Why Go Veggie
						?
 
				
 
				
 
				  For
					 Yourself... 
				
 
				
 
				   
					 
 By all reports, vegetarian cuisine is a healthier
						choice, probably reducing the risk of several diseases, including cancer, heart
						disease and diabetes. For sure, you feel better since the food is easier to
						digest. It is also easier to maintain a healthy weight. What may be surprising
						is that you can prepare a wide variety of delicious gourmet meals and that
						everything tastes so much better. 
 
				
 
				
 
				   
					 
 
				
 
				
 
				  For the
					 Animals... 
					 
 
						
 
						   
						   
							 
We read a story about how Linda McCartney became a
								vegetarian many years ago. She was eating a lunch of lamb when she noticed some
								lambs frolicking outside. She started to think about what she was eating. The
								story made us think, too, and we gradually changed our diet to a vegetarian
								one. 
 
						
 
						
 
						   
						   
							 
 Many reasonable people may think that the animals
								they eat have good lives and are killed humanely. In fact, most of the flesh
								that is eaten is from animals raised on factory farms, where they are treated
								like commodities. For the grisly details see the web site:
								www.factoryfarming.com
 
						
 
						
 
						   
							 
 
						   
							 
 Ann Wilson has written a wonderful poem,  "Through their eyes"about our
								relationship with animals. 
 
							 
 
								
 
								   Horses can be ridden, they are harnessed, raced
									 and driven
And dogs are our friends, or so we say. 
But gentle cows and
									 sheep are only good for meat
And chickens kept alive for eggs they lay.
									 

Cats in our collection give solace and affection, 
Their social
									 graces mystify and charm. 
On the farm you will find creatures of a
									 different kind, 
Their living deaths endured in darkened barn. 

If
									 piglets had their druthers they would not leave their mothers, 
Nor goats
									 forsake their kids and walk away. 
Ostriches and emus would rather not be on
									 the menu 
And buffalo would roam the plains today. 

It is rather a
									 conundrum why these facts are seen as humdrum 
While animals are raised in
									 pain and fear. 
They're not recognized as pets so we'll have no regrets
									 
As they forfeit precious lives that none revere. 

Cows may be
									 labeled cattle as though they're goods and chattel 
And hogs are really
									 piggies in disguise. 
Change their names, forget their faces, wipe away the
									 traces
But remember the betrayal in their eyes.

 Ann Wilson 		 
								
 
							 
 
						
 
						
 
						   
						    
						
 
					 
 
				
 
				
 
				  For the
					 Environment...  
				
 
				
 
				   
					 
There is an environmental aspect to factory
						farming also. The concentrated amounts of animal waste can contaminate the land
						and the water, with potentially deadly results. The resources for feeding a
						nation of carnivores are orders of magnitude greater than for one of
						vegetarians. For example, twenty thousand pounds of potatoes can be grown on
						one acre of land, but only 165 pounds of beef. Another example - it takes 2500
						gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a
						pound of wheat.  More info on the environmental impact.
						 
 
				
 
				
 
				    
				
 
				
 
				  You will be in Good
					 Company... 
				
 
				
 
				   
					 
There have been many great thinkers who reportedly
						were vegetarians - Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer,
						George Bernard Shaw. George Bernard Shaw, a vegetarian for more than 70 years,
						is quoted: "My hearse will be followed not by mourning coaches but by herds of
						oxen, sheep, swine, flocks of poultry and a small travelling aquarium of live
						fish, all wearing white scarves in honour of the man who perished rather than
						eat his fellow creature."