The rise of the Militant Vegan

[Little John]

............ and there is a strong agri/farmers/supermarket/haulage lobby that the scum in govt will always appease.

You can''t lump farmers into that lobby Fuzzy. They are being screwed into the ground by supermarkets at the moment. Milk is used as a loss leader and all "supermarket offers" are paid for on a compulsory basis by the farmers out of their, in many cases, already loss producing prices.

In my lifetime, animal welfare standards in the UK have not improved in total. There have been gains and losses and almost zero public discourse.

What about the banning of veal and farrowing crates in the veal and pork industries? What about the banning of chicken in cages? There have been numerous welfare upgrades in the UK although not in the EU and, as a result, UK farmers are trading at a disadvantage over EU farmers. UK farmers are suffering because the UK public, who have campaigned for the higher welfare standards won't then pay extra for UK produced food.

..overintensive farms.

These are a result of very low supermarket prices and the consumer buying on cost not quality. If consumers, or the majority of them, bought the quality ranges of food in supermarkets the supermarkets would stock accordingly. Consumers get what they ask for in general. If you want to pay shit prices, and most people do in the UK, you will get shit products. You can't continue to cut the price of something in a climate of rising costs, and rising fuel costs push up the price of everything in the farm chain, and not expect quality to go down. In "quality" I include welfare standards.

People don't want to pay low prices for shit. They have no choice because the majority of their income is now spent on simply paying for the roof over their heads

[kenneal - lagger]

.....]People don't want to pay low prices for shit. They have no choice because the majority of their income is now spent on simply paying for the roof over their heads

I agree with that for many people but there are others who could eat a little less meat and buy higher quality food instead. And many people who are living off ready meals and other junk food could buy fresh and eat much better.

It's a shame that "domestic science" isn't taught in schools any more although that is probably deliberate policy so that the uneducated buy more shit in our supermarkets.

[adam2]

In general, I avoid eating ground up or processed meat that could contain almost anything.
If funds do not permit of steak, ham, bacon, a roast, or similar identifiable meat then I would prefer vegetarian food.

I avoid sausages, hamburgers and the like. A polite way of describing the manufacture of cheap burgers is "all parts of a cow excepting the meat"

I have inspected cheap burgers under a magnifying glass and observed small blue and purple specks. These I suspect to be condemned meat, only intended for animal food, that has been dyed to prevent sale for human consumption.

[kenneal - lagger]

If you buy from a known respected source all food should be edible, Adam. We've made sausages and burgers with our own meat and have sold it with a completely clear conscience over what was contained in them.

[woodburner]

Many parts of the cow other than the meat, contain more nutrients than the meat. Bone marrow, suet, cartilage, kidneys, heart, liver. The lean muscle is good to run your dog sled team on though.

[kenneal - lagger]

A dog team needs a good amount of fat as well.

[woodburner]

They probably get fat from seals, few cows in the places where dogs pull sleds.

[kenneal - lagger]

From The Travel Channel program "Life Below Zero" about life in Alaska many dog teams get their fat from salmon. On the coast it could quite possibly be seals as well as fish.

[adam2]

If you buy from a known respected source all food should be edible, Adam. We've made sausages and burgers with our own meat and have sold it with a completely clear conscience over what was contained in them.

I would be happy to eat sausages and burgers made by yourself, or by some other respectable and known person. I would however be reluctant to eat similar products sold by a supermarket, and even more reluctant to eat such items in a café that may have purchased the cheapest available.

[Little John]

.....]People don't want to pay low prices for shit. They have no choice because the majority of their income is now spent on simply paying for the roof over their heads

I agree with that for many people but there are others who could eat a little less meat and buy higher quality food instead. And many people who are living off ready meals and other junk food could buy fresh and eat much better.

It's a shame that "domestic science" isn't taught in schools any more although that is probably deliberate policy so that the uneducated buy more shit in our supermarkets.

Many, many people buy ready meals because both husbands and wives are having to work full time, often with overtime as a necessary addition, just to make enough to pay the bills and so they don't have the time to buy and prepare fresh food.

[kenneal - lagger]

There are plenty of programs on the tv which show recipes which can be prepared in not much more time than it takes to reheat a ready meal and at far less cost.

[Little John]

You are sounding a lot like a smug liberal Ken.

A lot of people I know are flogging their guts out for 60 hours+ per week on 12 hour shifts for minimum wage. That's both parents. They are not doing that for a good life. They are doing it to avoid an unsustainably shit one. When they get in, they play with their kids, they stick some food in front of them, they put to them to bed, they have a drink and they flake out on the sofa.

You don't seem to appreciate what a large proportion of this country has to do to make ends meet Ken.

[careful_eugene]

There are plenty of programs on the tv which show recipes which can be prepared in not much more time than it takes to reheat a ready meal and at far less cost.

For cheap decent meals it's worth checking out the work of Jack Monroe https://cookingonabootstrap.com/

[kenneal - lagger]

...
You don't seem to appreciate what a large proportion of this country has to do to make ends meet Ken.

I do and it pisses me off.

[RenewableCandy]

Veganism is for blokes.

For the rest of us, anaemia beckons.

That is all.