Britain is being tricked into becoming vegetarian
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
Consumer choice has never been bigger – except when it comes to meat products in hospitals and schools, councils and universities. This week, Quorn’s CEO announced that pork sausages will be blended with fake meat in NHS hospitals by the end of the year, in a bid to tackle climate change. But the hybrid bangers, which are partly made from mycoproteins (fermented fungi spores), will not be badged up as such – which means the NHS is effectively slashing the meat content from menus without warning.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance (CA), says that the organisation is “deeply troubled by compulsory vegetarianism and veganism” and that they would be “very concerned at any attempt by a public body to attempt to police what we are eating”.
Still, vegetarianism and veganism by stealth appears to be on the rise. Big-name campaigns like Meat-Free Monday, which advocates cutting meat from diets one day a week, was sparked by Sir Paul McCartney in 2009; since then, celebrity backing from the likes of Jamie Oliver (plus A-listers such as Beyoncé, Reese Witherspoon and Coldplay’s Chris Martin) has helped to make it a status symbol, seeing vegan and vegetarian menus sweep into councils, hospitals and schools.
The driving force has been campaigners’ fears about the environmental impact of consuming meat (far above matters such as cost or the health implications). Yet the spread of stealth vegetarianism into schools is causing concern among parents and some medics.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/26/britain-tricked-becoming-vegetarian/
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Not a new thing – I found this after recalling life growing up in the ’50s
Per the 1983 Code of Canon Law:
Can. 1249 The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.
Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent.
Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Fish and seafood is part of a balanced diet.
Yes, fish on Fridays…… Not fermented shrooms!!
Quorn is actually illegal in many countries. Despite their claims there is a high level of adverse reactions to it which is why it has previously had to be clearly labelled on all its products.
My wife was hospitalised after eating it the first time. A second hospitalisation happened after not knowing it was in a pork sausage at an English Heritage site.
Quorn is Frankenstein food and is a danger to a large section of the public.
Deliberately exposing people in hospital to a known toxin is probably designed to worsen any adverse condition. This is insanity.
I wonder what would be the reaction if it was revealed that the NHS geniuses had decided, in the interests of health but secretly, to include best British pork in all Hallal meals?
The Indian Mutiny of 2057?
Labels on food then? not worth the ink and stuff it’s written on. Huh, just like lil red tractors. RED ? Blimey , “THE” Red tractor is no longer made in Britain.
So how about the Anti PORK Foodies making a big stink about contamination etc. Where’s Miliband on this?
I would ask him, but don’t wish to intrude at present. He does love his bacon sandwiches….
Please will commentators on the question of food type distinguish between the climate/political and humanitarian reasons for vegetarianism and veganism.
Whilst totally on side re the “climate rubbish” , the animals farting nonsense, etc, we have over the years moved steadily toward veganism. Grumbling about some factory protein being added to burgers is OK as long as the grumblers recognise what goes into animal products, the things animals are injected with, the diseases their flesh may carry, and the stress hormones terrified animals secrete as the await their certain slaughter, often in appalling conditions.
Anyone who has had a pet, dog or cat, will know how much love they radiate to their owners. Is it different for farm animals? They are also sentient beings, are they not? We had friends who gave their sheep individual names and boasted recognising them as they showed us around their smallholding. Within a couple of weeks their happy lives in the fields became a cold tomb in our friends’ freezer. What hypocrisy. And how about being born happily as a male chick? ……a matter of only a few hours out of the egg before being tossed alive straight into a cremation furnace…..not so lovely…..or a young bull calf, to enjoy some brief life before being turned into beef…..or the calf’s mother crying out for her calf being taken away?
Returning to what’s in animal based produce…..what about the blood and pus inevitably in milk, should this not be a warning on every carton of milk? And also the hormones and hormone-mimicking chemicals which have been found, helpful for the growing animals quick development, but also helpful for the growth of cancerous tumours in humans…see Jane Plant “Prostate Cancer” research.
A personal note. Some years ago, after some urinary troubles, I decided to have the PSA test. It was “amber positive”. After coming across Jane Plant’s “Prostate Cancer” book, I came off all dairy 100%. A few months later, I had a repeat PSA test, which showed “negligible”. The doctor was amazed. This was very unlikely. What had I been doing?…..I explained.
People eat meat also because they enjoy it……but our enjoyment is paid for in the stress and fear of the animals we are exploiting. On our vegan diet we have been healthier than ever…no flu or covid symptoms for years, and we never have any jabs.
The animals only exist to be eaten, there would be no farm animals without a food chain.
I accept that they should be treated humanly and the centralising of abattoirs is contributing to some of the transport stress.
But it has to be an individual choice, to eat meat or not, I respect and note your opinion, if you choose a Vegan diet fine, but do not try and force it on me.
Dear Geoff, your comment well taken….no intention of forcing any diet on you. Going veggie has, for both of us taken a long period of years. We’re not fanatical. When on holiday, we choose larger hotels which have the buffet system and masses of variety. Inevitable, some non-vegan content get involved in our choices.
Conversely, we have been on the receiving end of negativity from a proportion of people who are very attached to meat eating, and some friendships have been spoiled by this.
Our attitude to diet is a pub menu approach. We enjoy each other’s company, but we’ll each choose what we want.
The flip side is we have to accept that we don’t get so many invitations returned, as vegan food can seem very strange and a challenge to have to prepare.
To those who feel my response is moral lecture. Well, sorry, but your reactions are your responsibility and just maybe you have something to think about?
Let me be clear. I am a total climate sceptic, who has written a lot to local papers. I am forever reminding people about Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” propaganda film of 2006 being condemned in the civil court and morer recently the blatant breaking of the 1996 Education Act Sec 405, forbidding the political indoctrination of school children.
Deliberately linking veganism to climate is a political ploy, in the same vein as polar bears, walrus, corals and all the other exaggerations.
To “climate reason” and “gamecock”…sorry to hear your vegan experience has been so dull. The days of “just a lot of old lentils” has long gone. We continually find new recipes and it’s not all imported.
In the case of Starmer, I should rather propose that some genetic defect, rather than veganism, more likely relates to any possible stunted brain development in his family.
Please note the recent research by W.Andrew Barr, Briana Pobiner, John Rowan, Andre Du, J Tyler Faith “No sustained increase in zooarcharological evidence for carnivory after the appearance of Homo erectus” Proceedings of the National Academy of Scineces, 2022;119 (5): e2115540119DOI: 10.1073/PNAS.2115540119
You can thank the EU for the centralising of abattoirs with the Meat Hygiene Directive. The snivel service here did its usual gold plating job on the implementation of the Directive via regulations which made it impossible for the small local abattoirs to stay in business so they have all gone. Membership of the EU has been a disaster for our food processing and hygiene with their requirement for vets to examine pizzas which is a rare reason for people to train as vets.
Nature called . . . she wants to know who this is who thinks he knows better than her.
Ian, can I recommend you do some online research on taurine ?
This is absent in a vegan diet (unless you eat certain species of seaweed), yet the scientific literature is full of its health benefits. For example, the Japanese are the longest-lived major country and they also have the most taurine in their diet.
Ian, I think you are missing the thrust of the argument here.The subject in question is the compulsory addition of an artificial and unmarked additive to foodstuffs on spurious grounds more likely to benefit a commercial interest than anything else..
In the example I quoted of adverse reactions to Quorn , the problem naturally arises of its addition not being shown and it being the exclusive rather than alternative option. Many people are allergic to Quorn, but far and away the vast majority of people have never actually eaten it to know it they are allergic or not. Quorn is actually a fringe market product and is not mainstream. Conversely most people will have eaten conventional pork sausages and be aware of any personal problems with them.
This addition to “save the planet” is akin to thrusting products containing peanuts on those with known allergies to them but not fore-warning them of the addition.
The question of the health aspects good or bad are just derived from a virtue signalling distraction of a minority and the climate change aspect is just perpetuating a scam.
My 26 year old daughter is vegan and I personally regularly cook recipes with no animal products – “Chillie” is after all a vegan meal – the “con carne” was a later addition. Quite why though any vegan though would advocate Quorn or any other wholly unnatural product is completely beyond me.
Cirrusly? You think animals know whats going to happen? You think animals know what death is?
[citation needed]
You moralize over a fabricated reality. And the idea that it is okay to slip odd ‘food’ into kids meals is okay is EVIL, and surely illegal in most jurisdictions.
Pork sausages only have to contain 52% pork, a meat sausage only 32%, below that they are “bangers”, normally the rest is fillers, bread, stuffing, etc so putting quorn in is probably legal, but if as Ray states, some are allergic to it, with anaphylactic reactions. Then it makes no sense at all to put quorn in pork sausages, in fact expect some hefty legal settlements for the health authorities to pay. More stupidity from the green blob, everything they propose makes our lives worse.
This is also a problem in University refectories – I remember Paul running a story on it some time ago. Our grand-daughter is at Warwick University and she tells us that the student simply shun their vegan refectory and cook for themselves. I don’t doubt the same is true at other Unis, colleges and schools.
Very sinister if you ask me. I was watching an excellent Dan Snow programme yesterday on catch up. He was exploring the archaeology and history around Stonehenge and discovered the community living there 4000+ years ago ate large amounts of pork. Veganism and the like is a modern first world problem concocted by politically motivated activism. We have a choice and don’t need shouty celebs telling us what to eat. Mankind has been omnivorous for thousands of years vegan chops, get used to it.
I am a life long vegetarian. Its not us you need to blame, its the very militant vegans who believe they are going to save the world, who are forcing this stuff down our throats.
Why on earth would vegetarians want to eat fake meat? Why would we want to eat very dull vegan food that has no milk, butter, eggs or cheese to enliven it?
I increasingly find in supermarkets that ready meals are being produced for vegan tastes-less dairy-at the expense of far more numerous vegetarians.
Vegan food is very un-climate friendly, coming from the four corners of the earth, destroying rain forests, causing drought and often ultra processed.
If you want to eat real meat that is your choice. The only thing I would ask that it is humanely reared and killed.
Thank you. Moral vegetarians get my goat. People are free to choose. But proclamations of moral superiority by vegetarians are biologically ignorant, asserting that their judgement is superior to Nature’s.
The worst thing about all this is that it has been demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that children need meat for brain development. Starmer and his wife fed their children on a vegan diet, and parents in Belgium have been prosecuted for child abuse for this. Time it happened here, with Starmer the first in the dock.
My reply to jeremy23846. I accidently logged it under my original reply to GeoffB. Apols.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/204350 suggested there was, but it seems it is now being questioned.
The staple food of gorillas in the wild is something related to celery, or so I’ve read.
And Hawaiians ate taro. So what?
Many years ago, we were invited for dinner (evening) and served a vegan meal. Our systems were not prepared. The next 24 hours were uncomfortable. We noticed the two children were noticeably thin. Now, 45 years later, I would have questioned the parents about this. Then, I had no clue. Later, from a nurse friend whose son wanted to eat animal-free, I learned a great deal about meeting nutritional needs without meat, dairy, and eggs.
I have been a vegetarian for years but let’s be real. It is simply the way that the world is that you can’t eat without killing things, no not even vegans. You can’t grow vegetables in sufficient quantities to feed everyone without using chemical warfare on pests.
And those peas are every bit as alive as a pig.
The ‘sentient’ schtick is a human invention, not recognized by Nature.
Pork and Quorn sausages – they must be Porn Bangers!
I’m probably one of the few regular ‘Climate Reality’ readers who has also worked in an abattoir and been a farm worker. But I am not a food labelling specialist so I’m not sure if ‘fungal derived protein’ can be included in sausages, together with all the other fillers, with or without specific labelling. So is Britain being tricked into veganism ? I don’t know.
This is an emotive subject, how can one hand rear an orphaned Larry the Lamb only to then send him off to the abattoir ? It’s just something you have to do as a farmer or farmworker – you get used to it or find another job. But pigs/sheep/bovines can certainly sense the fear ? smell ? as their truck approaches the despatch plant. Thanks to the EU’s abattoir regulations abattoirs have now become large scale killing factories with overcrowded trucks often travelling miles, compared to the smaller, more local, old style butcher’s yard – which also produced better quality meat in my opinion.
On an side note Aldi and Tesco are putting bamboo fibre in their ‘the best outdoor pork sausages’ it is listed in the ingredients, but I’m not buying them.
Thanks vickimh. Interesting economics. I didn’t know that bamboo fibre was cheaper than breadcrumbs. Perhaps added to improve “texture” ?. One of the “five a day” for Pandas ?.
I know that Morrison’s and Sainsburys don’t at the moment. I keep reading the ingredients lists as they are starting to have the feel of the industrial revolution doctoring that I read about at school. You only have to look at the plasticine food that is ‘vegan’…
Also total agreement about the EU and the small abattoirs, when they shut the one in our town, I didn’t see how it was better for the animals. What it was, was better for the EU. Enjoyed voting Brexit.