http://www.care2.com/greenliving/boy-meats-world.html
Boy Meats World
My wife is a vegetarian; I am not. As a food writer, I consider my omnivorous predisposition to be an occupational hazard, or at least an occupational necessity. We have coexisted just fine, with a mutual respect and nary an argument.
Once our child entered the age of solid food, the question of what to feed him, and whether that sustenance should be animal, weighed heavily on our minds. The vegetarian vs. carnivore battle of wits is an age-old argument that is highly emotional, moral, and topical.
The cultivation and consumption of industrialized animal products (Beef, Chicken, Pork) has received the blame for much of the modern world’s pollution and carbon woes. Abhorrent conditions and treatment of livestock (including confinement, hormone injections, and lack of care for sick or injured animals) has outraged animal rights activists and compassionate consumers alike, and then there is the sticky issue of killing animals for the sake of dinner.
Meat eaters, even the most compassionate, proactive ones, assert their right to consume animal products, just as long as the animals were treated with care and dignity to the very end of their lives.
I have found myself stuck in the crossfire at dinner parties, as both camps lobbed insults, as well as persuasive arguments in favor of their particular position on the food chain. And when it comes to feeding children meat, or holding them to vegetarian/vegan standards, there exists a good deal of controversy as well.
A noted, and tragic case from 2007, where a set of vegan parents inadvertently starved their 6-week-old baby by refusing to give him anything but soy milk and apple juice, created a good deal of furor and backlash against the vegan, and vegetarian, movements.
Also, there exists compelling arguments in favor of feeding young children an omnivorous diet, as some essential nutrients found in meat are said to be all but absent in a vegetarian diet. This point is often, and emphatically, refuted by pro-vegan/vegetarian activists and nutritionists, with facts and figures that assure concerned parents that with a balanced diet of leafy greens, nuts, and grains, that a child will get all the protein, B vitamins, and essential nutrients they will ever need.
All things considered, I personally feel confident that feeding my child a largely vegetarian diet, with or without an occasional taste of fish and meat, will provide a more than adequate diet for a growing brain and body. And to some degree, I think we were granted a quick reprieve from having to decide whether he was going to be an omnivore or a vegetarian, seeing as he, thus far, has no taste for flesh.
However, the multifaceted issue of whether to impose your moral, environmental, and ethical concerns on your child by supplying them, or denying them, a varied diet is still a thorny one. How do you contend with the choice to feed, or not to feed, your children animal products? Is your choice, their choice, and if so, do they understand why they are abstaining?
Eric Steinman is a freelance writer based in Rhinebeck, N.Y. He regularly writes about food, music, art, architecture and culture and is a regular contributor to Bon Appétit among other publications.
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Nina L., "Today our meat is from "happy" animals." --This could not be further from the truth. True, there are some farms that raise their animals humanely, but the general meat industry is a very scary, cruel place for animals.
Anyways, i'm pregnant with my first child and this article and the comments are really insightful. I've been vegetarian for the last year and my husband is not. Granted, he rarely eats meat at home and fully supports my choice. He's really great, actually... But we have the talk about how we're going to explain to our daughter why Mommy eats meat and Daddy doesn't. After all, what sense would it make to a little kid that Mommy doesn't like to kill animals but Daddy does. I don't want her to hate her dad! But I also want her to decide to be vegetarian because SHE wants to.. not because I made her.
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Raising our son vegan/cruelty-free has shown to be an enormously beneficial decision in many ways. His father is also omnivorous, like the author of this article. I feel like this was a well written article, so I'd like to comment. My 3.5 year old gets to eat a varied diet of foods from every culture and he eats EVERYTHING except what comes from animals. Some of the food-animal related issues that he will face in the future, outside of the home, he is lucky enough to learn how to deal with INSIDE the home thanks to his father. We took a family trip up to the Farm Sanctuary NY and it was one of the best things we've ever done. I highly recommend it! The whole thing about vegan diets not containing nutrients only found in animal flesh is funny since there are so many living, extremely healthy, educated vegans today. Not only have we felt great about the health results of our son, but his compassionate nature is also quite impressive. I feel glad that we haven't tried to suppress the innate compassion within him, but rather nurture it.
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Vegetarian or vegan kids does not have to have lack of nutrients. You feed them right and know their daily intake and they will be a long live vegetarian/vegan person. My sister has been a vegetarian for 3 years and she's feeling better than eating meat. I'm a flexitarian, so that's a different story.
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My family had the exact same experience, and we're still struggling with it. I'm vegetarian; my husband is very much not. After much debate, we agreed to start our son off vegetarian until he was "old enough to decide on his own," whenever that meant.
Our family was resistant. But while it took some educating of his daycare's kitchen staff (who'd never worked with tofu, let alone other alts), they were receptive as long as I provided a few complete protein alternatives to replace meats in his school lunches.
Our boy thrived on a veggie diet, but our family really argued for his "right" to eat meat, so I gave in on occasion, provided I knew the source, and eventually, he was eating meat infrequently but regularly.
Now he's almost 5, and in the past year has become much more aware of my own vegetarianism. He constantly asks why, and I am careful to answer truthfully without horrifying him (as I am). He's declared himself "vegetarian like mommy" repeatedly, then fallen back because "hotdogs are so good!" And I make sure he knows the choice is his meal-by-meal, and I'll love and be proud of him no matter what. He continues to get a choice at most meals, and he often chooses veg. But I can see his struggle, and I'm proud of him for even considering the debate in his 5-yr-old heart.
When he's older, and asks, I'll explain more of my reasoning beyond "I don't like to kill animals," but for now, I'm happy and very proud that he's aware his food has a source.
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Cindy C., 'not enough protein' has been around in meat-eating circles for ages, and it has never been true. Gorillas and elephants are vegans. I am 6'7", 19 years old, and a vegan. There is little valid research to substantiate any of these claims about 'vegan diets are insufficient.' Most of these arguments center around specific nutrients; omega-3s, vitamin B12, etc. First of all, these are all easily supplemented (omega 3s by flax and pumpkin seed, B12 by sea vegetables), but more importantly, such arguments ignore the most important parts of diet; a food's freshness, chi (or lifeforce or whatever you want to call it), organic vs. 'conventional', and how joyfully you can consume your food. Veganism is a lot less scary and a lot more fun that meat-eaters might think.
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Cindy even the World Health Organization states that a vegan diet is safe for all ages as longs as it is well planned. It doesn't matter if we are talking about infants, pregnant women, teenagers etc. ;-)
Do some research before being so definite as "A vegan diet is not good for a baby". There are studies out there from official organisations and institutes about these issues.
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The problems with the parents who gave their 6 week old only soy milk wasn't that they were vegan, but rather that they were absolutely stupid. The perfect food for any 6 week old is breast milk.
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Humans are omnivorous. As long as the diet is low in saturated fats and carbohydrates, a baby should be fed well. A vegan diet is not good for a baby. Babies need a rounded diet. I am a vegetarian. I chose it because I do not like meat. I also lost 20 pounds just cutting meat out of my diet. Meat gets stuck in my teeth. Vegan people are not going to agree. A baby, though, who eats a vegan diet will not get enough nourishment. Vegan diets are for adults and young adults. If you want your baby to grow up eating a vegetarian or vegan diet, a good idea is to make the bulk of the baby's diet vegetables. Babies should have more protein than a vegan diet offers, so a little bit of fish mixed in would be good for the protein area of the diet. As the child develops into school-age, then the parent can wean the child from meat or fish and substitute alternative sources of food. The child will probably not even be aware of the change. Beef can be very greasy. Pork can be very fatty. Chickens are sometimes the victims of cruel slaughter. A lot of people do not eat meat because of that fact.Generally, babies are developing brains, hearts and other vital organs. They need a good balanced diet.
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I have been a vegetarian for over 10 years and most people that I encounter don't seem to care, except if they have to figure out what to feed me at dinner party when they are serving steak. However, when I got pregnant, most people, friends, family, strangers, assumed that I would begin eating meat because my fetus would need it. What they were not taking into consideration is that the fetus will get what it wants from its mother, and if anyone goes under nourished, its the mother. But of course, things change once the baby was born. Most people are more shocked that my son doesn't eat sugar than the fact that he rarely eats meat. I am personally very satisfied on the days when he goes to bed with a full belly of lentils and rice with a side of spinach. Better than a greesy hamburger any day.
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