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I eat everything, but only buy/cook meat that is organic/local. I certainly don't refuse it when eating at someone else's home or at a restaurant, but when I can control it, I never do non-organic.

A theory I have mentioned on AT before (long long ago): I think vegans, raw foodists, etc... are generally people who have Control Issues. If it works for them to severely limit what goes in their mouths, so be it, but many people I have met with non-medically restricted diets seem to have problems elsewhere in their lives too.

Considering that a large portion of the world goes hungry every day, I find it fascinating -- in the US and developed countries -- that people turn away food for philosophical reasons. I'm not saying that people should eat as much as most Americans (god forbid), but a little travel outside of the US can really add some perspective. We live in a very wealthy and blessed nation.

"me"

huh?

I am a vegetarian* ( *I am a vegeterian, no one else has to be), have been for almost my entire life, i have a very happy and healthy personal and prof. life, and I consider myself to be one of the most well travelled people I know.

I would assume that if you were so well travelled you would realize that enormous portions of the world's population live and thrive on a vegetarian diet, that many people on this earth have never consumed cow milk ( a largely unnatural act) and that as quickly as the developing world adopts American eating habits they also develope our profound obesity and staggering diabetis issues (been to China recently?).

Your diatribe looses even more steam when one takes into account that one of the many causes of hunger around the world is our nation's glutenous consumption of large grazing animals that slowly destroy enormous plots of farm land that could be sewn with grains and beans.

I think that people who spend time worrying about what other people are eating have much more pressing control issues.

I have traveled outside and around the US and every culture turn away food depending on cultural taboos, religion etc. If you judge people as being unbalanced for what they put in their mouths you have a lot of people to insult. Let me go tell my Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Rasta, Hindi friends and family that they have mental problems. There is a huge culture of just food out there and the whole world outside of the US is not starving.

I checked "eat local/organic meat" but I must say I do make exceptions - if I am a guest or traveling abroad, I eat what is offered, even if it is not something I like. I rarely prepare meat at home, but I do order it occasionally in restaurants.

On the international topic, besides general religious diets mentioned above, many cultures have "subcultures" of ultra-religious (monks, hermits, etc.) who eat even more restricted diets than the general population. Food often has a lot of symbolism, and many religions associate spiritual purity with denial of common physical things, like certain foods or sexual relations. It has been my experience in the US that many (but not all) people who adobt extremely restrictive diets find a psychological comfort in it - it makes them feel pure, different, special, in control, or it makes them feel spiritually clean (even if they are not part of a defined religious group).

I don't think this is a bad thing, just a human thing. One family member of mine has always had special diets - for a while it was brown rice/health food, later it was no tomatos, later it was a really strict Atkins diet. He got a lot of psychogical satisfaction from having these rules about eating, and it didn't really hurt anyone (although it drove the rest of his family a little nuts!).

kristian, dani - thank you. you pretty much summed up my response to me's comments, and put it so much nicer than i would have! (honestly, me's comment is still boggling my mind).

As I said, to each their own.

In my experience, Americans that ascribe to limited diets tend not to do so for religious reasons, but to obtain, as Ona stated much more clearly than me, psychological comfort.

If my observing the psychological quirks of others shows that I too "have much more pressing control issues" as per Kristian -- who knows? I think most people could use a dose of introspection, as well as careful observing of their world.

Kristian, just to be fair, China (and the Chinese Diaspora) has had a diabetes problem for quite some time. Much Chinese food has staggeringly high amounts of sugar, sodium, and fat. People have more wealth now, fewer children, and increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Let's not blame Chinese levels of diabetes solely on American gluttony (or "gluten-y")--it's just not really the whole picture.

Also, what makes the consumption of cow's milk "unnatural" OR "natural"?

It's not that I'm not with you on many of the other issues you raised, though--don't get me wrong. Just wanted to chip some thoughts in.

Actually, in the research on eating disorders (binge eating, anorexia, bulimia, etc), literature on "control" and psychological issues is pretty common. It's not unheard of for anorexics to start by limiting or fetishizing different kinds of food, like no dairy, vegetarian only, etc.

I would like to add a "...but sometimes feel guilty about it" to my "I eat everything!"

I was a vegetarian for over 5 years and have since stopped for personal health reasons (go figure). I try to buy locally raised and organic meat but honestly, it's less expensive to buy otherwise and I often can't afford it.

Well, in addition to the numerous valid reasons for not eating meat listed above, let me list another: It makes some people happy to do their best not to harm other creatures. How disturbed.

I only eat pork. Bacon. Pancetta. Prosciutto. Sweet ground pork.

Amen "me." I have thought the same thing for a long time. America does have Puritan origins remember, one of the most bigoted and discriminatory and controlling groups in history; that is why they were kicked out of England, the freedom to discriminate. We have a food culture largely built around control and then binge. Our obsession with diets, extremes, rather than balance. Food as medicine, as politics, rather than pleasure. Anything but pleasure.

"that many people on this earth have never consumed cow milk ( a largely unnatural act)"
Unfortunately those people don't lack cow's milk because of your rationalization that it is an "unnatural act." It is generally cultural, ecological, and economic reasons. They don't have the opportunity to rationalize.

This habit of using concepts to determine our food culture is completely about control. Using labels and intellectualizations rather than emotions, pleasure, culture, connection.

"I think that people who spend time worrying about what other people are eating have much more pressing control issues."
Exactly. Vegans and vegetarians preach more than anyone, and I don't think that can be disputed at all. I can't deal with eating around them without getting a lecture, making food into a power struggle, rather than actually sharing in a communal experience. Food is not politics to me.

"Let me go tell my Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Rasta, Hindi friends and family that they have mental problems."
I really hate generalizations. I mean come on. There's a difference between culture, and the intellectual and psychological concepts that Americans cling to, and the politics that vegans and vegetarians use. Religion is about community and history and sharing those things as an emotional experience. It is about pleasure, the pleasure of sharing in that. Veganism is not about that, it's about politics. There is a definite difference, and I do think it thrives on our American tradition of Puritanism.

By the way, on a less combative and positive note I really think that this community, whether vegetarian or omnivore or carnivore, that this discussion is really important in combatting the damaging dominant American food culture. I think that is most important, the values that we share that we are promoting to actually have a community experience of food. Authentic, connected, sensual.

I am a fish-a-tarian, not because I have any moral reason to be, but because I've just never enjoyed the taste of meat. Raised on great quality steaks and fresh, local meat, and I turn out to be an almost-veggie! Meat has just never tasted good to me, with the exception of fish (maybe it's a texture thing?), though I loooooove my veggie bacon.

I was a vegetarian for 15 years, and many of my friends are vegetarian, so I understand the many reasons why vegetarianism is a good thing. That said, I do think that Americans are lucky to have the luxuary of making those and other food choices. There are people in countries that don't have the option of eliminating any food sources. Even in our own country, the ability to choose what you want to eat is largely based on economics and location. Living a middle class lifestyle in Ithaca, NY affords many choices, but when I drive a half hour south to the poor rual town where I work, things change radically. Some of the kids I work with are in families so poor, that the processed french toast sticks, and the disgusting hamburger that's served at lunch are the only meals that they get. If you don't have access or money to buy good food, that package of hotdogs might not look so bad.

i am vegeterian. but i eat egg,fish,cheese and butter.

I am a vegan. Before you unleash your fury on me, let me explain. I hate people who preach: both those who preach about not eating meat and those who preach about eating it. Therefore, I never mention my dietary preferences unless asked. My decision to turn vegan was based on the detrimental environmental impact of factory farming, as well as my guilt for harming animals for nothing but my pleasure. That being said, veganism is not always an environmentally sustainable practice: to be a vegan in, say, Alaska or in Africa, you'd have to do a lot of damaging or "unnatural" things. But the choice needs to be made according to your location. There is no one-fits-all solution.

Wow, as a vegetarian, I doubt I'll want to post on this site. How intolerant and uneducated.