Buddhist carnivore, sigh.

[Carbon]

I'm a vegetarian partially to save money. It's generally cheaper to get beans/rice than it is to get meat. I know people's situations are different though.

[Adrasteia]

And all those wild yeasts that are on every plant surface on the planet are......animals. Hugs, Devlyn

as both a nerd and an avid homebrewer, I am duty-bound to point out that yeasts are fungi, which is neither plant, animal, nor bacteria.

[Devlyn]

I stand corrected, I thought yeasts were little critters. Thank you, hugs, Devlyn

[Adrasteia]

Heh, they wish they were, I'm sure.  One strain in particular would probably eat your cat if you weren't watching it closely.

Sadly veganism is a concern even when talking about beer - many beers are filetered and clarified using gelatin (derived from animal collagen) or isinglass (made from fish bladders).  People who can make the effort to sort through all of the various things that go into our food have my admiration; I just go for the tasty stuff and try to buy from farms and manufacturers who make an effort to be decent.

[Padma]

Yeast - a fungi to be with. (unless it's candida... )

[Padma]

And being vegetarian or vegan, there's a line of sense to be drawn somewhere about how much of your life you devote to what you're eating, and leave time for all the other ethical areas of concern. As I had to point out to a vegan once, the ethical benefit of his being vegan was cancelled out by his being a complete arsehole towards anyone who wasn't vegan. For example .

[A]

Devlyn Marie: Uhm, I think the principle behind vegetarianism and veganism is not to want to kill/take advantage of living beings who have feelings/a conscience/intelligence. Yeasts and bacteria, just like plants, do not even feel anything. Similarly, insects don't really have an individual conscience, and even if they do, they don't have feelings. However, dogs, pigs and pigeons, for example, have those to varying degrees. I'm not trying to convince you, just to have you stop saying it like my point of view isn't even valid...

And Padma, no one has ever tried everything, ever. I'm just trying to help, you know. Did you try looking for other foods with a taste similar to the meats you crave? Because honestly, if fake meat doesn't satisfy your craving for meat, if it tastes like meat, looks like meat and contains the same things as meat... I think your problem is psychological.

[Devlyn]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come across that way. I respect your opinions. I believe in a varied diet including all the food groups. I know that isn't everyone elses view. Again, I apologize, hugs, Devlyn

[A]

It's all right. I tend to take things in a weird way. Tired and working alone on a frustrating team project~

[Padma]

...Because honestly, if fake meat doesn't satisfy your craving for meat, if it tastes like meat, looks like meat and contains the same things as meat... I think your problem is psychological.

Fake meat may look like and taste similar to meat, but it really doesn't contain 'the same things as meat' and isn't designed to - it's a very manufactured chemistry set aimed to mimic the colour, texture, and flavour of meat, not to offer the same nutritional value. And I've been eating it for years, in small quantities, because I like the taste of some of it.

I'm open to the possibility that my 'problem' has a psychological element, given that the mind is always involved. But it's very clear to me that my body is in the driver's seat here.

And it's fine - I don't expect anyone who hasn't had the same experience I'm having to be able to empathise with it, I was just letting off steam about it happening in the first place.

[justmeinoz]

Listening to your body is good.  It is possibly telling you that after so long as a vegetarian, it wants lots of iron, or something along those lines.
Sometimes I get a craving for a particular food like that, so I just have some.  At the moment it is beetroot.  Like all purple veg it is full of lots of nutrients.  And, lets face it you can't beat a root.
Aussie  play on words.

[Devlyn]

@ A "working alone on a frustrating team project" That statement is keeping a stupid grin on my face! I've worked with those kind of teams before. Then again, sometimes you can do more without them! Hugs, Devlyn