Friday, December 15, 2006

Don't eat horses is good, no?

Will Peta stop at nothing to get the message out there? The animal rights group have a very creative campaigns team, that's for sure. Their latest trick is for two female members to parade around the freezing streets of Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, wearing just bikinis made from lettuce leaves, and urging people to go veggie. The Kazakhs, god bless them, were bewildered by the whole affair - vegetarianism not being very common in the central Asian nation. On top of the publicity surrounding the Borat film, they probably thought it was some more foreigners poking fun at them. Still, if it did work, then good for the Peta girls. Look out for a surge in vegetarian restaurants in Almaty in 2007.

Smart move, this veggie lark

This is great. According to researchers from Southampton University, intelligent people are more likely to become vegetarian. Strictly speaking, this places me in the less intelligent category, as I didn't 'become' vegetarian, but I think I should get intelligence points for not becoming a non-vegetarian. Either way, the findings agree with my constant argument (which began here - see "I say, old chap, eating meat is so vulgar" in April's archive) that vegetarianism is part of a more civilised, rational approach to life. Unsurprisingly, the Vegetarian Society agrees, saying: "We've always known that vegetarianism is an intelligent, compassionate choice benefiting animals, people and the environment." You don't say.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Nuts to protein scaremongers

We vegetarians have made and heard countless arguments as to why a meat-free diet is healthier, and here is another one to throw on the pile. It's all very official and quite good at reposting those who fall lazily back on the not-enough-protein line. We need protein to grow big and strong and aggressive, of course, but how much? Meat eaters are always fondly recalling the days when we used to roam the earth with spears looking for animals to kill. But how many did we actually kill? I don't know, but I doubt there was roast on the cave menu every night. So we had sharp teeth, granted, and we ate meat, granted, but not all the time. Anyway, time we moved on from the Stone Age, don't you think?