I think it's really good for your health.
It's the right thing to do.
I mean, you know, there's no doubt about it,
there's so many reasons to be vegetarian or vegan.
I think farming of animals should be more, managed better.
People know how to cook better,
if they are vegetarians , I found.
To me, you wouldn't miss meat,
when you've got a well cooked vegetarian meal.
If we do a barbecue, we have to have two different...
- Barbecues.
Personally, I've seen so many fat vegetarians
and they think they're healthy...
am I allowed to say this?
You can say what you like, it's your opinion.
Hello, welcome to Easy English.
I'd like to find out if any of the people I'm interviewing
are vegetarian,
have tried going vegetarian,
have failed at being vegetarian,
or even plan to become vegetarian in the future.
Before we get started, please do not forget to like and subscribe.
Here we go.
My daughter's a vegetarian.
- Oh really, okay.
And how old is your daughter?
Well, she's a past... (pescatarian), actually, she eats fish.
Okay.
- And dairy products.
She's 31.
Are you a vegetarian?
- I'm not, no.
I actually own a food business, funnily enough.
And erm...
no, I'm not.
But I...
I... usually when I go out, I choose.
I try and choose vegetarian options, if I ever go out to eat.
When I do eat meat, it's because, it's part of my business,
I...
I'm not...
my business isn't a vegetarian catering business.
I sell meat, so I end up eating leftovers, basically.
I'm not a vegetarian myself.
- Okay.
I can see the advantages and disadvantages.
- Okay.
And I've studied some nutrition in the past,
but I'm not, in any way an expert.
But yeah, I wouldn't tell anyone they shouldn't do it,
but it's just not for me.
I personally, am not a vegetarian.
But, a lot of my friends are and I think generally,
people could be more sort of,
experimental with eating vegetarian foods and
with cutting out less meat in their diet,
either with having a meal or something,
it would be beneficial to the planet and everything.
In general, my thoughts on vegetarianism is quite simple.
I'm not a vegetarian.
- Right.
But I've eaten a lot of vegetarian food in my time,
which is fantastic, really nice.
And I haven't got a problem with it at all.
If I can't find meat anywhere, then I'll 'ave vegetarian food,
I have no problems at all, with it.
Not at all.
Our son is vegetarian or pescatarian, they eat fish.
But, my son's father-in-law is a vegan.
So he's quite strict, you know.
Not...
nothing meat based,
nothing at all.
I am a vegetarian.
- Okay, great.
And how long have you been a vegetarian?
Oh my goodness.
Can I do the... how do I do the maths.
You can just round it up or round it down.
48 years...
48?
Yeah.
So you're one of the originals.
- Yeah, probably.
But it was not...
I will just say,
I'm not a vegetarian because I don't believe in animal farming.
I don't like it.
- Right.
I understand there's a need for it.
I am a vegetarian because when we were growing up, there's five of us.
And at the time, I mean, my dad ended up having an amazing job,
but at the time, he didn't really have a great job.
So it's the same old food, like disgusting minced beef,
which was mixed with peas.
And, we always used to have a chicken on a Sunday.
We never really had anything else.
I remember once we had pork once
and I wondered what all the hairs were
and my mom told me and I was a bit horrified.
I then, when I started secondary school,
I started hanging out with a different bunch of girls
and one of them, who's still my friend now said;
''Oh, let's become a vegetarian''.
And I thought, oh, d'you know what, yeah.
'cos I don't even like it that much.
Right.
- And it was not really going to do me any harm.
So, I said to...
I went home, said to my mom;
''I'm never eating meat again''.
And she said; ''well, I'll give you till I do a roast dinner on Sunday''.
And that was it then, I thought;
well no, I'm not going to let my mum beat me.
I've never...
no.
I've never considered going the whole hog.
But I do enjoy like, some of the recipes
and the food that she prepares and we eat is... is fabulous.
I would do it.
I think I would do it and I would do it for a month.
But I don't know whether I would be so involved in the prep
and the cooking and making my own sauces and that kind of thing.
(I'm a) Bit lazy, really.
But yeah, I would...
I would probably give it a bash if er... yeah.
Well, we've mass...
I've massively, you know,
looking back to five - ten years ago,
I've massively decreased the amount of meat that I eat.
And is that a nutrition thing or is that...
Oh, it's because it's the right thing to do.
I mean, you know, there's no doubt about it.
There's so many reasons to be vegetarian or vegan.
Environmental, animal welfare, you know, health-wise, there's loads.
There's loads of reasons, so yeah.
I don't know if I would ever completely cut meat out,
or anything like that.
but then I would go through a phase of eating less meat
or something like that, if it...
if it was more easily available or more...
yeah.
And you're saying that you... you actually...
your insight on it is more of...
from... from like a moral point of view as opposed to like,
a nutrition or something like that?
Yeah, I think, yeah, morals more...
more so than nutrition, for sure.
I think, depending on how meat is farmed and how you get it,
it could be better.
That like, you can still have ethically sourced meat and stuff.
So I don't think that should be a consideration.
It should be more of what...
how you get it rather than what you're getting.
Yeah, is that something you look for when you go to buy your meat?
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, it's like free range,
free range eggs or... like, yeah,
sustainably sourced fish or something like that.
My brother in law is vegetarian
and some of the stuff he cooks is fantastic.
Really, really good.
So, you know, I...
I don't think I'd have to go down the line where say;
I've got to do it, I've got to try it, because I do it anyway.
Yeah, right.
- If it's around, I will choose it
and I won't be disappointed.
Never have been.
I'm not sure.
- No, we'd eat it willingly.
- Yeah.
But...
- But not entirely.
- Not entirely.
Occasionally, we...
we probably, if we did it,
we'd probably go vegetarian with the occasional treat meat
Treat of meat.
That's...
- Yeah.
The poet and didn't know it.
- Yeah.
How do you find it, being a vegetarian in England?
Do you find it quite accessible?
Quite easy to be vegetarian here?
Yeah, yeah.
I do.
I do think though,
I do think the choice...
if I'm to go and eat out anywhere.
- Yeah.
I don't have any expectation.
So, I don't think to myself; Oh my God, I can't wait like...
like... like my brother; He's quite a foodie, I'd say.
- Right.
And he's going out with his wife and he's going to this restaurant
and he's probably thinking; Oh!
I wouldn't think that.
I'd think; Oh, they're going to have some sh**ty plant based burger.
Or, they're gonna have some weird salad.
- Yeah.
Or I'm going to be forced to have something I don't really want,
like salmon.
I don't really fancy it,
I'll have to have that some potatoes.
Thanks for watching this week's episode.
Let us know in the comments below, your thoughts on vegetarianism.
If you are yourself, a vegetarian,
or if you have plans in the future to go that way.
And we'll see you next week,
goodbye.