vegetarians and reggae

[ACEtone]

years ago on my way to work in Dublin on my bike I sometimes had the misfortune of getting stuck behind a battery chicken truck, being on the same route.
Being from the country originally it always amazed me that chicken shit can smell way worse than cow, horse or even pig shit. Probably a lot to do with the horrible crap they feed the things...

@Leggo - and now you're knocking the fish and chips! Is nothing sacred? I suppose you don't like meat pies either ya fookin poof! Also I'm a practical minded person for the most part and if a more vegetarian diet becomes a possibility I'll certainly let you know. Right now and for the foreseeable future it's going to be meat, vegetables, rice potatoes in no particular order. And an awful lot of garlic. Lots and lots of garlic.

I love the bounty of the earth and if it is a case of my being not yet sufficiently enlightened to eschew partaking of the flesh of animals - then so be it - this may change.

But I can't see my self doing without fish and various seafood. If I could have these all the time i could happily do without the 4 legged protein...

[Jah Titus]

Ites!

Fishes also are I&I Brothers inna Iration, also are Innocent Creatures of JAH - if yu waan eat seafood maybe yu can eat some seaweeds, yunno

ITAL BLESS

[leggo rocker]

Yeah, Jah Titus!

I'm lucky in that I never liked to eat fishes. So 'given them up' wasn't a hard task at all!

And many people are already eating seaweed as it goes in so many foods as an additive!

ITAL IS VITAL!

[southlondon]

Super Ape,

I dunno where your gettin your history from, but very few buddhists eat meat, although yes some buddhas when begging eat what they r given and buddha himself may have died from eating off-meat but that doesnt mean he was a meat eater all his life..

dont wanna take this of subject but i dont think u can justify meat eating by talking about the buddha eating meat, or buddhists eating meat, cos u r takin things out of context

peace

[leggo rocker]

Super Ape,

I dunno where your gettin your history from, but very few buddhists eat meat, although yes some buddhas when begging eat what they r given and buddha himself may have died from eating off-meat but that doesnt mean he was a meat eater all his life..

dont wanna take this of subject but i dont think u can justify meat eating by talking about the buddha eating meat, or buddhists eating meat, cos u r takin things out of context

peace

Buddha came to preach non-violence and to stop the sacrifice of animals in incorrect religious ceremony. Buddhists should not eat meat even when given it if they follow the tenants of their own faith properly. Same goes for Hindu. No meat, fish or eggs is allowed, period.

Even the bible is quite clear on the issue. Just read the first few verses of the Book of Genesis and you'll see it concurs with the Eastern faiths on the subject.

Of course, there are so many who don't follow these rules properly for their own selfish reasons.

[stepping razor]

What I`ve noticed is that with a lot of oranges they freeze them in transport, so when they get to the shop they defrost them ready for sale. Thats why its all rubbish oranges in supermarkets like fresco`s and there is no juice in the orange just defrosted plup.
Apples they freeze as well and they promote it as a crunchy apple, but they just fall apart and has no flavour or juice in it. Just take a look at what they are doing to fruit in the big people`s lazy supercart it markets. Thats cos the country can`t operate anything so they got to import it all and most of it can be grown in olde England.

peace

[leggo rocker]

Many, many so-called 'Fresh' items are being frozen, or near frozen, prior to sale.

We used to buy boxes of apples direct from the orchard when I was a kid and keep them all winter, gradually munching our way through them. No need to freeze. Apples come ready to store. Just handle them with care and keep them dry and cool and they don't rot for ages!

But they handle them roughly without care nowadays, and then ship them from Chile and South Africa to Britain, so they would all bruise and rot in no time without freezing.

[ACEtone]

@ Leggo - just to be pedantic the word is tenet - not tenant.
Otherwise, there are too many things wrong with the current global food chain (and global everything else) of that I am very much aware but I can't see any way of changing it - I mean - I can't see that there is anything I can personally do to make a difference that is any way meaningful.

If I opt to eat only locally grown food in NY, the choice is pretty dismal due to the fact that even organic growers gear themselves towards only one or two particular crops.
At the local farmers market, little of the 'produce' is organic - it is just grown by local farmers who 'can't afford' to be all organic or can't get 'certification' for fuck's sake. So you don't really know how they grow their food. And it's not particularly good either, unless you find the food more nutricious and delicious just because you bought it from a guy in a carpark instead of in a hideous airconditioned shop(pe))
And just there on Union Square is Wholefoods - really just a great big supermarket, with lots of good stuff, lots of bad stuff and it's all labelled organic or otherwise. Most of it imported.
And think about it - if it comes from California it is still sort of imported considering the distance.
I spend a shit load of money at that place every week to feed my family because - well not to go into details - because it is all in one place and I can get it over and done with fast. I do not enjoy the experience.

I got to see the crap that friends of our get every week from an organic collective (some right-on thing where people pool together to support organic farmers by agreeing to buy a 'box' of produce every week) - the saddest looking greens I've ever seen - and you get what is available whether you like it or not. NOT for me. And I met them at wholefoods a few weeks ago so that obviously didn't work out too well for them.

@Leggo - the assumption that NY has the best of anything natural foodwise is fallacious. Lots of people spend a lot of time trying to eat the right stuff, but it is at a price and generally labelling origin is dubious. It's a real money spinner though. Spend 33-50% more so you can save the frigging planet and never die of cancer! Fuck that shit!

More serious issues are GM and don't think you are not affected in the EU. This issue screws us all badly. cf the bees/Bayer pesticide atrocity.

I'll be feeding myself and my family how I see fit - doing my best to do a good job of it and will not be evolving to vegetarian status any time soon.

Knowing that I'm just as likely to grow a second head from eating vegetables that I did not know were GM is quite a bit more scary to me than eating meat, stinking chicken or seafood. and yes seaweed is great. All food is great...

Food is food

[stepping razor]

New York has some of the best organic food shops in the world and they are the ones who started the organic thing way back in the 70`s. You come across like New york is some back water in the middle of nowhere.
Try Queens and the South Bronx for shops and leave Manhattern to the tourists. Or go well uptown to the Latin Quarters its like your not gonna find nothing in the west end of London.

peace

[stepping razor]

Like in most cities we try and get back to nature as much as possible with gardening and alotments.
All you need is a balcony, patio, and you can grow your own veg and fruit in pots or get an alotment in the city. I`m just off to pick tomatoes and runner beans straight off the vine into the pot and how much nicer they taste than any bought veg. Someone i know with an alotment has just given me some large beatroot and that taste like beatroot should taste.
Sweet peppers and chillies. There is no excuse in the cities to grow food and nothing is stopping you.
Soon i will go fruit picking for slowes and blackberries in the hedgerows, its the hunter gatherer. And its so much cheaper.

peace