any vegans out there?

[sara3]

my daughter just asked why vegans won't eat dairy products. as she says, "hens will always lay eggs and cows will always produce milk", so what's the issue?

I hope I haven't insulted anyone with my ignorance!

[QueenOfAmber]

^^^^ grumpy meat eater.

[ACB312]

sara3, There appears to be many answers without actually answering your question. As far as I understand, vegans attempt not to eat or use anything that is of animal origin where the animal was killed in the process. I suppose by eating an egg you are killing (a possibly) fertilised egg and therefore a prospective chicken. Milk from cows is indeed intended for calves and I have difficulties in understanding why humans put such an importance on it - but it is handy and quite pleasant and I have recently changed to get some from a local farm where it comes without any treatment, i.e. with cream on the top and it is excellent. Back to the question - humans are basically omnivores - we can eat whatever presents itself at each season, or is available to hunt/gather whenever in the year. We have incisors and molars for the purpose. I believe it is that simple. I have two vegan friends and frankly they are the most ill-looking humans I have ever encountered. This will probably open up a whole stream of invective but I hope it goes some way to answer your daughter's question. Cheers, Andy

[QueenOfAmber]

wow....

[Eve]

Hey sis :)

I was a veggie at one point then went vegan for a while.

The essence of my veganism was anything that came from an animal so no wearing of leather either.

There are lots of animal free substitutes out there which can be used and I used to make my own bread and such from them.

I used to love some of the Quorn products as well and things like Linda McCartney sausages.

I can't say it was as good as the real thing but there are some pretty good substitutes out there.

Can't say I ever managed to like tofu though...yuk!

[sara3]

I assume you went back to the meat though, Jen?!!

ABC, thanks, that was informative. I can (kind of) get the egg angle, but the milk still mystifies me :o/

[masma]

Just to confuse things even more - my daughter is vegan and won't even eat honey! I will say she seems to be very healthy.

[sara3]

gosh masma, that seems a bit extreme!

I guess if your daughter eats healthy foods she should be fine :o)

[jedimistress]

Because cows do not always produce milk. They produce milk once they have given birth and whilst their baby is still suckling, in the same way that humans do. You can draw your own conclusions from this.

The eggs are never fertilized so it's not a case of eating the embryos, I believe it is more to do with the surrounding industry. I was a vegan but still ate my own chicken's eggs. I knew they were not subject to any cruelty or dispensed with when they could no longer lay.

[sara3]

wow.. I assumed (in my ignorance) that they always produced milk! thanks for the additional info, jedimistress

[squirtle]

So how come the fresian cows that we see wandering across the roads twice a day to be milked don't have calves tagging along with them?

[squirtle]

Sorry bit vague that, but i live near several dairy farms and there is no way that the herd of 200 dairy cows or however many they have , have all recently given birth, yet they all produce enough milk to be milked twice a day.

[squirtle]

sorry.....friesian

[ummmm]

squirtle.....They continue as the milk wasn't allowed to stop. Same as humans. If the milk is being expressed it will carry on coming. They only need to have one calf.

[Hazel104]

I�m not vegan, but I know a few and had huge crush on a vegan guy at uni so made sure I knew a lot about it to get in his good books, it was too much for me in the end as
he and his friends were full on (stuff like calling milk �death juice�) drove me mad!

Vegans believe animals should not be used to the benefit of humans so should not be farmed in any way, full stop so many exclude honey from their diet as well. They also believe it is better for the environment and helps the 3rd world as they supply most of the grain for the feed for the developed worlds animal feed. Some vegans also refuse certain medication if it is anything to do with animals from the ingredients through to testing so a lot of vegans see it a serious commitment.

[Mortartube]

I always thought that the not wearing leather was a bit extreme.

One animal is slaughtered for that (and not usually exclusively for it's hide if we talk of cow's, sheep or goats), whereas if you wear synthetic products, the dioxins that are pumped from the plastics factory chimney are likely to contribute to more than one death of an animal, be it a bird, butterfly or beetle.

[ermintrude35]

some vegans won't drink wine either, you can buy vegan wine....... and I don't want to put anyone off...... because winemakers use some kind of fish gut product to clear the wine... can't say it ever put me off though....hic!

[sara3]

that's it.. the world's gone mad!