Conversation between A Vegetarian and a Carnivore

One of my acquaintances and I were sitting at a café once and the topic of meat happened. I am a vegetarian and the person I was speaking with is an omnivore. The conversation didn't escalate at all. It was a very reasonable dialogue where we were just exchanging our thoughts about the topics. Here is how it went.

Carnivore: You need to eat meat for strength.

Vegetarian: What you call strength is a function of muscles. Your muscles develop with progressive overload and a diet rich in protein. You could have a healthy vegetarian meal full of protein as well.

Carnivore: Ya but the body will know that its vegetarian and there will be a difference in the strength levels of a vegetarian and a meat eater.

Vegetarian: Your body doesn't differentiate between meat and plant-based food. The body thinks in terms of micro and macro-nutrients. If you are eating a balanced vegetarian diet with the right proportion of micro and macro nutrients, you are going to be as strong as a meat eater.

Carnivore: That can't be right. Look at the lion. How powerful it it.

Vegetarian: But you are not lion. You don't need to eat meat to survive. Also, look at elephant, rhino, giraffe.

Carnivore: Giraffe is not strong.

Vegetarian: Yes it is. It takes many lions or lionesses to bring down one giraffe. But one giraffe's kick can kill or severely injure any lion.

Carnivore: But meat is a good business. People make money out of it.

Vegetarian: Doing anything irrational and animalistic doesn't take much effort. That is why the proportion of intelligent people is not very high. Your effort must be to educate people and develop delicious vegetarian options. Become a marketer for GoodDot. It is developing tasty meat-like recipes out of vegetarian substitute and serving people.

Carnivore: If everyone stopped eating meat, then the number of chickens, goats etc will explode. People eat them, that is why their numbers are in check.

Vegetarian: Chickens and goats are being bred to fulfil demands posed by meat eaters. If you stop eating them, people will stop raising them. No explosion at all.

Carnivore: But what difference will it make if I, just one person stop eating meat.

Vegetarian: Be the change you want to see in the world. It all starts from one person. Make sure that your money is put in the pocket of someone selling vegetarian. See that no demands for meat comes from you. Then use your spare time to educate other people about vegetarianism.

Carnivore: So have you become a vegan or what?

Vegetarian: No, I am still a vegetarian, which means I still consume animal products such as milk and honey. But I aspire to be a vegan because milk industry is also very redundant and pain-causing for the cattle.

Carnivore: How so? How is milk industry causing pain to the cattle?

Vegetarian: This discussion is for another time. You should try being a vegetarian first. (You can read more about the milk industry and the state of the cattle here in this link)

What are your thoughts about this matter? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks and regards

Sincerely yours

Siddharth Soni