So many reasons not to eat fellow mammals

May 19 2008 By Sarah Evans

National Vegetarian Week starts today! As a vegetarian of many years, I am using the occasion to stand up to be counted and point out to all those carnivores out there, the folly of their ways.

Today could be the first day of the rest of your vegetarian life.

It is very hard to understand why people carry on consuming flesh. Apart from the ghastly and cannibalistic reality of consuming the bodies of other mammals, there are hosts of what could be described as contemporary reasons for taking the pledge.

The horrors of modern intensive farming methods that bring cheap meat to the tables of the rich countries of the world are widely documented.

If the cruelty to fellow creatures does not move you, the fact that what you eat is pumped full of chemicals might be an issue.

Attention has been given recently to the dire effect the growing of crops for biofuels is having on the world economy.

The energy industry demands have forced the price of grains so high that the poor in less economically developed countries, who are growing these crops, are unable to afford the food being produced in plenty before their eyes.

The West wants crops in order to cut its reliance on the carbon fuels that are killing the planet but more immediately because those fuels are running out - and no Western government thinks it can survive a power crisis.

What is not often pointed out is that for a long time, much more grain in poverty stricken parts of the world is produced to feed animals for the cheap meat to the West market. If the grain were eaten as grain, far more people could be nourished.

If this were not bad enough - if it wasn't sufficiently wretched seeing animals suffering and living a life of hell and people dying because we buy their grain to stuff into animals in intensive farming factories, when these poor creatures are finally slaughtered, we throw the food away. Half a million unwrapped chickens are thrown away in this country alone each day.

So all that misery is for nothing. I hope you are ready to surf The Vegetarian Society website and get cooking.

Gordon Ramsey has made a great fuss about eating food in season. If only some equally celeb chef could make as much noise about the vegetarian offering in our restaurants.

Instead of fining restaurants for cooking asparagus in December, we should be fining them for not providing the same variety and quality of vegetarian meals as there are meat and fish dishes on the menu.

I know, it is better than the days when it was only a portion of grated cheddar, but if you consider how the rest of English restaurant cuisine has moved on since that time, the state of the vegetarian choice is still a national disgrace.

Birmingham has some fabulous restaurants but you will often find only one or at the most, two vegetarian options.

Some of our really swishy restaurants still do not have any at all. I know, you can hardly believe it!

When you explain to the waiter, you are told the chef will make something up and you can imagine the scene in the kitchen when your bizarre request is communicated. I shan't name and shame today but if things haven't improved by next National Vegetarian Week, I may feel public duty compels me.

On a brighter note, isn't Sibila's wonderful?

Probably the most delicious city location, right on the canal, its equally delicious menu is moving in the direction of my favourite vegetarian restaurant of all time - Terre A Terre in Brighton.

It is still unusual to find vegetarian restaurants that aren't just about feeling morally virtuous but Sibila's ambiance is city chic with a hint of lux.

I thought the least commitment I might expect from my so-what's-wrong-with-McDonalds family on this very special annual vegetarian occasion would be to have a week of family evening vegetarian meals.

For some strange reason, I now discover they are working away from home/visiting friends/have to eat up meat in the fridge/are taking their main meal at lunchtime.

Disappointing or what?