Becoming Vegetarian.

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by kkfern

i live in the country. i see cows everyday in the fields.

kk

Yes I do too where I live. They seem quite content. They play and socialise with each other, and seem happy to trundle off at milking-times. They look fit and well and looked after. I see them living quite a nice life.
But sometimes I hear cows calling endlessly through the night. They will not give up. I used to wonder what they were making all that noise about. Someone told me they are aching to get to the bull....but I felt differently about the sound of their voices. It didn't seem that way somehow. Those voices were like calling a name endlessly through the night (can't explain it any other way) Desperate until they were going hoarse.
Then I found out why. Their calves had been taken away from them. By humans. So we can take the milk intended for their calves. The males were killed. The females just separated. Those were mothers crying out for their children, whom they would never see again.
They go quiet and accept after a few days. They exhaust themselves. But they suffer that grief because we have to have milk with our cereal or tea.....

[knightofalbion]

"The best thing about being a vegan? Being able to look a cow in the eye and not feel ashamed"

Thank you, Tobi. It's not something I didn't know, but to read the words from someone who's heard the grieving... Well, it got to me.

And of course, the "beef" cattle who seem so happy in the fields will soon be carted off to feedlots where they'll be fattened even more with chemicals, and then lined up for the slaughter where they see the ones ahead of them getting murdered....

I am grateful that I do not participate in any of it anymore.

You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

The question is not, 'Can they reason?' nor, 'Can they talk?' but rather, 'Can they suffer?' --Jeremy Bentham

[Astro]

Originally Posted by Starbuck

Yay :) Good on you for making a major decision. It's not easy particularly when it goes against the family grain (sorry for the pun!). Vegetarianism isn't possible for everyone so I've had to settle on pescetarianism due to health problems and inability to sustain on a fully veggie diet, but for the majority it is a very healthy choice and can only benefit animals and the planet. I find it hard to separate spirituality from wanting to be free of an industry that cruelly slaughters animals for our food.

This is a truth. There is so much that's unclear about what's right & what's wrong to eat, unless you know, or are a nutritionist. We should only do what we know we can do.

[vitaraq18]

Does chocolate contain animal fat?

[Astro]

Originally Posted by vitaraq18

I agree but at the end of the day we do have to eat I think we have been nice by not eating meat as animals have 5 senses.

As far as I am aware, animal's have internal sense's as well as the five external senses.

[vitaraq18]

wow so its more than I thought lol

[Tobi]

Originally Posted by vitaraq18

Does chocolate contain animal fat?

Milk chocolate does. I'm not sure about some ordinary dark chocolate. But at health food stores it is possible to buy vegan chocolate! It is more expensive of course.
Or you could just read the ingredients list on a bar of ordinary dark chocolate.

[vitaraq18]

Originally Posted by Tobi

Milk chocolate does. I'm not sure about some ordinary dark chocolate. But at health food stores it is possible to buy vegan chocolate! It is more expensive of course.
Or you could just read the ingredients list on a bar of ordinary dark chocolate.

I have done research and most dark chocolate does not contain animal fat

[Emmalevine]

You can buy vegan chocolate which definitely wouldn't :)