Cycling UK Forum

Flinders wrote:For what it is worth, I don't eat huge amounts of meat, white or red, but I don't think any diet has the moral high ground when you consider everything.

Hats off to vegans imo, I think as far as animal welfare is concerned they most definitely do have the moral upper hand.
I'd love to be vegan but I'm too lazy (and I know that's a crap excuse...)

There's a cracking pie shop in Barnsley that supplies my culinary needs, not local but worth the trip. Pigeon, quail, rabbit, pheasant, venison and many others. I'm sure they'll be happy to feed a cycling conference with locally caught and bred wild food. A nice pork pie (none of your jelly preservative, they're eaten too quickly), a plate o'peas and a slop of onion gravy will have anyone pedalling.

kwackers wrote:

Flinders wrote:For what it is worth, I don't eat huge amounts of meat, white or red, but I don't think any diet has the moral high ground when you consider everything.

Hats off to vegans imo, I think as far as animal welfare is concerned they most definitely do have the moral upper hand.
I'd love to be vegan but I'm too lazy (and I know that's a crap excuse...)

Nope, windfall-fruitarian is where it's at. They don't require vast swathes of landscape to be turned into virtual mono-cultures for their needs.

Si wrote:Nope, windfall-fruitarian is where it's at. They don't require vast swathes of landscape to be turned into virtual mono-cultures for their needs.

As long as there's only a few of them... Otherwise won't we need to replace every tree in Britain with fruit trees? (And every spare scrap of land).

kwackers wrote:

Si wrote:Nope, windfall-fruitarian is where it's at. They don't require vast swathes of landscape to be turned into virtual mono-cultures for their needs.

As long as there's only a few of them... Otherwise won't we need to replace every tree in Britain with fruit trees? (And every spare scrap of land).

Yup, solves a multitude of problems, doesn't it!

What is yer average vegan's aim for the British countryside? It might be a finer, happier thing than we have now but I'm wondering if they have a workable end goal for its use?

glueman wrote:What is yer average vegan's aim for the British countryside? It might be a finer, happier thing than we have now but I'm wondering if they have a workable end goal for its use?

The only vegans I know are non-reactionary, they just do what they do because they believe in it. They certainly don't preach (despite what this thread suggests).
So tbh I'm not sure if they have a vision; in fact I don't think that other than welcoming the odd new person to the fold they believe their way of life will ever become mainstream.

Like most of these things I suspect it to be the new converts that are overly vocal. Like new cyclists they like the world to know what they're doing and why. The rest of us just go our own quiet way...

Flinders wrote:(example- my meat, farm down road, 2 miles, can see stock in fields, looks healthy and happy, grass-fed (usually all year). Abbatoir (also butcher from whom I buy the meat) three miles away. My veg and fruit, allotment, end of street, or garden, ten paces. No supermarket, no motorway full of lorry. Local milk. Do I have more food miles or less than those who buy veg imported from Europe or even beyond?

Careful who else you share your enthusiasm for your local meat and your home grown veg with. Those of a particularly sensitive nature think you are preaching and someone may take offence!

No, don't worry yourself, I'm okay on that, as I don't tell anyone else what they should eat or where they should source their food from.

I was merely, in the context, pointing out that in emission terms the issues are complicated. I lived with a veggie for years, and we never had a cross word (or indeed any other words) about any aspect of it. When we ate together, we ate veggie and we shared the cooking. We both ate fish. When she was out, I ate meat. It was never an issue. I also use real hair paintbrushes and wear leather shoes. So do some veggies. I also have veggie painter friends who are so by conviction and won't use anything but nylon brushes. None of us fall out about that, either. We make our own choices and respect other people's. If anyone asks, people explain. If they don't ask, we just get on with our lives. Seems good to me.

For someone who gets all uppity that people make assumptions, you've assume a lot in that sentence.
I never said I was a vegan and I never said I had any sprinklies or even that I'd ever tasted them.

(I'm not and I haven't)

Ooher Kwackers, I have not assumed anything but you have taken literally the 'you' bit. as if 'you' would assume anything yourself.

So you are 100% convinced that eating meat is not as healthy as not eating it, even though you are not vegan, veggie or whatever.

I don't believe it is so and nothing I has have read has made me think any different.

I only log on whilst i'm at work, I don't want to use my own time and electricity.

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johncharles wrote:I don't believe it is so and nothing I has have read has made me think any different.

Never...

glueman wrote:What is yer average vegan's aim for the British countryside? It might be a finer, happier thing than we have now but I'm wondering if they have a workable end goal for its use?

It will never be as black and white as the status quo v's 100% vegan culture. But an awful lot of that farm land now under cultivation for fodder crops would be used for human consumption. This would help localise the vegan diet more (much of which at present is reliant on imported grains, nuts and beans), but most importantly, ensure that our food is largely grown within the UK.

That land which is not suitable for cultivation can continue to be worked for animal rearing, feeding a much reduced market for meat. So we don't all have to become vegans, but could consume a largely veg/grain based diet with a vastly reduced meat component in our diets. A higher price for meat would reflect this.

kwackers wrote:

johncharles wrote:I don't believe it is so and nothing I has have read has made me think any different.

Never...

Where is all this undeniable proof then.