Meat is everywhere these days. There's an almost limitless variety of it in the supermarkets, it's served in almost every fast food restaurant around today, and it's even served in the most basic of school cafeterias. You almost can't escape it if you're living in the west, and many ask the vegetarians "why would you want to?" With meat being such a staple in most of our diets and it tasting so delicious, why do some choose to avoid meat and cook and serve vegetarian food recipes, exclusively?
It turns out their reasons are many, but some of the common reasons I hear vegetarians giving for "going vegetarian" include the growing belief that the meat many of us are eating today is becoming less and less healthy; the research that is showing our "mass production" approach to farming is taking a serious toll on the environment; and the increasing awareness we have of animals, of the emotions and experience they're living, and the connection we share with them.
In terms of how meat is becoming less healthy to eat, the growing concerns mostly have to do with the growth hormones that are used to fatten the animals up and have them produce more. With all the chemicals we pump into farm animals today, those make their way into our system too when we eat the animals after they've been slaughtered and packaged and placed in the grocery store freezer. Also, keeping the animals cooped up on smaller patches of land with little or no room to roam means they end up getting less exercise, which results in animals with more body fat, which we consume and is not as healthy. Some also believe that the severely negative emotions of fear the animals experience in their final moments that are flowing flood through their blood and into the tissue of the meat as they take their last breaths, results in chemical toxins from this process that are harmful to eat. This alone is reason enough for many vegetarians to dine exclusively on plants and use vegetarian recipes to make their meals.
The negative environmental impact of mass producing farm animals is another reason many are turning to vegetarian food recipes. When we use the chemicals that we do on so many "farm" animals, those animals pass the chemicals back into the earth and the planet's water when they expel. Also related is the negative impact all their manure is having on the local water supply in these areas as the huge quantities of it get absorbed into the earth. And then there's all of the toxic fluids these animals release when they meet their end at our hands: all of that chemically-laced, fear-filled toxic blood is also absorbed into the ground, into the water, and is also polluting our planet.
And then, many are refusing to eat today because they're developing an increased awareness of animals and the fact that animals experience emotions and have a perceptual experience similar to our own in many ways. When thinking of eating a hamburger, as an example, a lot of vegetarians have pictures come up for them of the mistreated animals that were sacrificed in order to make that burger, and it turns them off of the meat and onto alternative options for getting protein and nutrients, like using vegetarian dinner recipes to make healthy meals.
Of course, there are some good arguments that can be made in favor of eating meat, too. The point of this little article was to simply raise awareness for vegetarianism, of the reasons people have for turning to it, and why many today are using vegetarian food recipes to lead their lives in a consciously different way. Some people love to eat meat, and they have their reasons for it; and some people love to live the vegetarian life, and they have their reasons for.
Lissette V. is a self-proclaimed super chef who is passionate about vegetarian food recipes. Check out here blog with quick and easy vegetarian dinner recipes that you can often cook in less that 30 minutes.
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