New Vegan-what to do with nonvegan stuffs left in my kitchen

[spike]

I would give it to an omin friend.

[Cookie]

I'd probably give it away as well- to friends or a shelter. If you pass stuff on to friends it will also reinforce the change you are making with them. If you give them cheese saying that you don't eat it, they are less likely to try to feed it to you when you eat with them

[AJtheTrainer]

I find myself in a similar situation. I have made a decision to become a Vegan but I still have some non-Vegan food left in the house. I am going to consume what I can't give away.

I'm becoming a Vegan for health reasons first, animal cruelty reasons second. The chicken already laid these three or four eggs that I have remaining in the fridge. Tossing them in the trash doesn't change the past or change the future.

I can just imagine being the chicken who laid these eggs. She would say something like this..."I had my beak snapped off, I'm sitting in my own mess and am cramped in this cage with Tessie over here who has the worse case of halitosis. The least you can do is eat the DAMN eggs."

The same goes for my leather couch, which actually belongs to my landlord.
The animals that were slaughtered are not coming back if I buy a new couch. In fact, I would be using more Earth resources if I buy a new couch.

[Ambi]

I'm not sure why anyone would want to keep eating animal products after they've decided to go vegan.

For me being vegan is not just about withdrawing my money from the animal industry, it's also about not putting animals or their products in my body.

I've continued to eat animal products in certain circumstances, because for me it's all about withdrawing my money from the animal industry and nothing to do with what I put in my body. I'd even be willing to eat meat in certain circumstances if I wasn't psychologically incapable of doing so.

I used to work at a day centre for homeless young people, where we got deliveries of food the supermarkets couldn't sell anymore. There was loads of stuff the kids wouldn't touch so I ate it whether it was vegan or not, it didn't go against my principles and that way the tins of beans and stuff that we got from harvest festivals were still around to be eaten another day. I've found that this makes some vegans angry, and that's why people think we're all crazy.

[fredrikw]

Ambi,
I think you're over simplifying it quite a bit now. By still eating non-vegan stuff you're contributing to the norm that animals are food, something most vegans think is wrong. By saying that animals are not food we're actively going against that norm.

The idea of waste than some of you talk about is also a bit strange, would you say the same thing about a cat or a dog that died in a accident? Is that a waste not to eat it then? Or what about a human? In the end we are defining what waste is, and why see animals as products that needs to be utilised as far as possible, when we definitely don't need that.

[Ambi]

I should clarify that I don't have any issue with the stance of not wanting to eat animal products whatever the circumstances, only people who don't accept that my approach to veganism is also valid.

My main problem with meat etc. is the disregard of sentient life for the sake of producing commodites. I don't have much against eating roadkill, and less against hunting for food than against farming.

To be honest, what you said about the norm that animals are food isn't anything that's occured to me or been put to me before, so I'll have to give it more thought.

[retromama]

when i made the switch i rounded up everything, put it in a brown paper sack and dropped it off with a group of "starving students" down the block.

they were so grateful they made vegan raw peanut butter cookies for me.

[MrsBrower]

I should clarify that I don't have any issue with the stance of not wanting to eat animal products whatever the circumstances, only people who don't accept that my approach to veganism is also valid.

My main problem with meat etc. is the disregard of sentient life for the sake of producing commodites. I don't have much against eating roadkill, and less against hunting for food than against farming.

To be honest, what you said about the norm that animals are food isn't anything that's occured to me or been put to me before, so I'll have to give it more thought.

People have been hunter gatherers for, well, a very long time. The way I see it today its just that we go about it all wrong. There are plenty of other animals in the kingdom that are omnivours/ carnivours, so i don't think that we can be so quick to say animals are not food. I would imagine that is more how we hunting, raise and kill livestock in our world today that makes it so horrible to eat animal products. Today, its possible to be vegan and healthy because we have much more available (how many vegan recipes are from other cultures?). However, to waste what has already been slaughtered, processed and purchased seems like it goes against any moral/ ethical argument about animal rights.

I like someone's idea of the chicken saying "eat the damn eggs." Though if you can find a non vegan or charity to donate it to, thats what I would do...

[retromama]

People have been hunter gatherers for, well, a very long time. The way I see it today its just that we go about it all wrong. There are plenty of other animals in the kingdom that are omnivours/ carnivours, so i don't think that we can be so quick to say animals are not food. I would imagine that is more how we hunting, raise and kill livestock in our world today that makes it so horrible to eat animal products. Today, its possible to be vegan and healthy because we have much more available (how many vegan recipes are from other cultures?). However, to waste what has already been slaughtered, processed and purchased seems like it goes against any moral/ ethical argument about animal rights.

Your reasoning, seems to me, to be terribly flawed. History does not make a practice morally correct. For years women were married off at young ages, impregnated by their much older husbands and often times beaten savagely should the coffee be cold or the liquor warm. This went on for just as long as humans have been omnivores. Does that make it correct? How about child molestation? It's also gone on for a very long time. Does that make it correct?

Furthermore-- because one species has the digestive system and is predestined to be an omnivore, does that mean ALL species are to be omnivores? No. A dog could live being an herbivore. A cat cannot without supplements. It's not a "choice" with any other species-- they live how their bodies are meant to. So why are we so arrogant to think that we can go against how are bodies are designed just because it's how things were done for thousands of years?

Humans do not have the proper digestive system to handle eating animal products as well as they do eat plants. Being an herbivore, I've beat so many diseases that have plagued my omnivorous family.

And I hardly think it's appropriate to argue against veganism on a vegan board. It's like crashing a batmitzvah tossing rosary beads to all the young girls. It's unnecessary.

[MrsBrower]

"Humans do not have the proper digestive system to handle eating animal products as well as they do eat plants. Being an herbivore, I've beat so many diseases that have plagued my omnivorous family."

...Do you have the medical documentation for that? I would really be interested, in all honesty. And trust me, I do know the benefits of a vegan diet.

And no, history does not necessarily validate any moral or ethical practice. What I meant was that historically, many cultures have been omnivous back to before we were raising livestock and permenantly settling. There is evidence that at one point our bodies were better equipped for meat consumption. We were also not eating diseased, ill treated and antibiotic pumped animals.

I'm not arguing against be vegetarian or vegan- I am myself. All I'm saying is that you can't discredit other possibilities. There is no reason you can't look at things from another perspective. If a person is just going to be a high and mighty "I'm better than you because I'm Vegan and can't possibly understand why you could eat meat" then well, I think that is doing vegetarians and vegans a great disservice because instead of promoting open conversation, it turns non-veggies away from the conversation and breeds a certain assumption that we are going to confrontational about our beliefs and then the conversation can't go anywhere.

Case and point. Be open minded.

And my appologies for going a *little* of the thread.

[Hiking Fox]

And I hardly think it's appropriate to argue against veganism on a vegan board. It's like crashing a batmitzvah tossing rosary beads to all the young girls. It's unnecessary.

There haven't been any arguments against veganism on here (nobody would dare - Fredrikw would kill 'em!). People have been discussing the issue of food products that have already been bought for consumption before the consumer turned vegan, or the issue of being a Freegan (ie. someone who does not buy animal products, but will use up stuff being thrown out).

I'd say that eating the foods in your cupboard sends out a confusing message to other people - that even though you are now vegan, you still desire those things deep down. If you give them away to people who would have gone out and bought such things anyway, you save the suffering that would have resulted from their next shopping trip.

[retromama]

...Do you have the medical documentation for that? I would really be interested, in all honesty. And trust me, I do know the benefits of a vegan diet.

I'm not handing over my medical chart to a stranger. Sorry. But if you google any of the "key words" in my story you'll find a BUNCH of stories just like mine.

My father died of diabetes. My mother is now dying from it. All of my siblings (4) have it, as well as cousins, etc. The doctors told me it was CERTAIN I'd be diabetic by 30. (Now, keep in mind I wasn't and still am not obese and actually ate pretty healthy for an omnivore.) I had hypoglycemia on-setting diabetes. I was blacking out at least once a week from my glucose not being in balance. I haven't had a blackout since my detox. Also I suffered from arthritis since childhood. In the past few years it was painful to get out of bed in the morning. I'd cry walking more than a block. Now I ride my bike to work most days, jog in the morning and feel well enough to bake cookies twice weekly for my boss and neighbors.

And no, history does not necessarily validate any moral or ethical practice. What I meant was that historically, many cultures have been omnivous back to before we were raising livestock and permenantly settling. There is evidence that at one point our bodies were better equipped for meat consumption. We were also not eating diseased, ill treated and antibiotic pumped animals.

We were better equipped when people were dying at 30? That makes no sense.

I'm not arguing against be vegetarian or vegan- I am myself. All I'm saying is that you can't discredit other possibilities. There is no reason you can't look at things from another perspective. If a person is just going to be a high and mighty "I'm better than you because I'm Vegan and can't possibly understand why you could eat meat" then well, I think that is doing vegetarians and vegans a great disservice because instead of promoting open conversation, it turns non-veggies away from the conversation and breeds a certain assumption that we are going to confrontational about our beliefs and then the conversation can't go anywhere.

So the way to "convert" (which I think is bull anyhow) is to say that the human body IS designed to eat meat? One-- I think veganism is a personal decision for each person to make. Two-- the way to open people's hearts and let them make that decision for themselves is to be ready with answers to their questions, yummy foods to sample and lead a healthy and happy life.

Case and point. Be open minded.

If this is the sort of thing that the mods approve of-- people arguing for the other side and not supporting their fellow vegans on a quest for good health, then I think I've come to the wrong place.

[Hiking Fox]

Most of the members of this forum did not turn vegan for health reasons, but for ethical reasons, according to the poll down the side.

[MrsBrower]

I'm sorry retromama, You seem to have completely missunderstood me. But I appreciate your response.