Room 101 Game

[MyNameIsTerry]

I guess there are many things we push out of our minds to live a normal life.

A young lad across the road from me had one of his first jobs in an abattoir. I don't know if he was doing slaughtering though. Not a job I would want. It's interesting though because go a bit further back in the generations and how many of us would have just done this as part of our normal life each week?

As for the question on hunting I think for me it is more a question of whether you are doing something to survive or because you want to. Even if you eat the animal, did you really need to kill it? If you go hunting for pleasure, the eating part becomes irrelevant.

How many of us in developed countries need to hunt to eat? Therefore isn't the hunting about the pursuit itself and any eating is just a way to offset that?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Terry…“Even if you eat the animal, did you really need to kill it?”

Personally, I don’t think carving bits of live animals to eat is acceptable under any circumstances… Not unless you’re in The Restaurant at the End of The Universe.


“How many of us in developed countries need to hunt to eat? Therefore isn't the hunting about the pursuit itself and any eating is just a way to offset that?”

That’s a moral dilemma when applied to meat-eating, isn’t it? Go out and take responsibility for killing your own meat, or let someone else take that responsibility on your behalf – you still end up eating bits of an animal that’s been killed (only in the second case you’ve removed yourself from the unpleasant part).

Perhaps we should wait around until the animal drops down dead from old age then eat it…? I’ve heard of folks who’ve eaten rabbits that had myxamatosis, without apparent ill-effect (and the rabbit, in those instances, didn’t die an awful death in vain).

Hey! Isn’t this sub-forum supposed to be amusing and cheery?

Nah, it's a moan thread so we're ok

My point was the hunter fancied a day out firing a gun to feel good about themselves. The intention was the kill, not the eating.

But it's impossible to take responsibility for your own slaughter unless we go back to the old days of doing our own farming and even then how many just bought their meat? I don't think that means we can't take responsibility, it just means we take it a different way. Equally we could argue those that slaughter could get another job and I doubt they join a slaughterhouse because they want to take responsibility for this process, more likely the drivers are money or the lack of employment prospects.

[Carnation]

Terry loves a bit of feeding!

My gripe is food that you buy now seems to be packed with air and not food and at the same price, if not higher!
Take a packet of crisps. I sometimes used to share a packet with my o/h with a sandwich. If I did that now we would have about 6 crisps each.
Same with chocolate. Too small.
And if you buy ready made meals, what do you get? 50% air. The suppliers cover food with pretty packaging.
Then we are told by the big brother organisations that portions are cut down for our good health.
It's more control and a rip off, so I want to put the food Police in room 101.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Oh well, as long as this is a moan thread, Terry-on-Trent….

I agree, most slaughtermen are taking the job for the money - but they’re taking a burden of responsibility so we don't have to. And I thank them sincerely for that (although some folks despise them for it).

During WW2, my grandparents kept a couple of pigs for slaughter. It was common practice, to eke out a meagre meat ration. Even then, though, a butcher would take charge of the killing, with all the family (children and all) chipping in with the numerous tasks ("Every part of a pig but its squeal is useful." was the old saying). Can you imagine that happening in these vacuum-packed plastic, hermetically sealed, sanitised times?

As a society we've become detached from the reality of real life and moved into a state of virtuality. Every aspect of our lives is coated in an impenetrable, gooey layer of politically correctness. This is not a good thing. We are continually abdicating responsibility for our own lives, or allowing it to be taken from us on the pretext of it being “better for us”. When we have to face the truth of it all, we can’t cope, and anxiety takes over.

All of which brings me, circuitously, to folks killing animals (as distinct from folks killing other folks – another dilemma for another day). If they’re doing it for money, it’s ok, but if they’re doing it for ‘fun’, it’s heinous…?

These matters should prick our consciences (…you can’t say I never feed you, Terry ).

Yes, I agree we have lost our personal responsibility for many things. The mass processing movement has meant we end up at the end of the chain as a consumer as opposed to many more of us being the grower at the start. Although, not everyone was but even then perhaps you would be more inclined to bring a chicken home in full feathers and do a lot more than unwrap it and bung it in a fire.

Yes, because of this we are far more wasteful. You ate everything years ago because you spent your day slaving to pay for that food. You might have starved if not. Even though we have poverty now it's not anywhere close to the world before the working man (and women) starting claiming some rights.

Can you remember when you could buy a great big long can with just a cows tongue in it? But weirdly people are less concerned about cutting up fish.

I too am grateful for those who work to provide this and do jobs which I might not want to do myself. That includes the military, police, obviously the medical community, etc but also the poor sod who has to go down the drains and sweep out all the muck we build up. Unlike the police, military, etc you don't choose these professions, they are more likely yours because you can't get a better job.

Political correctness is mad. It varies from person to person like politics so you have loons on either side of the debate. I do wonder if we are lurching too much towards puritanical times which will rebound into a short people of being able to swear more freely, wear what you want, be what you want and perhaps wolf whistle or touch a woman's knee (not in a creepy way...like a Tory MP might do it ) without millions of Twitterati pitchforks coming after you like you are evil personified? Then perhaps we settle back into something a bit more to the centre and some common sense returns to society. Thankfully being in the Midlands it's less of an issue, being Metrosexual here still seems to make us think it's about having sex in a certain type of car last seen made in a Rover factory.

Feed away, I'm like Pacman...just with bigger moobs

---------- Post added at 02:53 ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 ----------

Terry loves a bit of feeding!

My gripe is food that you buy now seems to be packed with air and not food and at the same price, if not higher!
Take a packet of crisps. I sometimes used to share a packet with my o/h with a sandwich. If I did that now we would have about 6 crisps each.
Same with chocolate. Too small.
And if you buy ready made meals, what do you get? 50% air. The suppliers cover food with pretty packaging.
Then we are told by the big brother organisations that portions are cut down for our good health.
It's more control and a rip off, so I want to put the food Police in room 101.

Nom nom nom nom

I remember when Walker's did that. Can you remember waiving the packet at some one saying where have all the crisps gone? They probably can't avoid it and have had to take out 25% of crisps from each packet to pay for Gary Lineker.

I like how chocolate gets reduced, for our health, but the prices don't. Still the fat cats are looking healthier whilst we all have to work harder.

[Carnation]

Terry, reducing doesn't work, you just have another one.

[BikerMatt]

Terry, reducing doesn't work, you just have another one.

And what the hell do they do to our milk? I remember when the milkman brought it in a bottle with the thick foil top, you opened it and if you didn't use all of it within a few days it wen't off Now milk lasts and has a sell-by date of 10+ day's. I dread to think what nasties are added.

[Carnation]

Matt, milk certainly tasted better.
I used to drink a glass of milk years ago, but don't fancy it now.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Matt, Father Ted has you covered if you want to voice your concerns...



Yes, I remember what milkmen used to be like...



...

Carnation, I think all the fancy chocs now have spicey stuff in them so you can't tell how poor the milk choc has got

[Carnation]

Seriously? I always seem to have a coughing fit when eating chocolate, so does my o/h. That would explain it.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thanks to that (ex) Waitrose foodie writer, now we know what ‘eating vegan’ might really mean.

Another helping of this delicious Soylent Green, anyone?

Do you get much meat off a vegan? Will they be putting a similiar label to "grass fed" on the pack so we know they are better quality?

Hmm, this causes a dilemma. If a vegan eats another vegan is that classed as meat eating? Maybe a new category of Vegan-Cannabalism could introduce it as being ok