I’ve never really been all that bothered about food either. I like a few mouthfuls but then it all gets a bit blah for me. I prefer nice drinks to nice food. Choco milk, coffee, mint tea, water. Wowsers, those things are great. I was a vegetarian for a while simply because meat can taste bland. My food palate must be quite dull.
I also like breathing in air sometimes. Early mornings, mist, the park. Yum.
My dad went and saw animals being slaughtered and that put him off meat. Me, I could kill a pig no bother. Did something like that in Yilan. Some dude killed it, but we cut it up and barbecued it. Seen chickens killed, plucked and gutted in a bucket. No problems eating that. As a kid I was squeamish, then as a teen I wasn’t. Then in my 20’s I was. Now, not. Dunno how I will feel in 10 years time. Probably linked to feelings of mortality.
Cool. I do an article about the reintroduction of wolves there with my students. This will make a nice follow-up.[/quote]
There is a very similar dynamic at play in the Australian landscape. The larger species of kangaroo are big winners from European settlement; aboriginal hunting pressure has been all but removed, leaving dingoes as the sole ‘natural’ predator; however, as dingoes also attack livestock pastoralists poison them, leaving an overabundance of kangaroos to trash the vegetation, destroying habitat for smaller animals in the process. Furthermore, the absence of dingoes allows (introduced) red foxes to move in, which prefer hunting these smaller, threatened species. Increasingly, scientists are calling for a cessation of dingo baiting. Unfortunately, I don’t have any warm and fuzzy videos on this.
To get back on topic, some people are vegetarians because they believe all killing is wrong. And some who feel very strongly about this mount protests like this: Culling of 6,000 kangaroos angers Australian conservationists. They don’t care about the rest of the environment, or the impending starvation that awaits any population existing so far above the land’s carrying capacity. Personally, I think they are deluded in their sense of moral superiority. I eat kangaroo partly because I enjoy it but also because it is an act of conservation.
It’s amazing to read my post from seven years ago. Since then I’ve certainly swung back towards a less meat focussed diet. I make sure I eat 3-5 vegetarian meals per week. I can find my proteins in beans, eggs, veggies just as well as in chicken etc.
I truthfully have zero concept of the true damage I’m doing to the planet by being here. I eat vegetarian meals as part of some complicated internalized rule based doctrine which I have made up based on 47 years trundling round the planet in this meat sack.
I’m a vegetarian and I can’t do beyond/fake meat at all, but Indian veggie burgers are just so flavorful that it tops everything else for me. Indian veggie patties are available at Trader Joes in the US but unfortunately not available in Taiwan. The recipe is super easy though so I can usually make some in an hour with basic ingredients
I think there’s a world of difference between what The West thinks of as vegan/vegetarian, and what vegetable-based meals look like in countries that have a tradition of that sort of thing. Western vegan food, mostly, is just processed shit, just like non-vegan food. Indian meals, even those that don’t have much meat in them (or none at all) are a whole different proposition.
If all you’re eating is carbs and meat, you’re unncessarily deleting several years from your lifespan. I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but most of what I eat is veg, because I think they taste nice. Particularly if they’re cooked properly.
I totally agree. I became a vegetarian first because I didn’t like the taste of meat (my family forced me to eat it until I was 18 because I was “growing” and was an athlete), so I avoid mock meats. Lentil and Chickpea patties, on the other hand, are so flavourful and nutritious. One of the few foods I miss from my homecountry are the bean patties sold at metro stations in student/artsy neighborhoods.
I guess that depends more on your macros and not overindulging in fruit/sugary treats.
I was vegan for 10 years during my triathlon and swimming career and didn’t have that problem.
If you like Indian food, you might be interested in this:
There are many variants for this recipe, but it’s one of those ‘vegetarian’ recipes that I’ll eat simply because it tastes good, not because it’s vegetarian.
You’ll probably struggle to find moringa in Taiwan, though You could probably substitute asparagus (at the last minute) for a similar flavour.
True. Most vegans simply have no idea what they’re doing and eat waaay to much processed crap.
It’s possible to remain healthy on a vegan diet, but IMO it’s largely pointless (unless you like an intellectual challenge). Just add some dairy and/or eggs and you’re sorted. Indian “vegans” generally add a lot of dairy products to their meals.
You could probably substitute asparagus (at the last minute) for a similar flavour.