Forum Thread: Are you vegan or vegetarian?

I'm not a vegetarian - instead, I try to to eat locally grown and organic as much as possible. When I do eat meat, I like it to be cruelty-free.

Interestingly, the standards required by kosher/halal ensure that the animals have been raised cleanly and ethically and killed humanely. It's usually a bit more expensive than regular meat, but I find it's worth it just for the peace of mind. 

Yes, farmer's markets are invaluable resources. They're one of the few retailers I trust to provide unadulterated vegetables, herbs, and eggs. I wish I had a garden and a chicken coop to produce everything I eat (seriously!) so I would never have to worry about animal cruelty and pesticides, but farmers' markets are the next best thing.

You can generally get things for a relatively inexpensive price at these markets, too. Though anything kosher does cost more. I just look for sales wherever I go.

I'm neither vegan nor vegetarian but my diet has come from adding things whenever I hear how healthy something is and making sure I meet all dietary requirements in spades. The end result has been mainly lots of fruits and vegetables and very little meat - just a little pork and pollock. (I switched from salmon to pollock because I could never tell if my salmon came from an endangered source.)

Steven,

Usually, if your salmon comes from Alaska, it has been safely and ethically fished. All the environmentally questionable salmon farms are in the Atlantic - to the point where you can be nearly 100% certain that any Atlantic salmon was not wild caught.

Though this comes from an article I read a couple years ago, things might have changed since then.

Just did some more checking... The box says Wild Pacific Salmon Fillets and online endangered species lists confirm what you say, it's the Atlantic Salmon that are fished unsustainably. Thanks both of you for pointing this out.

I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but definitely more of a vegetarian than anything else (if that makes sense). I only eat meat if it comes from humanely treated/grass-fed/farm raised animals. However, I prefer plant food over anything else and eat animal products sparingly. The bulk of a healthy diet should be fruits and veggies anyway!