I'm predominantly a vegetarian. I do eat
local honey, farm eggs, and the occasional bit of cheese (usually something fancy from the farmer's market as a treat - I'm lactose intolerant and can't eat a lot of
dairy). Having raised our own layer ducks I personally don't see eggs, when sourced from a good home, as an ethical conundrum.
Chickens and ducks are nature's composters :) We will very occasionally have fish, maybe once a month or so - we live on the coast and can source local seafood easily. I'd probably eat something someone close to me hunted, although I'm not much for hunting myself. I've never liked red meat even though I'm related to a long line of
cattle ranchers. Go figure!
I fell into (mostly) vegetarianism sort of by accident. I'm not fond of most meats from a flavor standpoint, and it was less expensive to not buy meat. The main push after that was environmental concerns with CAFO's and other factory farming methods, along with food transportation. We made steps to make all of our food as local and small producer orientated as possible, which eliminated most meat. When we had our place, we took on the challenge of producing as much of our food as possible, which mainly meant produce, beans, and eggs. Not everything, mind you, no way we had the room for grains and you can't really grow avocados in the PNW ;) I will say our health improved significantly when we quit eating meat, but this is in large part because we eliminated processed foods when we went veg. We don't buy "fake meats" - I make veggie burgers, seitan "sausages," and even tofu (from both soy beans and chickpeas) instead of buying it. No fake cheeses or frozen vegan delights, either.
We are both doctor-tested healthy - low cholesterol, low BP, good nutrition. I'm guessing someone could have similar health benefits as ours and still eat small quantities of meat as long as they focused on whole, unprocessed foods. I see our diet as one of many optimum diets one could choose from.
As for veganism, no judgement but it isn't for me. I can and do respect many a vegan, even those whose reasons for the diet I don't agree with. It is possible to be healthy and vegan, and I shall never ask you how you get protein ;) I am very much against unethical raising of animals for product, as I would assume most permies would be! By unethical I mean treatment of the animals before they are slaughtered, treatment of product as it is processed for human consumption (and addiction), and the treatment of the environment throughout the whole process. I am not against ethically producing meat, for in my humble opinion if I was to be against meat consumption it would be an egotistic view that lifts the human out of the food chain, as though we are some supreme being and not the animals that we are. Of course, I can anthropomorphize plants just as much as animals, so if I went too far down the meat is murder rabbit hole I'd quickly also feel plants are murder and I would soon be unable to eat anything! Know thyself, and all that jazz!
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