Say 'no' to meat and stop suffering

“I've eaten good food (fantastic food) and I've eaten awful food, like the vast majority of people in life. Anyone that denies it is probably in denial themselves. Millions of people across the country at some point in their lives, have stumbled out of the pub at the end of the night and eaten fried chicken, kebab, pizza (sometimes with "ground" meat on it) or some other "foreign muck" as you call it. The landmass required for the whole population to eat really well reared meat, from truly kind farming is more than we have available.

Even "freedom foods" and other similar labels, support the more intensive farming. They require that farmers give the animals stimulation and not cram them so tightly, however lets not fool ourselves, these animal's are still distressed in some way during their life cycle due to not having sufficient space, to truly express their primal behaviours. As long as it isn't too unduly done, we have to accept that the population wanting to eat meat, outweighs some of the higher moral values, some people would like to see implemented within the farming industry.

I enjoy eating food at home that's freshly prepared as often as I can. Sometimes its a £4-5 chicken or a pack of 3-4 pork chops for £5, maybe premium sausages, at other times I can afford something a bit more luxurious. But please don't throw that slur directly at me, when I'm only acknowledging some of the horrible truths about what we all eat, whether we acknowledge its substandard or not, its the truth. Sometimes I have to look at what I can afford and on occasions buy meat that has likely been distressed before arriving on my plate, that doesn't make me a bad person. It makes me like the majority of the population that has to watch the purse strings and sometimes make decisions that mean they eat meat, that possibly hasn't had the best life before arriving on my plate. In some ways I'm restricted by a few industries that have huge political clout with its lobbying and a food manufacturing/supermarket system implemented long before I was born thats only goal is to produce foods at very cheap prices (thus pumping it full of salt, sugar, fat and more!).

The superior veggie diet isn't all it's cracked up to be either, if we're honest. There's ways of making veggie snacks/fast foods/convenience foods that contain added fats and other ingredients, yet people still eat those products. Then there's the amount of chemicals needed to treat the volume of crops required, its most certainly having an affect on our environment and would only magnify the problem if we all abandoned meat (which is, lets be honest... never going to happen). Organic isn't sustainable / cheap enough for the whole population either.”

“I'm fed up with Elizabeth Allison's continuous letter's in the mercury, and i'm a veggie!. We are not all preachers as some may think. As long as the animal has been grazed properly and not dumped in a cramped up barn, each to their own i say. British farmer's have a rough deal as it is, thanks to supermarkets wanting something for nothing, And people like Bikerdan82, who will obviously eat anything he thinks is meat. You should care if an animal was locked in a barn for 3 months. Any meat eater would tell you. A animal that is put out to graze properly, will taste different to one that would be locked up. Eggs from chickens that a free range, taste better that caged hens. Obviously bikerdan82, as eaten so much foreign muck (meat), he does not know the difference. Shame Ms Allison does not mention, in her many letters, the disgraceful and cruel way an animal is killed for halal meat. Now that is barbaric!”

“If we all stopped eating meat, all these animals will have suffered for no reason. We owe it to them to honour their sacrifice by tucking into parts of their legs and rib cage with a nice sauce and some roast potatoes. It's what they would have wanted.”

“Veggie "activists" have tried to use every possible argument under sun to try and turn meat eaters into born again vegans, and for the most part have failed. Some of us have become so annoyed at the relentless stream of drivel that is spouted that it just makes us more determined to enjoy our carnivorous diet. Here are some of the "guilt" points we have been subjected to.
# Cancer
# Heart disease
# Animal suffering
# Contamination
# Global warming (daft)
# World hunger (even dafter)
# World Drought (even more daft)

The list goes on, and just gets more ludicrous

We have heard it all before, over and over and over again.

More of the same just makes more folk just switch off.”

“In all fairness, we're only in the position we are with this horse meat malarky because supermarkets have made it so easy for people to eat meat without ever really making a connection between the slab of pinky/red stuff in a plastic box and the origins of where that product came from. Most people like that, as it means they don't have to worry about the things veggies obviously do (which possibly drove them to their veggie ways).

Personally I don't care if an animal is in a barn for 3 months, taken to a slaughter house and packed into plastic boxes before being popped in my oven for an hour or so and devoured with relish. Like it or not, animals reared for consumption are a commodity and thus will be treated as one. We all want cheap meat, cheap meat is only possible if you intensively "farm" it. If you want even cheaper pre-made foods, then you open yourselves to a whole word of unscrupulous people making as much money as they can, from your laziness.”

“"You've missed my point completely." - no, I agreed with the actual point you made about, which was:

"The fact is it is not meat eaters who mistreat animals and we abhor the perpetrators just as much as 'veggies'. What is needed is greater control and inspection of farms, abbatoirs and the food chain BEFORE it gets to the consumer."

You made no mention of a "myriad of letters", in your original post, did you? I can only see one here, it is was clearly titled, so its content wasn't exactly unexpected.”

“You've missed my point completely. You simply don't see a myriad of letters from the meat eating population wanting everyone to come on board as these 'veggie' minority want us to do.

By all means highlight animal maltreatment when and where it occurs and take appropriate action by informing the authorities not just write to the 'Merc' in some evangelical way thinking that we're all going to see their "light" and be converted - it ain't goin' to happen!!”

“Why oh why do meat eaters choose to read a letter entitled "Say 'no' to meat and stop suffering", and then complain that a veggie is ramming their views down meat-eaters throats?

But the point that it is not necessarily meat-eaters that cause suffering to animals, many go out of their way to buy quality British meat from a good source, is a good one. And you can hardly blame someone that buys Findus beef lasagne for the supply chain that means the product has been adulterated with horse - although all consumers should be aware of the relationship between cost and quality.”

“Why do these 'veggies' keep on ramming their views down our throats? Do we meat eaters do the same, no.

The fact is it is not meat eaters who mistreat animals and we abhor the perpetrators just as much as 'veggies'. What is needed is greater control and inspection of farms, abbatoirs and the food chain BEFORE it gets to the consumer.

Why can't 'veggies' understand we are not all the same and never will be.”