4th October 2011 Green Drinks - Vegetarianism

Great News ! The IWT Dublin Branch has teamed up with LeafLiving  (www.leafliving.com) to bring back the ever popular Dublin Green Drinks. Green Drinks is a simple idea that’s gone global. Once a month in 448 cities around the world people with an interest in green issues get together to chat, share ideas and raise a glass to a brighter future.  Dublin Green Drinks is on the first Tuesday of every month at 6pm in Messr Maguires pub on Burgh Quay, near O’Connell Bridge. The first event was a great success, with a good attendance of over thirty people and a lively discussion ensued.

Martin O’Sullivan of the Vegetarian Society of Ireland was the guest speaker for the evening and spoke about the benefits of vegetarianism while exposing some popular myths. For example, Martin spelled out that it is not true that a vegetarian diet is automatically lacking in vitamins or protein. This only happens if a person stops eating meat and does not broaden their intake of various vegetables to compensate. A properly planned vegetarian diet will provide all the vitamins and minerals that a person needs. There are also the environmental benefits of not eating meat, as growing crops to eat uses less resources, not to mention the issues of animal cruelty. Adam, another member of the Vegetarian Society spelt out the Society’s ethos, which is about promoting vegetarianism as much as possible, but not about trying to ban everyone from eating meat. Debbi Pedreschi  of the Dublin Branch of IWT also spoke as a failed vegetarian about the difficulty of sticking to a meat free diet, especially when living with meat eaters, and how devious tactics were sometimes necessary, such as sneaking meat substitutes into stews and curries!

There then followed a lively debate about various issues, including whether quorn or other meat substitutes really taste as nice as meat, the evils of factory farming and whether eating meat was really so bad for the environment. Some of the IWT members in fact thought that part of the problem was that people should eat a wider variety of meats  –not something the vegetarians present agreed with! However in the end everyone agreed that we eat too much meat in general, and that the environment and our health would benefit if we could cut back on eating meat in general and focussed more on organic and locally produced food.  After that , meat eaters and vegetarians alike, tucked into the delicious vegetarian snacks provided free at the event and had a few drinks to round off the evening. (Photos courtesy of Niall)

Martin

Adam