I was just thinking that everyone should put what kind of vegetarian they are in their signatures or under the avatar so when a question comes up regarding a food/meal, the responding posters can answer the question more efficiently instead of guessing who drinks milk or who doesnt do dairy or vegan etc.

Or you could put that info in your profile.

yeah but wouldnt someone have to go look that up instead of it being automatically visible?

I tried so this is a test!!!

I was thinking the same thing! That there ought be some kind of easy visible little legend that roughly indicates your type of diet. So often you're posting food advice to someone and you don't know what to tell them because you don't know what foods are acceptable to them. The only drawback is that it could artificially widen divides between groups and create tensions.



I'll put mine in my sig, though.

*YAY* it worked! Now to get rid of that "Newbie" thing

Tropical girl, that witty thing is cool

I think the difficulty in listing our personal and dietary preferences would be that there are just too many things to list! For instance, someone who says they are vegan may or may not use the following:

• bee products (e.g. honey, pollen, wax)
  
• beer
  
• wine
  
• refined sugar
  
• other items that involved animal-products in the item's production (e.g. nori)
  
• trace amounts of ingredients that might have been animal derived (e.g. glycerides, stearic acid)
  
• trace amounts of definitely animal-derived ingredients
  
• insect-derived ingredients (e.g. carmine dye)
  
• products from companies that support animal-testing
  
• cosmetics/clothing/footwear that are made from animal products (e.g. leather, wool; new or secondhand)

(Yeah, I know we're speaking more about dietary preferences, so the last item probably isn't applicable here)



Personally, I consider myself a vegan. But if I owned chickens, and they produced eggs, I would happily eat them. (and care for the hens as pets until they passed away from natural causes). Other vegans would not eat eggs under any circumstances though, for health or personal purity reasons probably.



Anyway, that's my $.02. If I listed all the stuff I do and don't eat, it would exceed the limits for my profile, signature and avatar caption, combined.

Well, yes Karen that's pretty much what a vegan is

I'm trying to be vegan, but I tend to fudge it a bit. I'm more like a half-vegan, or 95% vegan, or something. I'm not a "good" vegan who's really strict about the diet. Not that I'm bragging or anything. It's more like a good case of guilt.

huh? Lamb, did you mean you abstain from everything on the list? Even the sugar and sushi nori? Would you eat eggs or milk from animals you personally knew to be living in humane conditions?



Sorry, I'm not sure what you meant!

It's true that there's a wide range of dietary preferences here, and many nuances. But even a one-word clue giving an idea would help. The other alternative is to assume everyone is vegan. I try to make sure all my food advice is vegan or easily veganizable. But we might have people here who are heavily lacto-ovo who don't even have a clue how to veganize some of their favorite recipes, and such a rule would shut them up forever, even though they might have ideas that are helpful to another L/O.

But if you ate eggs, you would not be considered vegan right? I think most people think of vegan as someone who does not eat anything that came from an animal. (Eggs, meat, dairy, honey)

I don't see why anyone should feel guilty about doing something to alleviate suffering and environmental woes on our planet! No matter how much or how little, what you're doing is helpful. And better than doing nothing!



Amy:

I totally agree with KarenM.

Amy you are doing soooo much, don't feel guilty!!!

Karen, yes I don't consume anything from your list. And I don't believe that 'humane' conditions are enough for animals. They are ment to be HAPPY! their life should be happy, NOT bearable.

I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian. Though the only eggs I eat are those that are trace ingredients in foods I am eating outside of my home and I'm trying to give up all animal products ... but if I have to label myself I'll go with ovo-lacto to avoid confusion.



ETA - I have a friend who has pet chickens who are free to roam at will but have a coop that they can sleep in or not as they choose. She has no roosters. The hens lay eggs. This is something they do independent of her. She eats the eggs that they lay. She tried just ignoring the eggs - but they attracted rats which attracted snakes. So now she eats them. If I had chickens in similar circumstances I would eat the eggs. These birds are not confined, they are not forced to molt, they are not fed anything unnatural (in fact they forage for 80% or more of their own food). They are, in short, happy birds. Their life is more than just "bearable". Especially given that two of the hens just showed up in her yard one day and have chosen to stay.

Hmmmm... Some folks call it "freeganism", but I'd still call myself a vegan if the eggs I consumed were produced under certain circumstances (rescued hens, humane treatment, etc.).



And I do own some shoes made with leather. Only secondhand shoes, or ones I possessed before becoming vegan. For me, it's more about conserving resources, reducing pollution, social responsibility, etc, rather than personal purity. Perhaps I should post a poll on this subject.

I don't believe that farmed animals can have a happy life as long as poeple will exploit anything their bodies produce.

I found an old poll which I bumped.

Lamb, I see your point. I should have been more specific when I said "humane", as I agree that just having sufficient food/water/living space to survive isn't enough. I don't actually have any chickens, but if I were able to give them their ideal living conditions, only then would I be comfortable eating their eggs. And I'd continue to care for them during the non-egg-laying years towards the end of their lives.

I've got to get offline right now, but if no one else posts a poll on this first, I'll post something later on.... Meanwhile, everyone here should give their input on what the poll should include!

If that's the case, then yes, I think it would be quite ok to do that.

But it would only be possible if you had chickens and be able to care about them personally.

I agree that this would be ethically acceptable, because then the chickens would get something as an exchange for their 'input'. They would get your respect, care and protection till the end of their natural life span. And that would be ethically ok IMO.

The tragedy of farm animals is that they practically don't get anything good from humans as an exchange for their 'service' for us. Cats and dogs at least get our love care etc. when farmed animals get only death and suffering. That's why I am always so concerned about them in the threads about 'pets' and so on. I think there is not enough concern for those 'not cute' animals.

Those were my thoughts as well, Lamb. Truly free hens (and not the commercial/factory farming definition of "free range" or "cage free").



I would love to be able to have chickens in my yard. I'd like to offer homes to some of the poor little chicks that are sold to idiots around Easter time and then discarded when people realize that the cute fuzzy chick doesn't stay cute and fuzzy for very long ... arrrgghhhh Just for the pure joy of seeing them running around, scratching, taking dust baths and eating bugs (a nice side benefit to having chickens).

MRsKey, maybe some day you will have such possibility Maybe one day...

A house with enough property and no deed restrictions preventing the owning of livestock is on my list of "must haves" for our next house - just so I can offer a home to chickens! My husband thinks I'm a lunatic (and he might be right) but he's on board with the idea. So we're working toward it!

Good luck then!!

And I'm sure there are so many chickens out there, hoping that it will work as well

I really would like to have a pig one day. Just buy a pigglet sold on a market for meat or something, and take care of it.

Ah, labels.



Let's put a big scarlet V on our heads...