The health argument is a good one, although I wonder what the health results would be if you compared vegetarians to people with reasonable diets of meat (say, 2 deck-of-cards-sized servings of organic, grass-finished/pastured meat per day). The biggest issue Americans have is that we have a totally messed up concept of how much protein is really required in our diet, and most of the protein we eat is mass-processed, drive-through-window crap instead of the antibody/antioxidant/omega-3 rich free range alternatives.

And, to bring this comment back around to the original post — I’m all over buffalo wings. To the point of making myself sick. I just can’t turn them down…

[1] http://www.hegerfeldpremium.com/
[2] http://www.epa.gov/region7/water/cafo/index.htm

In addition to Tdonz’s statement about environmental reasons and the more common moral concerns (only one small part of my decision), the big reason many eliminate meat from their diet is for health reasons.

I’ve had several direct and close family members die of heart disease or heart attack at a very young age. After partially hydrogenated oils, saturated fats from animal products are at the top of the list of causes.

Eliminating meat from your diet certainly won’t assure long life, but studies have shown that vegetarians do live longer than their meat-eating counterparts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian#Longevity). It’s interesting to note that vegans actually have the same average lifespan as meat eaters, likely because of nutrient deficiencies.

Despite the moral and health reasons that led me to my decision to avoid meat, I have had fish that was caught. I would probably eat deer or other game that I killed myself, that is if I could stomach the gutting process (highly unlikely).

Like it or not, as vegetarians we are forced to live with a certain amount of hypocrisy. You cannot completely avoid animal byproducts in the products you purchase. Beef tallow is used in tires and the paving of roads, so should you always travel on foot? Keep that in mind when passing judgment on those who don’t share the same lifestyle as you.

Likewise, for those who pass judgment on vegetarians, realize that they hold a strong moral conviction to live with such a difficult lifestyle decision in order to benefit something greater than his or her self.

And Ginny, thanks for the tip about the largest vegetarian Thanksgiving celebration (even if I’m not going). One more reason I love Durham.

@mtdukes You’re right about beer tasting better with meat dishes. And you know how much I love me some tasty beer.

@Metricula I used to fish a lot when I was a kid and we always ate the fish we caught. Fish are the only animals I’ve killed and eaten. But I’ve eaten deer meat that my family/friends have killed. Don’t think I could ever kill a deer though. Hypocritical maybe, but true.

That’s as good of a reason as any, right?

I want to be able to still eat the meat people shoot and dress themselves. Also my life goal is to shoot and eat my own turkey.