I just watched food inc. and yes, the animals are mistreated, but there are still (though few and far between) local farmers that do not mistreat the animals or misfeed them.

So, why did you cut meat out altogether as opposed to going to the competition, the local farmers who are respectable.?

I personally don't think it's okay or necessary to kill and eat animals. That's the short version of why I don't eat local, organic animals.

Passion... I understand what you are saying, but as a believer in God (please do not judge me for this statement) the animals were given to us to eat for meat. My concern with meat is that the animals no longer provide the nutrients they used to because of the "food industry" and what they've done in the name of "science".

It depends on why you choose to be vegetarian.

Many don't believe in causing direct death to animals. There are still some environmental impacts to even local animal products although it is much less than any factory farm. Also things like cattle take up a lot of land if done right which could be used for growing crops for eating.

Anyway, I am a vegan but when I was buying eggs for my dogs, I would go to a local farm to buy them. I try to focus on local veggies and produce but it is a shame that so much of our farm land is dedicated to things like corn/soy for factory farming that we don't have the variety of crops that we should.

The other day, we passed by a farm that had a store selling their crops and other local crops. It was pretty awesome so I did my grocery shopping there. I wasn't able to get some things like grains and they only had fava beans but I snapped those up.

We can always discuss reasons for vegetarianism and what not but the purpose of the vegetarian forum is to support those of us that are vegetarian. If you believe God gave you meat to eat then no one is saying you have to be vegetarian.

Nelie, I am in what I consider to be a "rich environment" meaning there are many local farms in the fingerlakes region of NY. just on my street alone within a 5 mile either way I can count a half dozen road side stands for local farmers, there's a farmer's market in every small town, and Wegman's is huge on bringing goods from local farmers all year, when in season. For that, I am blessed with my food choice options as far as this goes, as well as local farmers that sell "fresh meats."...

I'm still investigating the health benefits of the vegetarian diet. My Dr. suggested it yesterday so I'm "weighing it up." I did not post that statement about God to negate anyone's belief, and should have left it alone, to that, I am sorry if I offended anyone.

I'm simply trying to find out if folks have health reasons for not going to local farmers.

Well not everyone is vegetarian for health reasons. I partially became vegan for health reasons. Actually I was tired of eating meat and was going the vegetarian route when I decided to look up vegetarian/vegan health.

In general, I think we as a nation eat too many animal products and it is not healthy for us. We should be eating more plant based foods and if we do eat animal products, it should be less. Of course our food industry is tilted towards cheap animal products but people would naturally eat less animal products if they weren't heavily supplemented as they are now.

I do think change is happening and it is a good thing. I think things like Food, Inc will help people realize how bad our food industry is right now. Although I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't talk about some of the pitfalls of Organic (such as small farmers can't afford to be labeled Organic) or things like "Free Range" chickens. Like the Purdue chicken farm they showed could be considered 'free range' by current labeling standards. Of course I think that is partially why they emphasized local rather than arguing buying commercial.

Just add another perspective - I was vegetarian for a long while and chose to be so for environmental reasons. I think it is more efficient for the earth to produce plant based foods for me than for me to eat animals. I always choose local first, then organic because I like that my money stays in the local community helping out the farmer I see at the farmer's market. (It was easier to do local in Wisconsin that it is here in suburbia, but it can be done.)

I am currently not vegetarian because I occasionally eat poultry (from the Amish, as local as I can find around here) and fish, but I am even more committed to local meat, so I have a mostly vegetarian diet, especially when I go out to eat. I accept the moral implications that eating a living being entails. I don't waste meat, I use all the parts of whatever I buy, even the "icky" ones.

An added bonus to mostly vegetarian eating has been the health effects - I have low blood pressure, low cholesterol and good blood sugar. (These things are problems for my family and I am genetically pre-disposed to heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.)

I'd say go vegetarian as an experiment and see what happens - incorporate some new recipes, see how you feel. You might just be pleasantly surprised. I eat beans more often than I used to and I love the variety I can have in taste in texture with all the vegetables I eat.

I also find that local (fresh) vegetables taste great, and more variety is available to me than at the grocery store. I like variety in my vegetables.

I became vegetarian again because I do not believe that an animal’s purpose should ever be to grow and then be killed for our “nutrition” or our dining pleasure. If you ask a human being if they’d rather a) be killed brutally b) be killed “humanely” or c) not be killed at all…they’ll probably choose C and the same would go for any creature if they were given the opportunity or had the capability of communicating that.

I don’t believe that there is any such thing as “humane slaughter”…makes no sense. These animals can feel, they can think…they are scared, they have social structures and preferences and memories…it’s just cruel either way. Death is not fun no matter how ya look at it.

But I think a lot of people who become vegetarians do so for a combination of reasons…the obvious health benefits, to avoid participating in the cruel treatment of animals, medical reasons, religious reasons (I was raised being taught all the different religious reasons NOT to eat meat, so we’re obviously on different pages there), etc.

I don’t believe we were really designed to eat meat, but that is my opinion.

thick... I thought of Daniel while I was showering and just reread the account of his request for him and his three friends to the king's men, to not eat meat but "Pulse" (KJV) which is vegetables... and they were blessed in countanance and in their wisdom!

No offense, but saying animals are here for us is just mean

I think killing animals is completely unnecessary, as countless people prove every day as they live a vegetarian life style
Before I became a vegetarian, i made sure the meat I ate was from an organic farm (which isn't hard to find, you know)
Now that I no longer eat meat, I still only eat dairy and eggs that are organic, and when I'm older, will buy local on top of the organic part.

It's one thing to eat meat, but to raise an animal for that purpose? Especially in the conditions most of the animals live through (80%), it's just disgusting!
I think if you're going to eat meat, you should at least go hunt it yourself

if you are wondering about the different health benefits I would suggest skimming through Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman

I don't have time to read all of the responses, but if you watched Food Inc, then surely you saw how Michael Pollan's own chickens were killed. Yes, they lived a humane life ... right up until they pushed them into a tube and sliced their throats. For me, it's about not wanting animals to suffer. Certified humane means they lived a good life ... but it tells us nothing of how they died.

There are many health benefits to cutting out meat. Also, usually the animals that are treated well still go to the same slaughter houses. Which are not humane nor clean!

For one thing, I could never afford to eat humanely farmed meat because it's absurdly expensive. For another, I just wouldn't eat it. I ate meat all my life, but something just clicked for me this past January. I'd been a little uncomfortable with it all my life but ate it anyway, and then I just started really really thinking about it. I also read Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals, and that made me think a LOT. I just don't believe a living creature should have to suffer so that I can eat when there's so much other stuff to eat that is not only healthier for me but ultimately better for the planet as well (the amount of water that is used for farm animals is absurd, for example, and that's just one problem). I don't think I could ever eat animal flesh again. I certainly hope I don't ever do it. I just started seeing meat as an animal corpse, not as food, you know? I don't have any problem with other people's choices, of course, but this is mine. I honestly hate that I spent 38 years eating dead animals, partly for the damage it has probably done to my health but also because of the many many creatures' lives that were wasted for me.

I'm a Christian and I believe in God as well, but I certainly don't believe God has ever said we HAVE to eat animals. In fact, He told Adam and Eve to eat plants. He didn't mention eating animals until after Noah and the Flood, and then he said ALL animals are for food. But most people wouldn't eat their dogs. Well, I just don't believe any longer in eating ANY animals, including the ones that aren't as cute as cats and dogs (though I happen to think little piggies are really cute...)