Task 4!
- 1. Fact File: Vegetarian Alan Smith
- 2. Definition: Vegetarian- To quote the vegetarian society a vegetarian is "Someone living on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with or without the use of dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or slaughter by-products" When looking on the Free Dictionary online the definition of a vegetarian is seen as a person who does not eat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or, in some cases, any food derived from animals. The oxford dictionary claims a vegetarian to be a person who does not eat meat or fish, and sometimes other animal products, especially for moral, religious, or health reasons. My own definition of a vegetarian would be that of someone who takes up their right of not eating meat or any kind of meat due to many issues, mainly concerned the protection of animals.
- 3. Demographics: 2% of the Britain's population are vegetarians. This amount increases every year as seen on the statistics. It has risen by about 500 adults and children each year since 2010. This is because of the health risks and alternative options being shown to children at schools and people becoming more aware of how the animals are killed and cooked for the meat. Each year a person eats 79.3 Kg’s of meat. This is encouraging a lot of animals to be killed. When looking at the American consumption where animals have no rights or protection, 31 animals are eaten per person in a calendar year. As people are becoming more educated, the increase in numbers of vegetarians rise.
- 4. This chart is from a slightly earlier date but it shows us how the population is starting to understand what they eat at an earlier age From this we can see that there are many types of vegetarians and meat alternative diets around that are taken up by a younger population. As seen here a huge 55% were estimated to be interested in vegetarian meals out. This shows that not all young adults eat so called ‘Junk food’ and do look into what they eat. Saying this since 2008 when that data was collected, companies such as McDonalds have started to offer a meat free meal as well as more salads made.
- 5. Reasons: The main reasons for being a vegetarian are: Health concerns- Animal foods have a lot more fat then other foods. Animal produce also contains a larger amount of agricultural chemicals in then plant foods, chemicals such as pesticides. Bacteria is also a concern when eating meat due to the uncleanliness of the animals. You can also catch many diseases from the animals such as heart diseases that are increasing each year with the consumption of meat. The preparation of meat is seen in another aspect to bacteria and the unclean meat you are seen to be eating. After many meat issues in the media such as the horse meat scandal this has started to put people off eating meat as they start to doubt the companies. Environmental concerns- Conservation of fossil fuels and saving the forests (Destruction of habitats for animals can raise livestock) Ethical concerns- People may see giving meat up only a small sacrifice to what is happening to animals. Ethical issues concern animals being killed and an example of this is in news where Denmark an their ban on slaughtering animals, replacing it with stunning the animal to death. A dislike of meat- It may come down to the simple reason of not liking meat and preferring a vegetarian diet. All meat is considered to have a healthier alternative. Non-violent beliefs- Slaughter of the animals is seen as very violent. To Quote Ellen White the founder of the seventh day Adventist church and vegetarian health reformer "Whatever affects the body has a corresponding effect on the mind and soul" meaning that participating in a belief of killing animals is wrong would clear your conscience and not made to feel responsible. Compassion for animals- Not wanting harm to come to the animals that are killed for the meat. This relates to the non violent beliefs and here people think that animals should have more rights. Personal finances- Being a vegetarian can have many benefits financially, such as having to spend less on healthcare. Also the more obvious fact of having to pay less for meat.
- 6. Muslims all over the world have opposed Denmark’s move to ban the slaughter of animals in an Islamic (halal) way and called upon their governments to stop importing Danish meat as long as the Scandinavian country refuses to respect their religious teachings. The Muslim belief being that many animals are sacred, however if they are slaughtered from the neck straight away it is accepted. This new method of hurting the animal more from stunning is going against all their religious beliefs. This shows why so many people turn vegetarian. The way in which some animals are killed can totally change your views and ethical beliefs about what you are eating. People start to believe that if they eat the produce they may be seen as agreeing with the cruelty. Another reason for vegetarianism can therefore be fear. Fear of guilt.
- 7. More on Ellen White, this religious side to vegetarianism is yet another reason why people choose not to eat meat. With the majority of the worlds population being religious this shows that vegetarianism will exist everywhere else and in some countries it is sacred to eat some animals because of this.
- 8. Companies: Many companies have started meat free alternatives since the early 21st century however ConAgra stands out for its ‘Light life’ foods that are made and sold in supermarkets. This replaces meat and became very popular within the vegetarian market and has eventually sold the brand of food to another business (Brynwood Partners) Lightlife is seen as another alternative such as Quorn. Quorn is the leading brand of mycoprotein food around. Suma Wholefoods was founded in 1977 and only stock vegetarian food to sell. The premises in which they work in is 100% meat free. They are against meat because of it not being able to feed everyone across the world. With 750 million people suffering from hunger, it is not possible to feed everyone with animals and it is not right. However equality can be achieved by giving everyone a plant based diet. The business cares a lot about animal welfare and does not approve of any animal testing or suffering. McDonalds as stated before have started to expand their audience to those of vegetarians as well due to the increase in meat alternatives and more healthy lifestyles. However recently the company has come out and admitted that it only 2 to 3 percent of overall sales are from non meat produce and salads. In 2012 McDonalds showed plans of opening a vegetarian only restaurant in 2013. This was to open in India, due to their Muslim beliefs over cows and the animal being sacred it was seen to give an alternative to those many people populating the country. A Typical Menu in India is 50% Vegetarian. McAloo Tikki burger (A spiced potato-based filling) takes up 25% of the businesses sales over there. If this is a success then the 2nd biggest food outlet in the world after subway will plan to open 1300 stores.
- 9. Non vegetarian products: The products that cannot be consumed by vegetarians are: Orange Juice- Surprisingly in many brands the drink contains Fish and lanolin oils. Lanolin being the natural oil coming from sheep wool that is found in the vitamin D in the juice. Coca-Cola juices also contain Lanolin. Enhanced Bread- Like the orange juice, bread that is bought from the supermarket contains omega-3 that comes from the amino acids in fish oil. This is the reason many vegetarians check the labels of food and drink products, not all brands contain the same. This leads onto Bagels. They are believed to contain bird feathers. The enzyme L. Cysteine is used as a dough conditioner in the process of making the bagels. The same enzyme can be found in garlic bread in some restaurants such as pizza hut. On the link there is several compounds that need to be checked as they have some sort of meat featured in them. Such as for example Albumen, this can be found In eggs, milk, muscles, blood, many vegetable tissues and fluids. http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html Other food that should not be eaten if you are a vegetarian are salad dressing (Contains bacon fat) Tortillas( Many Mexicans use animal fat in the creation of them) Any form of gelatin in foods you should not eat, usually found in sweet products such as gummy bears, marshmallows and jelly. Also another peculiar product that cannot be consumed as it is associated with meat is that of Beer. It is partly made out of isinglass that is fish bladder. It is not always found but a consideration. Geletin is also found in beer.