Vegan landlord bans meat-eaters

[Gifted Gourmet]

BBC article

Michael Sosner says vegetarians make good tenants, saying they are sociable, healthier and prefer to live in a meat-free environment.  But the meat trade said that, while he had the right to pick tenants, he was excluding 97% of the population. "There's a different energy in vegan and vegetarian places which is very peaceful and comforting."

However, Graham Bidston, of the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders, said: "It's his choice of course. "He is rather limiting his customer base to about 3% of the population."

Your "take" on this idea?? Are his arguments sound??

[slkinsey]

It depends on what you mean by "sound arguments."

I don't know what the laws are that govern what kinds of things a landlord in the UK may use to "choose" tenants, but I am fairly certain that "meat eater" is not one of them in the US. Suppose that, instead of "meat eaters" you substitute, say, "interracial couples," another voluntary life choice? How sound does the argument seem now?

[Mayhaw Man]

I thought this said

Vegan Landlord meets beet eaters

[srhcb]

We are made of meat.

[FaustianBargain]

We are made of meat.

but if you try to eat me, i'll beat you to death with a limp noodle..

[Pan]

We are made of meat.

"They're made out of meat."

[Susan G]

I guess it makes about as much sense to me as banning tenants based upon their art collections...........discrimination based upon aesthetics. Old nastiness in a new package.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Actually, I had more in mind not so much his "discrimination" based upon diet .. what I want to get at is his assumption that a vegan tenant is more sociable and gentler and healthier .... yada yada yada ..

I know that I am sociable and pleasant and keep a clean house .. but need a chunk of some red meat from time to time to maintain my complacent, pacifist demeanor ...

[tanabutler]

His choice is valid, for him. I wouldn't rent to smokers, because of the stench (not to mention the added liability). Some people think meat smells, um, dead.

[Katherine]

The vegans I have known are no more sociable and no more often pleasant than non-vegans.

A while back I read an article someone had written attributing the sometimes violent antics of EarthFirst and PETA to the fact that their malnourished bodies were telling them to go kill something and eat it. So they misdirected their violent impulses, which were intended to be against humans' natural prey.

Since most violent people are not vegans, there is something wrong, or in the very least, incomplete about this theory.

[tanabutler]

The vegans I have known are no more sociable and no more often pleasant than non-vegans.

A while back I read an article someone had written attributing the sometimes violent antics of EarthFirst and PETA to the fact that their malnourished bodies were telling them to go kill something and eat it. So they misdirected their violent impulses, which were intended to be against humans' natural prey.

Since most violent people are not vegans, there is something wrong, or in the very least, incomplete about this theory.

I would agree about vegans tending to be unpleasant. I am surrounded by them here in Santa Cruz, and there can certainly be a big ol' attitude.

The Outstanding in the Field farm dinner featuring Millennium (Eric Tucker, chef) of San Francisco remains the all-time worst meal of all the dinners--make that the only dinner I can complain about, period. Not only was the dessert wretched (from an attempt to imitate butterfat with soy products), but the attitude of the staff was haughty and judgmental. Some of the courses were truly delicious, but the underlying tone of self-righteousness was off-putting indeed. I don't need to be preached to: I am capable of making fantastic vegan courses that are not seasoned with sanctimony.

And about that dessert...they could have redeemed themselves had they simply gone in an entirely fruit direction--with a sorbet or something that didn't require ersatz dairy products.

Edited July 31, 2004 by tanabutler (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

I am capable of making fantastic vegan courses that are not seasoned with sanctimony.

An appropriate sig line if there ever was one .. thanks, Tana, for that and happy cheese!!

[Pan]

The vegans I have known are no more sociable and no more often pleasant than non-vegans.

A while back I read an article someone had written attributing the sometimes violent antics of EarthFirst and PETA to the fact that their malnourished bodies were telling them to go kill something and eat it. So they misdirected their violent impulses, which were intended to be against humans' natural prey.

Since most violent people are not vegans, there is something wrong, or in the very least, incomplete about this theory.

I would agree about vegans tending to be unpleasant.

I don't think you're agreeing with Katherine. Not greater than is not the same as less than.

There's nothing to the idea that vegetarians are particularly violent. EarthFirst and PETA are extremist organizations, and extremist organizations are extremist organizations.

[tanabutler]

You're right, I didn't mean to agree but to posit. I haven't had my tea yet.

[andiesenji]

The vegans I have known are no more sociable and no more often pleasant than non-vegans.

A while back I read an article someone had written attributing the sometimes violent antics of EarthFirst and PETA to the fact that their malnourished bodies were telling them to go kill something and eat it. So they misdirected their violent impulses, which were intended to be against humans' natural prey.

Since most violent people are not vegans, there is something wrong, or in the very least, incomplete about this theory.

Some vegans take it way too far. And many of the PETA people are totally off the beam.

They had some big rally at the shopping center in Northridge back in February and one of them was being really nasty to people walking out of the mall who were wearing leather jackets.

I sat in my van and watched while she went to her car to get a bottle of water. She was driving a Mercedes with leather upholstery. Now how committed is that?

I don't know if it made the national news, but a couple of years ago we had a family here in Lancaster who had their children taken from them because they were strict vegans and their children were found to be dangerously malnourished. The court found that it was fine for them to choose what and how much they consumed but their children had to be fed according to generally accepted standards. The simple truth is that incomplete amino acid chains cannot fuel a rapidly growing body or something will suffer. The brain in particular. All these children were very small, looking at least 3 years younger than their contemporaries and were found to be a bit slow mentally. An older sibling, from an earlier marriage, who had been living with the grandparents from age 4, was normal in size and mental development.

I see a lot of vegans at the health food store where I buy a lot of my baking ingredients and many of them do not look all that healthy to me.

It is my personal belief that we evolved as omnivores and our bodies and brains develop the greatest potential with a completely balanced diet and that includes some protein from an animal source, eggs, milk, etc.

If we were meant to eat grass directly, instead of after it has been processed and turned into meat, we would have multiple stomachs as ruminants do.

But that is just my opinion and my personal preference.

I don't think anyone should be discriminated against by what they eat, wear, speak, believe, sing, grow, read, draw, paint, drive or fly and also what color, height, weight, shape, they might be or how many children, pets and etc., they might have.

[Katherine]

The vegans I have known are no more sociable and no more often pleasant than non-vegans.

A while back I read an article someone had written attributing the sometimes violent antics of EarthFirst and PETA to the fact that their malnourished bodies were telling them to go kill something and eat it. So they misdirected their violent impulses, which were intended to be against humans' natural prey.

Since most violent people are not vegans, there is something wrong, or in the very least, incomplete about this theory.

I don't know if it made the national news, but a couple of years ago we had a family here in Lancaster who had their children taken from them because they were strict vegans and their children were found to be dangerously malnourished. The court found that it was fine for them to choose what and how much they consumed but their children had to be fed according to generally accepted standards. The simple truth is that incomplete amino acid chains cannot fuel a rapidly growing body or something will suffer. The brain in particular. All these children were very small, looking at least 3 years younger than their contemporaries and were found to be a bit slow mentally. An older sibling, from an earlier marriage, who had been living with the grandparents from age 4, was normal in size and mental development.

I see a lot of vegans at the health food store where I buy a lot of my baking ingredients and many of them do not look all that healthy to me.

Ah, but the question is not whether these people are seriously misguided. That is a topic for another thread.

The question is, are they pleasant and sociable?

[andiesenji]

I see a lot of vegans at the health food store where I buy a lot of my baking ingredients and many of them do not look all that healthy to me.

Ah, but the question is not whether these people are seriously misguided. That is a topic for another thread.

The question is, are they pleasant and sociable?

[viva]

The question is, are they pleasant and sociable?

I haven't known that many vegetarians or vegans (I seem to attract meat-loving friends, which is probably one of my best qualities). However, for the few I have known, most have been in the sanctimonious category. I'm not trying to stereotype - that's just been my experience.

Side note: One went so far as to say, upon seeing a woman with a fur-lined jacket "I'm really offended. I'm a vegetarian." Really? 'Cause your shoes are leather. I'm just saying.

What I eat is no one else's business but my own - I don't like vegetarians that tell me I shouldn't eat meat, or skinny people telling me I shouldn't eat anything.

[stovetop]

Let's put everything into the context of nature, if you lived off the land, and it was winter, what would you eat????

We are just animals are we not??

Would not the ecosystem that you lived in dictate what type of foods you eat??

I think this veagan stuff is based on emotion not reality.

steve

[Jinmyo]

I don't think anyone should be discriminated against by what they eat, wear, speak, believe, sing, grow, read, draw, paint, drive or fly and also what color, height, weight, shape, they might be or how many children, pets and etc., they might have.

Sure, but then there's Those People who snap their gum. Round 'em all up, I say.

[hshiau]

I have several vegetarian friends and they are perfectly nice and sociable, but not any more or less sociable than other friends I have. It's pretty hard to categorize people based on what they eat.

None of my them have EVER said anything about what I eat or don't eat. It's just their choice. I have had people that drink say that I SHOULD drink. I don't know that this is any different. There are jerks in every category.

I must say it's more of a pain when we go out because we need to find places that will serve vegan food. Reduces the choices drastically.

[Mabelline]

If I religiously consume meat, does that make him discriminating against my religion?

[jrufusj]

Sure, but then there's Those People who snap their gum. Round 'em all up, I say.

Some people are just too soft and tolerant. If we're going to get the snappers, we ought to go ahead and get all the gum chewers.

As one who was not allowed to chew gum as a child and finds snapping, smacking, bubble blowing, and even silent motions that resemble cud chewing offputting, I have a certain sympathy with the government of Singapore.

Unless, of course, it's meat-flavored gum!

Tongue in cheek (though I honestly don't like gum),

Jim

[mongo_jones]

i represent all the sentient beings of vega 5 and we say with one voice (for we have but the one) that we vegans are bewildered by these goings on. we do not live in flats.

[Squeat Mungry]

Unless, of course, it's meat-flavored gum!

Hmm... my mother always maintained that chewing gum made one look like a cow.