Vegetarian Talk

I laughed at the opening scene of the House episode "Private Lives" which was just pushed to Hulu.  A young female blogger uses her blog to solve a dispute.  8 out of 10 of her readers agree with her: you can call yourself a vegetarian even if you eat salmon.

Her boyfriend disagrees.  "You can call yourself an astronaut, but that doesn't make it true."

Now admittedly, dude does have a point: fish is not a vegetable.  Technically she is a pescetarian, not a vegetarian, but a lot of people consider themselves vegetarian while still eating seafood.  This may be partly due to the confusion of terms, and honestly a lot of times it's a lot easier to say "I'm a vegetarian" than to explain what the term "pescetarian" means.
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Enter The VegetarianI was recently vexed by a conversation with a family member who, talking about someone else who is not physically strong said, "Well, but she's a vegetarian, so."  As if all vegetarians were weaklings!

"Like Bruce Lee," I snapped back.  "What a wuss that guy was!"  It made the point quite well, I thought.  

Herewith, a list of vegans and vegetarians who happen to be famous athletes!

Killer Kowalski
Walter "Killer" Kowalski was a professional wrestler who specialized in playing the bad guy.  Kowalski began professional wrestling in college when he learned that he could make more at it than at the entry-level job he had been working at the time.  He went on to wrestle in both the NWA and the WWF.
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Though I’m an animal rights enthusiast for the most part—I would never wear fur, I don’t agree with circuses or other forms of abuse for entertainment, and I’m appalled at the way we treat our factory-farmed animals—I am on the fence a bit when it comes to animal testing.

Regarding cosmetic testing, I am easily against such things 100%. No rabbit should have his eyes sewn shut so I can be happy about my shampoo; we can simply use all-natural ingredients to refrain from such bizarre forms of torture, anyway. The shampoos we use in our home are nearly edible; I feel comfortable using them on my scalp just fine without animals having to die for it. Read more

Butcher Asparagus, Not Cows!Everything about this trend makes me nauseous.  To step back a little, a few months ago I read Julie Powell's book Julie & Julia.  One of the most harrowing sections involved dishes which required her to cut live lobsters in half and OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS yes she really did that.  I advise people to follow their squeamishness - if cutting a live animal in half makes you queasy, go with that instinct!  Just DON'T.
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Yummy Vegetarian SushiIn response to the revolting news that a sushi restaurant in California has been illegally offering whale meat sushi to select diners, there has been a predictable backlash on the internet.  The most common line of reasoning goes something like, "Don't be such a hypocrite!  So what if the Japanese eat whales?  Have you seen what happens in a slaughterhouse?"

The charges of hypocrisy are thick on the ground, and poorly received.  This argument is meant to get people to stop criticizing the whale hunters, and the Japanese people who eat their harvest.  (Excuse me, the "leftovers from their scientific oceanographic ventures.")  But the truth is that it is actually an excellent argument in favor of going vegetarian.
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A living creature died for thisA lot of people are going semi-vegetarian these days, or "vegetarian-ish" if you prefer, or the more twee "flexitarian."  And who can blame them?  I read somewhere recently that the United States has one of the worst food safety records and agricultural systems in the world.  The way we treat our livestock is the horror of the world.  We insist on eating acres of meat per person, and we insist that it be very cheap.  
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An animal rights group conducted an investigation of a dairy farm in upstate New York, and documented the horrors they found on videotape.  This dairy farm was in the practice of docking their cows' tails, a controversial process which has already been outlawed in California, and which may soon be outlawed in other states.

According to dairy farmers who practice it, tail docking prevents cows from spreading manure around.  (I'm thinking if your last line of defense in keeping your barn clean is to remove your cows' tails, you're doing it wrong.)  Needless to say, the docking is typically performed on adult animals, without the benefit of anesthetic.  The practice is barbaric, useless, and needlessly cruel, and needs to be stopped.
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A vegetarian ballpark sounds like something out of a fairytale, right up there with true self-cleaning ovens and unicorns who don’t poop on the sidewalk. But PETA (love them or hate them!) has been working to get more ballparks to serve veggie options over the years. Read more

Hey:)

My name's Nicole and I am 15...

I am a strict vegetarian, and believe really strongly in animal rights...

Is it normal for me to have this sudden hate on people who eat meat?

I especially hate it when they say animals were put on earth to be eaten,

I feel like putting them in scalding hot water and see how they like it...

It just makes me sooo angry...

I don't want to be angry, I just think they are VERY selfish, greedy and soul-less

idiots!

Has anyone else had these thoughts?

:) thanks

Although leeks grow year round here in the Pacific Northwest, I associate them with late winter and early spring.  This is when they are at their most tender, and when fresh local vegetables seem like a most precious commodity.  Later in the year they will be bigger and tougher, and more onion-y.  But this is the time of year when leeks are at their best.

The leek is an allium, and thus a cousin to both garlic and onions.  It has a mild taste which is often described as "a cross between onions and cucumber."  Leeks are a delicious substitute for other alliums, and can be used either fresh or cooked.  
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