# Vegetarian v Vegan v Non-vegetarian.



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

There is another thread here which is mostly dedicated to vegan and vegetarian recipes so this is not intended to be a recipe discussion (but dont let that stop you from posting dietary suggestions) but more about why you or yours have made that particular choice. Interestingly in formulating the title for this thread I found out the there is no single word that describes a person who eats a broad range of foods including meat and fish, non-vegetarian being the best I can come up with, carnivore being one who eats exclusively meat!

That said I am a life long vegetarian all of my 70 plus years who eats most everything, but meat & fish, including eggs, cheese, nuts and beans. I include that information because many folks who are vegetarian but not fully vegan do exclude some of those items from their diet for one reason or another. My own thoughts on my food intake is 'moderation in everything and everything in moderation' baring meat & fish in my case, what are your thoughts on the various choices we make?

Is your diet based upon personal choice, dietary issues or allergy's, family upbringing or some other issue. Have you always followed you current diet or is it a more recent choice and what made you change if indeed you have just done so?


----------



## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Omnivore.


----------



## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Omnivore for 34 years. 

Low protein vegetarian for 5 years due to spouse’s dietary need. 

Omnivore for 15+ yearsish.

Mostly Whole Food Plant Based the last year or so due to dietary needs of the person for whom I cook.


----------



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

oregon woodsmok said:


> Omnivore.


Thats the word !! Thanks.......


----------



## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Human- Omnivore
American Guinea Hog- Omnivore
Works for me.


----------



## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Just put me in that omnivorous group also and yes it is a personal choice. Although my mother was the one who taught me how to cook and there is a ethic like for some foods.


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Whole food, plant-based for over two years to improve health and energy level. I'm sticking with it because it works for me.


----------



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

In checking as to how and when I became vegetarian I found out that my aunt was active in the very early years of 'the movement' in England and wrote a wartime recipe book back in the early 1940s.

https://www.vegsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Origins-of-the-vegans.pdf


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I eat a bit of everything. Not big on fish but can tolerate tuna in small doses. Love shell fish. Pork, beef, rabbit, squirrel, ****, are good things as are eggs, milk, cheese and those other cowy things. Love me some veggies too, and most any form of breads. My comfort foods include pinto beans n cornbread, biscuits n gravy, sgetti with home made meat sauce, chili over pasta.


----------



## snowlady (Aug 1, 2011)

Omnivores here. I do have a vegan niece. I asked her why. She said she just didn’t like meat very much then got into the ethics of eating animal products. She also does not wear silk, leather or wool. She’s very careful with her diet. I also asked her if only meat or vegetarian were her choices, what would she do. She said not eat anything. I applaud her for sticking to her beliefs and not pushing them off on anyone else.


----------



## dmm1976 (Oct 29, 2013)

Ominvore. I eat mostly meat and green vegetables. Some berries and nuts. Dairy once im awhile mostly in the form of greek yogurt. Grain free. Nothing processed. Edit: maybe processed isnt the right word. Nothing refined. I dont really eat anything with more than a couple ingredients.

Yes its keto. But not this high fat keto of today. Its higher protein and low carb. And lower fat. I feel better than i ever have. Been eating like this simce i lost 70lbs a couple years ago doing high fat keto. Switched to high protein to maintain and build muscle. I use every bit of my 20 net carb allotment for vegetables.


----------



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

As a life long vegetarian one of the main sources of protein I have always used is a peanut based product that has been made and marked by various manufactures in England and Australia for many decades and more recently in the U.S. Nutmete, Nutolene and similar products are now becoming harder and harder to find due it seems to the the increasing number of consumers who have severe allergy reaction to nut products with suppliers now having to certify their facility's 'nut free'. This has also resulted in many schools banning nut products from the kids lunches, is this an 'over the top' reaction to the few folks who have a (granted in some cases serious) allergy to such foods. I dont know, I just know it has presented challenges for this vegetarian getting some of the food that he considers important for his diet.

I generally see dietary choices as a personal thing and am tolerant of other folks choices but given the discontinuance of some peanut products I wonder what the reaction would be to a ban on, for instance, fish products or certain meat products. I guess its a case of the volume of users, but a few peanut allergy's seem to out weigh a small but some what larger number of vegetarian nut users.


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Rural Kanuck said:


> As a life long vegetarian one of the main sources of protein I have always used is a peanut based product that has been made and marked by various manufactures in England and Australia for many decades and more recently in the U.S. Nutmete, Nutolene and similar products are now becoming harder and harder to find due it seems to the the increasing number of consumers who have severe allergy reaction to nut products with suppliers now having to certify their facility's 'nut free'. This has also resulted in many schools banning nut products from the kids lunches, is this an 'over the top' reaction to the few folks who have a (granted in some cases serious) allergy to such foods. I dont know, I just know it has presented challenges for this vegetarian getting some of the food that he considers important for his diet.
> 
> I generally see dietary choices as a personal thing and am tolerant of other folks choices but given the discontinuance of some peanut products I wonder what the reaction would be to a ban on, for instance, fish products or certain meat products. I guess its a case of the volume of users, but a few peanut allergy's seem to out weigh a small but some what larger number of vegetarian nut users.


This is where the law of supply and demand comes in. I've not heard a bout any bans of peanuts or other nut products. Can't make anyone buy a product if they don't want to. Not even health insurance. I still see peanut butter, candy bars with peanuts and other nuts being sold in stores here. I too like freedom of choice in most things. Good luck finding your nut products. You can have my share aside from creamy peanut butter, nuts are a bit rough on my gums.


----------



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

One of the problems here is Canada in getting imported 'specialty' foods is that our government insists that imported items be labeled in both our 'official' languages' English AND French. Companys with low volume specialty items simply cant be bothered to run special batches for export just for Canada, cant blame them for that.... I just wonder how it is that so many Asian specialty foods without such labeling ARE on our shelves. I will say that veggie burgers and similar products are becoming more and more available as so many folks are reducing their consumption of animal products as they feel its 'healthier', I don't necessarily subscribe to that but lean more towards "moderation in everything and everything in moderation" ....with the exception of meat and fish in my case!


----------



## Wyobuckaroo (Dec 30, 2011)

Omnivorous here..
I also dislike the dual languages on products.. It makes the printing so small it is very hard to read.. Also with so many foreign products coming from China and India, many are NOT that good. This all makes North American produced products harder to find.. 

Reading labels is a must.. If the origin of a product sounds the least bit confusing, put it back..

Some China produced canned seafood products have not even been good for coyote bait..


----------



## Alexx05 (Jun 22, 2020)

A vegetarian since 27 years, initially it was my parents choice and later became my lifestyle. Though not vegan, I better prefer to have only plant-based products and try avoiding any animal-derived products.


----------



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

Alexx05 said:


> A vegetarian since 27 years, initially it was my parents choice and later became my lifestyle. Though not vegan, I better prefer to have only plant-based products and try avoiding any animal-derived products.


A life long vegetarian I must admit that my view now is not that meat is 'bad' health wise but more that too much of any one source of protein is not very healthy. After 70+ years not eating meat and fish its more of a mental thing for me at this point, even if I wanted to try to add such to my diet I could not knowingly force myself to eat it. My family all are non vegetarian but due in part to my dietary considerations are very much aware of the need for a balanced diet which in my view is far more important than including or excluding any particular source of nutrition. Eating nothing but cheese is just as bad as eating nothing but beef for instance!

It is the considerable reduction of choices that would concern me about about a vegan diet as eggs and cheese comprise a regular part of my 'balance'!


----------



## Alexx05 (Jun 22, 2020)

Rural Kanuck said:


> A life long vegetarian I must admit that my view now is not that meat is 'bad' health wise but more that too much of any one source of protein is not very healthy. After 70+ years not eating meat and fish its more of a mental thing for me at this point, even if I wanted to try to add such to my diet I could not knowingly force myself to eat it. My family all are non vegetarian but due in part to my dietary considerations are very much aware of the need for a balanced diet which in my view is far more important than including or excluding any particular source of nutrition. Eating nothing but cheese is just as bad as eating nothing but beef for instance!
> 
> It is the considerable reduction of choices that would concern me about about a vegan diet as eggs and cheese comprise a regular part of my 'balance'!


Being a vegetarian for such long time, you must have encountered that there is no reduction of choices in any kind of diet. Along with a balance in diet in terms of nutrition, all kind of diets have their own healthy yet tasty recipes. Having eggs and cheese in your regular part of diet is another concern but, if you wish to turn vegan, then you might as well get some or the other products that are alternatives to regular eggs and cheese.


----------



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

In recent years it has become somewhat easier than even 20 years ago to follow a vegetarian / vegan diet in that there are now many plant based products that stimulate popular things like burgers, hot dogs, chicken and the like that can be prepared in the same way as those things. This was not the case not so many years ago when most of us had to 'start from scratch' with the basic ingredients, unfortunately the increasing nut allergy situation has forced several manufactures to discontinue making such foods as they don't want to keep separate facility's for nut products. Many of the specialty products made there in the U.S. are generally not available here in Canada due to our labeling requirements (French & English on label for one) adding to the problem.

That said we are seeing an ever increasing number of 'veggieburgers' and the like on our shelves and I have my own nut & bean burger recipe developed over the years so always have something to 'throw on the BBQ' when family and friends are cooking up their animal burgers.

Happy cookout to all......


----------



## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

All carnivore here


----------



## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

McDonald's' six-month trial run of a plant-based burger — which began with much fanfare — has ended quietly with no current plans to add it to the menu.

Between Sept. 30 last year and April 6, McDonald's launched two consecutive trials of the burger — made with a Beyond Meat patty — at dozens of its restaurants in southwestern Ontario. The fast food chain dubbed the burger the P.L.T. (plant, lettuce, tomato) and said it was being tested in Canada for restaurants across the globe.

The chain publicly promoted the trial, which garnered international headlines due to its partnering with popular faux meat maker Beyond Meat to create the sandwich.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mcdonald-s-beyond-meat-plant-based-burger-trial-p-l-t-1.5625342


----------

