My dilemma

ted · Post by **ted** » 09 Mar 2005 20:09

Me: College student, poor, frugal, vegetarian.
My Girlfriend: Waitress at a good local restaurant.
My Dilemma: I eat a lot of free meals at the restaurant because I hate to see good food go to waste so I take seconds on whatever people leave behind. Generally, options are good but it's often hit and miss. However, frequently there are carnivore dishes left over. I don't eat meat, not so much out of a morality issue but because I have realized that most meat production is totally at odds with my environmental beliefs. My rejection of meat is basically a protest against the notion that animal flesh has to be part of a meal to validate it, or that a meal should be based around a certain type or cut of meat. I enjoy being able to live frugally and I am torn because it seems that my logic dictates that I should eat leftover meat dishes. It's not really effective protest to turn my nose up at meat that's headed for the dumpster, is it? I am poor as fuck and any corners I can cut on food expenses is appreciated.

What do I do?

junkyardjew · Post by **junkyardjew** » 09 Mar 2005 20:37

hey man, I know that pain. I used to be a freegan, and although I would never have eaten meat out of a dumpster (tofu, yes, but not a steak) it's hard to watch good protein go to waste. I say if it's in front of you, chow down. If you feel guilty - stop eating, but let your concience be the judge.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 09 Mar 2005 21:33

I used to be vegetarian for environmental reasons too. If the only reason you are vegetarian is for environmental reasons, then I totally think you should eat the meat, if it is just going to be thrown away. You will have the same environmental impact, and you get free protein this way too.

HG · Post by HG » 10 Mar 2005 04:13

Ted is my idol. I wish i could just walk into a restaurant and take peoples food!

Eat the meat, but only eat half. This way both sides of your conscience will be fulfilled.

-Dr. Phil

delakong · Post by **delakong** » 11 Mar 2005 08:49

I say eat it. I'm not a vegan or anything like that, but if your hungry, starving as a protest for the envirnment isn't gonna save that cow that's already been killed. If you can get it for free and you don't want to eat it, give it to someone that really needs it like a homeless person or something.

Chris Holden · Post by **Chris Holden** » 11 Mar 2005 14:18

This reminds me of a couple of lines:

"I guess beggers CAN be choosers."
and
moral dilemma of the vegetartian
"Eat this chicken, or I'm going to kill another chicken."

Quick edit:
You are neither a vegetarian nor a meat-eater, you are in fact, a scavenger. The zebra eats the grass, the lion eats the zebra, the vulture get's what's left. You are the vulture. You are not faced with the moral issues of killing to eat, as it's already been killed and left for you (the vultures).

lightningbolt · Post by **lightningbolt** » 11 Mar 2005 14:40

I'm a vegetartian.

I would eat the meat. It's just going to go to the dumpster.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 11 Mar 2005 17:25

im a vegetarian.. i would eat the meat... it pays respect to the animal that would otherwise be thrown away... make sure to eat it ritualistically, respectfully, and naked

comastalker · Post by **comastalker** » 12 Mar 2005 07:52

Eat that fuckin meat.
well, but imo, if you do not eat meat because of moral issues (besides the fact you should be vegan then) you're doing something I would call an institutionalized failure. why ? well,
if you choose to boycott the production, why do you boycott the product itself ? You limit your own life because you want to do something against a way of producing, but to boycott the product will not change the way of production. I say, if you like meat (well most vegetarians don't eat meat because they simply don't like it), eat it but look for how the animals are held, fed and treatened. This way you support "the right way".

If you don't want to participate in ANY kind of killing animals, be vegan and boycott paper as well as oil products and atomic energy resources !

My rejection of meat is basically a protest against the notion that animal flesh has to be part of a meal to validate it

sorry, but I think that's nonsense....
your own maximes decide whether sth. is "valid" or not. social, superficial values should not limit yourself ! I for example like to eat meat. The meat my family (mostly anarcho-comunists) buys is directly from a farm and we exactly know the entire life of the animal (i.e. the cow). I for myself like to have the meat in many meals my parents cook, but when I cook for myself (I strangely tend to create only mexican meals) I never use meat.
why ? dunno, I just don't do it. It adds a huge amount of work necessary and I'm generally lazy. The meals I make for myself are the one I like most (because I like the mexican way of spicing best) and whether or not it includes meat does not validate anything.

If you want to change the society, start where it lacks of respect against the value of animal life and dignity.

just my 3 cents
(don't feel offended, there are big amounts of taste and subjective aspects in this issue)

wolfpac444 · Post by **wolfpac444** » 12 Mar 2005 20:02

comastalker wrote: The meat my family (mostly anarcho-comunists) buys is directly from a farm and we exactly know the entire life of the animal (i.e. the cow). I for myself like to have the meat in many meals my parents cook

Hmm... that's strange I don't think I've met anyone who would call themselves an anarachist and support the idea of animal domestication as well the wasting of resources used in the production of animal based foods.

comastalker · Post by **comastalker** » 13 Mar 2005 02:23

beside the fact, that a farm is not really wasting resources at all, my family is quite primitivist. Anarchism does not have anything to do with any attitude against animal killing. Just look at the mutualist or radical individualist folks. I for myself rate the entire topic in a quite darwinist way, but there ain't a need for mass-production and torture and there's neither a reason nor a natural co-aequivalent in our roots for it (but for eating meat, there IS).