REDH4MMER:
Maybe I am being arrogant but I don't try and push eating meat onto people. If I am introduced to someone at a party that is a vegetarian, I won't berate them or tell them they're wrong. I'll just politely excuse myself and leave them be. I don't want to socialize with them. I just couldn't be bothered with them. I wouldn't like them and they wouldn't like me. Why would I waste mine and there time? I wouldn't.

What does being a vegetarian have anything to do with what someone's like as a person? I'm an atheist but if I saw someone wearing a cross necklace I won't think "They're views are different so therefore we shall never speak." Even if all of your discussions involve food at some point, they might turn you on to something you never tried before. You're being horribly close minded.

wewontdie11:

Wow I don't know about the slaughter houses near you, but the one I visited on works experience (how ironic) was by no means nice. Worst thing was the smell. I actually had to hold my nose pretty much as long as I was in there it was that awful. Wasn't just like the smell of meat either, was actually the smell of death or dead/decaying flesh, which for anyone who has experienced it, its not fun when there's a lot of it.

wow great tricks one's mind can play on you, it doesn't smell of death and decay any more than the meat section of your local market or a butcher shop at least the one i worked in, on the kill floor no less

it smells cause well animals take large smelly dumps and generally smell from other farm stuffs, go to a farm one day, check out the smell there, it's the same at a slaughter house, tho more pungent.

leave meat out in the sun for a day or so, meaning make it go bad and start to rot, take a deep breath and then go to a local butcher and take a deep breath, see which is closer to the slaughter house smell, it will be the butcher shop

the "death and decay" you are smelling is your over active mind playing tricks on you, rancid meat smell a LOT different than freshly cut meat

I do not care where my bacon comes from. It is delicious. If you care where it comes from, there is something wrong with you and apparently you don't appreciate delicious.

Out of curiosity... Did anyone actually go and listen to that audio rant I posted about? It's actually quite funny sh!t, and I promise... As long as you don't wander off the linked page, you won't see anything that's actually "furry". Even if you do, you have to be truly searching for the porn to find it. But the guy, 2 (that's his name. 2.), points out exactly what it is about veggies/vegans that get under people's skin.

Okay, as a vegetarian-friendly meat eater, I have to say that most of this thread has the intellectual and ethical maturity of a large toad. And while I would have to assume that there are some toads that are rather charming in a slimy, mildly hallucinogenic fashion, this does not speak well of you as a whole. And while others here seem to feel it to be appropriate to not make waves in the naive hope of making friends with the less utterly repugnant among you, I myself, in my never-ending bloodthirsty quest to rid the world of brainless twats, will not sit idly by and let your raging case of bloody-minded idiocy go unmocked.

First, let's address the idea that you might as well eat meat because your actions have no bearing on the killing of those animals and it will go to waste if you don't shovel at least a half pound of flesh down your slavering over-fed maw every four hours. Seriously, you're a complete idiot if you believe that. That argument has the logical content of George W. Bush's apparent economic policy, which is to say that it is an affront to brain cells around the globe. The meat industry is a massive conglomeration of businesses. Now, these businesses, like all businesses, respond to basic economic laws. Now, I know you dropped out of college because you were too busy playing WoW all day long, but in this funny class called Microeconomics, we learned about a law called Supply and Demand. So, very basically, if you want to maximize your profits, you reduce waste by not mindlessly killing twice as many cows as you need. See, that keeps you from going bankrupt for a whole number of reasons that you wouldn't really understand. Regardless, after all is said and done, by means of braindead simple economic theory, if you personally stop eating meat, fewer animals will die as a result. Arguing against this is like saying that there's no reason not to kill people because everybody dies eventually. It seems to make sense, but then you realize you're a fucking idiot.

On to the next apparent case of undiagnosed head trauma: complaining that lousy vegetarians think they're morally superior to you. Well, I hate to say it, but they are. There are any number of perfectly good ethical reasons to not eat meat, not all of which require believing that killing an animal is in any way equivalent to murder. There are two, and only two reasons for eating meat: it tastes fucking awesome, and it's an excellent source of protein. The rest is barely obscured horseshit. Eating meat requires a vastly larger ecological footprint than vegetarianism, even if you're squeezing three square meals of overprocessed meat substitute down your gullet every day. See, we have these people we call scientists. Scientists are basically just like the people who made it possible for you to sit on your privileged ass playing video games all day. These people are paid to be really smart, and they tell us that if we don't change our lifestyle to be more considerate of the planet, then the planet is going to destroy our entire world economy and none of us are going to get to sit on our asses playing video games anymore. There's a whole bunch of science to back that up, but I really don't want to confuse you with facts and numbers that don't relate to your new weapon's DPS. So yes, in fact, being a vegan is a vastly more ethical choice than lining up at your local fast food 'restaurant'. It just IS. Debating the point is just a thinly veiled attempt at not feeling inferior, which given your likely history of repeated failure is likely to be futile.

What are these asshole vegans really guilty of? Reminding you of what a festering shit you are. Christ, how could you not hate them? All smug with their know-it-all attitudes just because they actually bother to know what the fuck they're talking about. How dare they call you on your shit! Elitist bastards always looking out for the greater good. Think being well-informed makes them justified in telling you what you should do with your life.

But Uriah, wait, don't you eat meat? Yes, you're damn right I eat meat. Why? Because I'm just self-obsessed enough to feel that the pleasure I take in having a big fucking steak for dinner instead of beans and rice is more important than the moral superiority of vegetarianism. Doesn't that make me a hypocrite? No, because I'm not out there arguing ridiculous points to make myself feel better, and I actually have the balls to slaughter my own meat if I have to, to feel the warm blood running down my wrist, to watch a living, feeling organism shudder its last breath so I can have a tastier meal with more easily digested proteins. I own my meat eating, and thus I get to feel intellectually superior to all the rest of you vegetarian-hating pissants.

Thank you, and good night!

Someone (this guy above me) has serious issues

Uriahz:
Okay, as a vegetarian-friendly meat eater, I have to say that most of this thread has the intellectual and ethical maturity of a large toad. And while I would have to assume that there are some toads that are rather charming in a slimy, mildly hallucinogenic fashion, this does not speak well of you as a whole. And while others here seem to feel it to be appropriate to not make waves in the naive hope of making friends with the less utterly repugnant among you, I myself, in my never-ending bloodthirsty quest to rid the world of brainless twats, will not sit idly by and let your raging case of bloody-minded idiocy go unmocked.

First, let's address the idea that you might as well eat meat because your actions have no bearing on the killing of those animals and it will go to waste if you don't shovel at least a half pound of flesh down your slavering over-fed maw every four hours. Seriously, you're a complete idiot if you believe that. That argument has the logical content of George W. Bush's apparent economic policy, which is to say that it is an affront to brain cells around the globe. The meat industry is a massive conglomeration of businesses. Now, these businesses, like all businesses, respond to basic economic laws. Now, I know you dropped out of college because you were too busy playing WoW all day long, but in this funny class called Microeconomics, we learned about a law called Supply and Demand. So, very basically, if you want to maximize your profits, you reduce waste by not mindlessly killing twice as many cows as you need. See, that keeps you from going bankrupt for a whole number of reasons that you wouldn't really understand. Regardless, after all is said and done, by means of braindead simple economic theory, if you personally stop eating meat, fewer animals will die as a result. Arguing against this is like saying that there's no reason not to kill people because everybody dies eventually. It seems to make sense, but then you realize you're a fucking idiot.

On to the next apparent case of undiagnosed head trauma: complaining that lousy vegetarians think they're morally superior to you. Well, I hate to say it, but they are. There are any number of perfectly good ethical reasons to not eat meat, not all of which require believing that killing an animal is in any way equivalent to murder. There are two, and only two reasons for eating meat: it tastes fucking awesome, and it's an excellent source of protein. The rest is barely obscured horseshit. Eating meat requires a vastly larger ecological footprint than vegetarianism, even if you're squeezing three square meals of overprocessed meat substitute down your gullet every day. See, we have these people we call scientists. Scientists are basically just like the people who made it possible for you to sit on your privileged ass playing video games all day. These people are paid to be really smart, and they tell us that if we don't change our lifestyle to be more considerate of the planet, then the planet is going to destroy our entire world economy and none of us are going to get to sit on our asses playing video games anymore. There's a whole bunch of science to back that up, but I really don't want to confuse you with facts and numbers that don't relate to your new weapon's DPS. So yes, in fact, being a vegan is a vastly more ethical choice than lining up at your local fast food 'restaurant'. It just IS. Debating the point is just a thinly veiled attempt at not feeling inferior, which given your likely history of repeated failure is likely to be futile.

What are these asshole vegans really guilty of? Reminding you of what a festering shit you are. Christ, how could you not hate them? All smug with their know-it-all attitudes just because they actually bother to know what the fuck they're talking about. How dare they call you on your shit! Elitist bastards always looking out for the greater good. Think being well-informed makes them justified in telling you what you should do with your life.

But Uriah, wait, don't you eat meat? Yes, you're damn right I eat meat. Why? Because I'm just self-obsessed enough to feel that the pleasure I take in having a big fucking steak for dinner instead of beans and rice is more important than the moral superiority of vegetarianism. Doesn't that make me a hypocrite? No, because I'm not out there arguing ridiculous points to make myself feel better, and I actually have the balls to slaughter my own meat if I have to, to feel the warm blood running down my wrist, to watch a living, feeling organism shudder its last breath so I can have a tastier meal with more easily digested proteins. I own my meat eating, and thus I get to feel intellectually superior to all the rest of you vegetarian-hating pissants.

Thank you, and good night!

Actually, I'm pretty sure that if one person (you said if you PERSONALLY) stopped eating meat, that somewhere in Nowhere, Wisconsin, Betsie's life wouldn't be saved because you skipped the Big Mac. Imagine the Meat Industry. Imagine your meat consumption as a bucket. Just because you stop taking water out of the ocean doesn't mean it will overflow. I learned this logic when raiding Molten Core. It's a class in WoW called Common Sense 101. Maybe they don't teach it at your 'college'.

Secondly, munching weeds instead of eating meat is NOT, I repeat, NOT morally superior. One more time, since you seem to have your head lodged firmly up your holier-than-thou ass. MUNCHING WEEDS INSTEAD OF EATING MEAT IS NOT MORALLY SUPERIOR. Eating meat does not, as you seem to assume, release a giant cloud of carbon into the air, instantly killing the Earth. If you buy your meat from a farm, that farm does have to kill the cow, butcher it, package it, and ship it. I concede that fact. But if you buy, say, some rice, it will likely come from one of the world's largest producers of said grain, maybe Japan or China. These places also use objects that harm the environment, (*gasp*!) such as mechanical harvesters, packaging, and shipping. And chances are, your rice probably came from a lot farther then organic meat.

Thirdly, the point about scientists. Scientists, (yes, even though I play video games, I have heard of these mythical creatures) have contributed animal flatulence and other factors in animal farming to 21% of global warming, tops. I hate to break it to you, but even if we stop eating animals, good ol' Dotty over here isn't going to stop farting. Admittedly, cattle ranchers will stop raising more animals, and the percentage will drop, but it will not go POOF! and disappear. Meanwhile, there are BIGGER contributers to global warming, like, oh, I don't know, maybe burning coal, or driving cars that measure their fuel efficiency in yards, instead of miles.

But hey, as you said, none of this matters to me, because my new epic axe has a kick ASS DPS.

Finally, you, for some reason, think that "Think being well-informed makes them justified in telling you what you should do with your life." Well, I for one don't give a flying moose platoon how well - informed you are, you are NEVER justified in telling me what to do with my life.

Thanks for reading.

I want to tell a joke.
What does a vegan zombie eat?
GggrrrrRRAAAIIIiiinnNNnnsSs

X3heartless:
I want to tell a joke.
What does a vegan zombie eat?
GggrrrrRRAAAIIIiiinnNNnnsSs

Maybe I've just lived an isolated childhood and thus haven't heard any decent jokes from anyone at all in the last ten years. But I actually found that funny.

wewontdie11:
The health argument is still one up for scientific debate if I remember correctly. As despite the obvious lack or protein (which I incidentally do take supplements for now and again), a study I heard about not too long ago on the news, stated that vegetarians were something like 20% less likely to get cancer than people that ate meat. As ever I take statistics such as these with a pinch of salt, but there is still the very real possibility that there is some substance to this. In which case I'd much rather have the supplements thank you very much.

They also said years ago that we shouldn't drink out of aluminum cans because trace metals leech into the fluid and are bad for you. Instead, they said that we should use plastic bottles. Now they're saying that plastic bottles leech trace elements into the fluid and we should drink from aluminum cans. I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't be surprised if in 20 years they tell us that vitamin supplements cause cancer and that everyone should eat meat.

liquidmetal:

They also said years ago that we shouldn't drink out of aluminum cans because trace metals leech into the fluid and are bad for you. Instead, they said that we should use plastic bottles. Now they're saying that plastic bottles leech trace elements into the fluid and we should drink from aluminum cans. I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't be surprised if in 20 years they tell us that vitamin supplements cause cancer and that everyone should eat meat.

That's why it's so much nicer to live the way I do... If some study or person tells me X is now bad for us, I don't give two shits or a rat's ass. I just go with what I prefer.

I prefer cans over plastic bottles. Bottles are convenient because they can be resealed, but after a day it's flat anyways and a can is a smaller portion so I don't over drink.

Butter vs Margarine, well that's a no brainer. Butter tastes better whereas melted marg is like pouring hot urine on popcorn, it just shrivels it up and tastes bad.

Supposedly Hotdogs were thought to cause cancer... Even if it's true, everything causes cancer, and I would die sooner from hotdog deprivation than cancer.

Asperteme is supposedly poisonous... Well DUH! Nothing that BAD tasting can be good for you.

I never really liked vegetarians simply because they are hypocrites. Plants are living things too. Just like Carlos Mencia said, you are killing the solution.

I can't profess to speak for everyone else in the world, but I'll make a guess. It might be that the hostility is a defensive reaction; the people in question see you rejecting a component of their lifestyle, which leads to resentment, low-grade xenophobia, and other stupid reactions.
That said, planning events with a vegetarian in your group can be a hassle. Everyone else wants steak or ribs, and they want... Grilled zucchini? Right, we'll just forget all about every decent steakhouse in the city.

Hey Uriahz, you should probably chill out a little. Just saying.

wewontdie11:
I am a vegetarian and have been for the majority of my life so far (since I was 8). None of my family are vegetarian or are animal activists or anything, but one day I just decided that I didn't like the taste or texture of meat when I was eating it anymore.

My question is why do so many people have so much hate for vegetarians? A lot of my acquaintances constantly berate me for my eating preferences like some kind of amateur food Nazis, but I fail to see how it is different from not liking, for example, bananas or turnip. Even the really hardcore, morally orientated vegetarians and vegans have the right to eat what they want, and although it is not my view, I understand and respect their not wanting to kill animals. I feel this to be a perfectly reasonable point of view.

So I ask you, why the hate?

I have a lot of respect for vegetarians. I'd be one, but my family feels the need to cook some sort of meat almost every night. I'd probably eat noodles and rice till I go to live on my own. I plan on eventually becoming a vegetarian. =\

PersianLlama:
I'd be one, but my family feels the need to cook some sort of meat almost every night. I'd probably eat noodles and rice till I go to live on my own.

That's what my parents still do, I just get my mom to make something else for me. =)

Best idea: Go grocery shopping with your mom or whoever, and pick stuff out for yourself. That's the easiest way to get everything running smoothly right from the beginning.

I got no problems with vegetarians. My brother used to be one, then he stopped for some reason. One of my freinds knows some girls whoes REALLY vegetarain and will talk your ears off about how meat is murder. She got so annoying i ate an un cooked steak in front of her just to shut her up. Taste exactly the same just not hot, but I would do it again.

Shivari:

PersianLlama:
I'd be one, but my family feels the need to cook some sort of meat almost every night. I'd probably eat noodles and rice till I go to live on my own.

That's what my parents still do, I just get my mom to make something else for me. =)

Best idea: Go grocery shopping with your mom or whoever, and pick stuff out for yourself. That's the easiest way to get everything running smoothly right from the beginning.

Great idea. I'll try that next time my mom goes grocery shopping.

*sigh* I think that this is an issue with the silent majority. I agree with wewontdie 100%, because there does seem to be alot of anti vegetarian hate (ive been a vegetarian since I was 14 so I am a little biased, obviously). There are very few vegetarians who are crusaders for their beliefs, its just that a very small portion goes way to far. This, to anyone who has paid attention to recent events, should sound vaguely familar. Remember anti-Islamic backlash following 9-11? A silent majority existed and did absolutly nothing wrong. Remember politcal extremists, protesters etc. Do any people in the broader spectrum do anything against others? Often it is entirly on a very small percentage. Now, out of my friends that are vegetarians, only one of them is hostile. Among my omnivorous friends, there have been many who have decried vegetarianism as some sort of cultish behavior. In relaity, both groups are among the minority. Tolerence is a virtue, and what we need to learn is how to deal with others views. I have never tried to force my ideals, when it came to vegetarianism, on any one else, and most of the vegetarians I have known have not either.

So its great we all have opinions, but remember the silent majority. Tolerence can start in small ways, and something like eating habits is too small a thing to fight about.

PersianLlama:
Great idea. I'll try that next time my mom goes grocery shopping.

Suggestions for things to pick out:

Organic Milk: Assuming you'll still drink milk as a veggie. You could also get Soy Milk if you don't want to continue dairy products, or even if you still are but want to cut down.

Some stuff you could make on your own that's meatless, whether it be microwavable or whatever. Also, just make sure there's a decent amount of side dishes that your mom makes that are veggie friendly. That way, you can have whatever you're separate dish is and maybe still have mashed potatoes or whatever.

Salads, and stuff for salad. Don't just have a boring salad, maybe get some cheese for it, a good dressing, and whatever you think would be good. Your family could even make a big salad and have that for dinner, my parents seem to enjoy that.

Soy foods: If you still like the taste of meat, this will be good. I've even gotten my whole family to switch to exclusively eating veggie burgers at home!

If you like nuts, get those, as they have a lot of protein. I only like peanuts, which have a lot of protein. They're not my favorite, so they're not my main protein source, but if you like them that would be great.

Basically, just make sure you get a good amount of protein in your diet (it's super easy, don't worry) and you'll be fine. You could also take a vitamin if you want, but it's really not necessary, but I like it anyway. A basic vitamin would be fine if you're going to do that. I know there's stuff all over the internet and Youtube about vegetarian diets, I could PM some links if you want.

Before long, you'll be a healthy vegetarian and you can act all superior at lunch in front of your friends!

liquidmetal:
They also said years ago that we shouldn't drink out of aluminum cans because trace metals leech into the fluid and are bad for you. Instead, they said that we should use plastic bottles. Now they're saying that plastic bottles leech trace elements into the fluid and we should drink from aluminum cans. I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't be surprised if in 20 years they tell us that vitamin supplements cause cancer and that everyone should eat meat.

Yay, I can't wait for smoking to become good for you again!!

Eiseman:
Any vegetarian who tries to judge me and my love of meat will be stabbed by a steak knife.

No, meat eaters aren't aggressive at all, are they?

Levinthor:
It's not the vegetarians themselves that people hate.
It's when the same vegetarians start telling you that you are murdering animals, abusing animals, and start generally pushing vegetarianism on you.

Yeah I hate it when people go on at me about my black slaves. It sucks; next they'll give women the vote.

OHC:

Eiseman:
Any vegetarian who tries to judge me and my love of meat will be stabbed by a steak knife.

No, meat eaters aren't aggressive at all, are they?

Just to lol at this post:
Martin Luther King was a meat eater and he was all about the passive protest.
Hitler was a vegetarian and you instigated the murder of millions.

You get idiots on both sides of the fence.

Edit: Oh, and nice triple post by the way. What, clicking the Edit button too difficult for you?

To Sgt. Pepper.
Ok, basic economic here, like Uriahz was saying. Any decrease in demand (however small) will result in the demand curve shifting left (essentially getting smaller). Now an article I read about vegetarianism from a legitimate newspaper (and not a Vegetarian Re-education Center Sponsered by the Forces of Evil) and it stated that the lessening of demand means about 120 animals are saved from slaughter, per year, per vegetarian. That adds up pretty quickly, seeing as how about 4% of Americans are vegetarians or vegens. So all your empty rhetoric is useless when facts rear their ugly heads.

Also, I find it fascinating that you decry Uriahz for his criticism by pointing out that you are apparently omnipotent, dismissing arguments with false appeals to emotions, non sequitors and strawmen. But hey, since Im a vegetarian I will head back to my Ivory Tower, all ready to force you to turn to the dark side.

You send a barrage of hatred against Uriahz, telling him that he cant control what you do in your life, and then you yourself tell him to stop expressing his opinion. As Scott Adams once said: "Thank God for double standards, without them we would all be unemployed and in jail."

2na:
Generally I think you're hated because your food takes longer to prepare has to be specially prepared and people have to go out of there way to do it - and usually don't receive a thanks for taking the effort.

Sure, because all food comes from the restaurant, not from the ground.

Picking an apple involves remarkably less effort than killing and cutting up a cow.

I love meat, and hate vegetables. Believe it or not, I am all for being vegetarian or vegan - I just lack the willpower to give up meat indefinitely.

I have no idea why meat eaters treat you with disdain. Where I live, there is a good mix of vegetarians and meat-eaters and I've never encountered such problems.

I doubt they hate you for it; then again, if it bothers you, perhaps you should let them know - or find vegetarian acquaintances with whom you can enjoy a meal with. Perhaps your acquaintances are jibing you because they would naturally choose to eat where they serve meat, and your requesting vegetarian this-or-that is viewed by them as "picky"?

Better yet, find a couple of vegetarian friends and invite your meat-loving friends, one by one, to join you for lunch. Then you and your vegetarian friends can rag on the meat lovers and give them a taste of their own medicine!

squirrelman42:
my hate for vegan/vegetarians is the same for my hatred of Mac users, and Democrats. It's not that what they believe in is in and of itself bad, it's that the way they attack me for disagreeing with them and refuse to listen to reason that makes me hate it.

You must be real pleased with the last U.S election then :-)

I think I speak for a great deal of omni nommers when I say that we don't hate you, we tend to see the ugly stereotypical "YOU'RE MURDERING THESE INNOCENT CREATURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" vegans or whatever you call them. Plants are living things, why aren't you concerned about them, hmmm? Is it because they have no "life" to them? Need I bring up the Terry Schivo thing? If you're going to kill things to eat, at least have a healthy, balanced, tasty variety. If you don't like meat, fine, but don't think omni nommers are barbarians.

Amnestic:
Hitler was a vegetarian and you instigated the murder of millions.

BZZT. Hitler was forced into a vegetarian diet by his doctor for a brief time for health reasons. Nice try though.

As fun as generalizations are, I hope we can begin to look past them.

Every vegetarian I know is a self-rightous militant crusader, oh and every meat eater Ive ever known is a barbarian. And every muslim Ive ever known is a terrorist. And every republican I have ever known is a war hawkish bible humper. And every democrat I have ever known is a pot smoking hippie. And every Wii owner is six years old. And every WoW player is a hopeless obsessive. And everyone is wrong in some sort of bizzarre way, except me, of course, Captain Planet, the shining example of humanity, perfection in action.

I think my obvious attempt at satire kind of shows the problem with this thread, and yeah I have generalized too, but its something we can overcome together.

Alright, I'm a vegan (personal choice) I don't push it on anyone at all. I may leave if it's a meat eating fest, bust aside from that I say do what you will. The ONLY people I actually have a problem for are people who hunt for fun and trophies. I have a few friends who are great about it, and almost everyone else seems to quite literally hate me for it. The only reason anyone even knows, aside from the aforementioned friends, is my school therapist, that's right therapist, made me explain why I never ate at the school.

Ronin_14-47:
Plants are living things, why aren't you concerned about them, hmmm? Is it because they have no "life" to them?

They have plenty of life; just no nervous system, flight response, consciousness or many of the other things members of the animal kindgom possess. Regardless, killing anything (including trees and plants) unnecessarily is immoral. It's unnecessary to kill animals when plants provide all the nutrition the human body needs.

Captain_Planet:
Every vegetarian I know is a self-rightous militant crusader

No, it's just me so far.

Uriahz just had the most epic first post in the history of foruming. Now, although he got a little crazy (like Green Goblin crazy), his points were quite valid.

Economically, vegetarians are changing the supermarket-landscape, albeit slowly. There are more veggie options every day. Ever person who doesn't eat meat reduces the amount of meat that is needed. Meat producers do not raise animals that can not be sold. And it does affect them, remember when Oprah got sued by ranchers for saying she wouldn't eat beef?

Health-wise it could be argued that someone with the discipline to become a vegetarian also has self-control when it comes to eating. This could be why statistically vegetarians are healthier. http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/FDNS-E-18.html A diet, any diet, is only as healthy as the discipline behind it. Oh, and much of the protein that the average person eats, vegetarian or not, ends up in the toilet.

Morally, to many vegetarians, it's a matter of life. That's where the extremism can come from. In the same way pro-life people get up in arms, vegetarians can too. It's not an effort to be "holier than thou," it's that many feel that causing harm to animals is cruel and unnecessary. This can be difficult for meat-eaters to understand because it is not an issue for them (thus, they eat meat).

I've been a vegetarian for going-on five years. I'm a freaking tank. I'm healthier than I've ever been, but I'd wager that's more due to the amount I've been exercising lately. I try not to be too militant and simply lead by example. Try marinating some diced tofu in Worcestershire sauce and curry, then pan-fry it in olive oil. Mix it with some pasta and your favourite steamed veggies. (P.S. Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies.)