" stage.
I do not know if I will actually move completely to that type of diet or not.
I am considering it for several reasons:
I love veggies!
I don't love meat very much.
I don't digest beef well, or pork I don't think. I know that beef gives me gas and I suspect that pork does too.
So, that leaves me with chicken and fish.
I am tired of chicken.
I do like fish, but prefer it fresh (I was born in New Orleans), and I don't live on a coastline now so I don't get fresh fish unless my bff's mom catches some at a lake and they give some to me.

But it seems that many vegetarian/vegans - can I just call ya'll veg's for short? - have convictions about not eating animals or animal products because they don't want the animals hurt or the environment damaged.

I get that, but I don't think that if I change my own personal diet it will make any difference to the planet or to the animals - just someone else will eat them instead of me.

I have been reading lots of vegetarian cook books and vegan cookbooks and now I am finding that for the most part I don't really want to eat meat any more. I just don't even want it.
Sort of.
Tonight at the grocery store they were giving sample tastes of chili with beef in it and I ate a sample and it was good. In fact, I bought the meal deal to make for my dh and kids because for $9 I got almost 3 pounds of chili meat, a pack of chili seasoning, a can of tomato sauce, a can of chili beans, a pack of shredded cheese and a box of saltine crackers and the recipe for the chili.
So, I will make that for my family but I probably won't eat it.

Do they do chili with just beans and no meat?

Anyway, I know that dh and the kids will not give up eating meat so it would just be me.

Tonight I made:
Pumpkin/banana bread
Potato corn semi-souffle (1/2 recipe)
Pumpkin poblano corn pudding (1/2 recipe again - this and the one above are from the Whole Foods Market Cookbook that I got at the library),
Tabbouleh
and some chicken and some turkey sausage

dh was at church and ate there
younger two kids and I ate dinner at home
there are lots of leftovers

The potato corn semi-soufle is made with thin sliced potatoes that are roasted some in the oven first so I sliced two pans full and on one pan I put some olive oil and salt and it turned out like potato chips almost and the kids loved those.

Oops - I wandered - sorry it was so long.
So, do you have to have some sort of huge reason to be veg's?
Or can it just be because that is what you prefer to eat?
thanks

Oh, and I have some great northern beans soaking but have no idea how to cook them tomorrow. Any tasty ideas?

[poleidopy]

you don't have to have some big philosophical/moral/ethical reason to be veg. I did it for health reasons, which it sounds like a few of your reasons are. But no matter. You can choose non-meat over meat just as you could choose an apple over a donut. It's just better for *you.*

Can I have the recipe for the pumpkin poblano stuff? Sounds yummy!

[NewLeaf]

I think most people have convictions but there are plenty of people who choose not to eat meat for other reasons. I know someone who was a veg because she had an eating disorder. Not a good reason but it was def about her and nothing else. Someone else because of health issues.


I've never been a big meat eater (well, except when I was preg with dd) and I have convictions about how animals are raised and treated and have been delving into Kosher laws. We do buy some meat (mostly for dh) from local farms and I do eat fish.

I don't think your situation sounds weird at all.

[believer]

thanks.
I just wondered because in many of the cookbooks they go into their "reasons" for their veggieness and I don't really share those reasons.

Here is the recipe
I did about a half recipe and used a bit less of the poblano than half and next time I will use more poblano.

2 1/2 cups cornmeal
2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
3 lg eggs, beaten
1/4 c canola oil
1 15 oz can creamed corn
1 1/4 c. canned pumpkin (I used fresh)
1 c ricotta cheese
1 c diced red onion
3/4 c seeded and diced poblano chilies
1 T minced fresh ginger (1 inch piece) I use the jarred ginger people
canola oil for oiling pan

preheat oven to 350
combine cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Make an indentation in the center of the mixture. Place the beaten eggs, the 1/4 c canola oil, and the creamed corn into the indentataion. Using a whisk, combine the ingredients. Stir in the pumpkin and ricotta cheese. Bl4nd well. Stir in the onion, poblano, ginger and garlic. Oil a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish and pour in batter. Smooth out the top. Bake for about 45 min or until mixture is set like soft pudding. Serve warm.

Mine came out like cornbread. Maybe I overcooked it? It is great though.

[NewLeaf]

I think they share their reasons to educate others and try to get other people to think about their own choices.

[DoulaClara]

I was lacto-ovo vegetarian for two years just for fun. I wanted to see how long I could stick to something, and then it turned into bull-headed stubbornness. I had no convictions whatsoever.

[mamahammer]

I lean towards vegetarianism, but stop short because my husband is a big meat and potatoes guy and I just loathe cooking more than one dinner

I have no moral/environmental/religious convictions about meat I just find that I don't like the texture and am easily icked out by certain meat qualities taste and texture related. So, I just generally choose not to eat it. I'll often eat around the meat in the meals I cook and such. And for breakfast/lunch when I'm not cooking for DH, I don't generally use meat.

But, yes, I think it's totally understandable to go veg without convictions concerning vegetarianism.

Great replies

Have you seen the documentary "Earthlings"? That's what finally convinced me to be veg (although I do eat meat occasionally when visiting someone's home and things like that) so I'm not technically a veg... but we don't buy or cook any meat or dairy products. Once in a while I might buy some organic meat for dh b/c he doesn't really seem to like any vegan meals so he's eating out A LOT

[saturnfire16]

My moral convictions only extend to how they are raised. When I buy meat or eggs, I try to buy from a local farmer who raises his animals humanely, free range and organic. I usually avoid dairy because of galbladder issues, but when I want a pizza, I eat it and go ahead and load on the cheese. When we can't afford humanely raised meat and eggs, I *try* not to eat it, but sometimes dh just makes something yummy that I can't resist. I'm trying to eat Kosher, so I don't do pork or shellfish, but those were never my favorites anyway.

So, all that to say that I am a wanna-be vegan, who still likes a good steak now and then, and I have some moral convictions, but don't always adhere strictly to them. How's that for confusing?!

[poleidopy]

I need one of those pins that says 99.9% vegan

[flowermama]

So, do you have to have some sort of huge reason to be veg's?
Or can it just be because that is what you prefer to eat?

There are a lot of people who are veg for health reasons. And there are people who choose to eat a vegitan diet (no dairy, eggs, or meat), who are not "vegan." I first became vegan to try it out and see how I felt afterwards, to see if I felt better, worse, or whatever. After I became vegan the more reasons I found to continue to be vegan, the more the reasons I already knew about spoke to my heart, and the more I felt that this was what God wanted me to do.

There are many different reasons for eating or moving towards a more plant-based diet. And definitely the reason of it being someone's preference is a valid and good reason.

The first time I went vegetarian it was totally for health reasons. I was a big pork and red meat girl. Bacon. cheeseburgrers. steak. I seriously only went number 2 like once a week. I wasn't until much later that I started to really feel convicted to about all the other stuff ethical/enviromental etc. like flowermama said. and then returned to vegetarian this spring. Having those convictions has definitely made it easier to stick with this time around though.

[Cat]

I'm vegan for ethical and spiritual reasons.

[ArmsOfLove]

we became vegan because dh has colitis and can't eat red meats or dairy, I'm allergic to dairy, eggs, chicken, and several other things. I felt icky eating pork Neither of us are huge fans of most fish (I like some of the expensive ones but even then not all the time ) so we realized we were *only* eating turkey and we were getting sick of that. So we went "vegan" and learned to cook in a whole way

then I was able to hear the ethical stuff more easily because it wasn't anything I was contributing to.

[Serafine]

It is perfectly reasonable to eat primarily veggies, just b/c you prefer veggies.

I don't think that would necessarily make you a vegetarian, since you *do* like meat sometimes.

Just eat what you want/like, and don't worry about labeling yourself, IMO.