Non-veg*an wasted food

[SummerRain]

I've been meaning to start this thread for a while...

I have a few friends who eat/live otherwise vegetarian or vegan, unless food/products will otherwise go to waste. For example, if somebody else in a restaurant is finished and has left meat on their plate, they'll eat it. Or if they find non-vegan food in a bin from a shop (i.e. something like chocolate or biscuits, not meat/dairy/eggs on their own or it would probably just make them ill...) they'll eat it.

Their reason is that they think food waste is really big issue, and that there's no harm in eating food that would otherwise be thrown away.

I think, for me, the reasons I wouldn't eat food wasted by another person is
1) I think eating non-vegan foods sometimes would make it difficult to avoid them the rest of the time / I don't want to eat non-vegan food from a personal POV
2) I think friends and family would tend to over-order or purposefully leave food for you to eat, so that you "get" to eat non-vegan foods.
3) I don't want to add to the idea that it's "okay" to eat non-vegan foods. I think it's wrong. For me, eating non-vegan food around others just contributes to the idea it's a normal, acceptable thing to do.

But for industrially wasted food... I feel like the latter two don't really apply. I.e. you might not be around people when you eat it, and you're not really persuading industry to waste more food for your benefit... I can't think of a reason, other than personal preference, that eating industrially wasted non-vegan food is immoral/wrong.

Any thoughts? On food waste in general or this in particular...

 

[Blobbenstein]

well, one thing; I think eating off other people's(especially strangers) plates, and out of shop bins might not be good for someone psychologically......and would be best left to if it was really necessary, like being homeless.

 

[shyvas]

I would consider that eating a piece of meat on someone's plate makes them an omni and not a vegetarian/vegan.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I have a few friends who eat/live otherwise vegetarian or vegan, unless food/products will otherwise go to waste. For example, if somebody else in a restaurant is finished and has left meat on their plate, they'll eat it. Or if they find non-vegan food in a bin from a shop (i.e. something like chocolate or biscuits, not meat/dairy/eggs on their own or it would probably just make them ill...) they'll eat it.

Their reason is that they think food waste is really big issue, and that there's no harm in eating food that would otherwise be thrown away.

That is pretty weird to me but I suppose if they aren't veg or vegan for ethical reasons it makes some sense if they are that bothered by food waste. I have taken leftover meat from restaurants for my cats to eat but I wouldn't ever eat meat myself, especially not half chewed meat which is probably covered in saliva.

 

[thefadedone]

I would consider that eating a piece of meat on someone's plate makes them an omni and not a vegetarian/vegan.

This.

I'm all about not wasting food. I have no issues with people who dumpster dive or share leftovers. What I do have issues with is the people that claim they are vegetarian and then jump on any opportunity they can to eat meat and then try to justify it in some way.

 

[Clueless Git]

I would consider that eating a piece of meat on someone's plate makes them an omni ..

In exactly the same way that eating already dead people (instead of letting them go to waste at the crematorium) would make you a cannibal, yes.

 

[Clueless Git]

Any thoughts? On food waste in general or this in particular...

One thought ..

Those who see murder as wrong do not see the murdered as food.

 

[SummerRain]

To clarify... I didn't say/mean people were vegetarian, I said/meant they were otherwise vegetarian to explain what they ate. Also, when I said food people leave in restaurants, I meant of people they know.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I was picturing someone like my husband who lives as if he is a vegetarian as I do all the cooking and shopping, but he would (possibly) still eat a piece of meat if his friend couldn't eat it all in a restaurant. He isn't bothered about food waste though so I can't see him doing it for that reason.

 

[Amy SF]

I have no problem with omnis eating omni leftovers if the food would otherwise be wasted. I wouldn't want them to call themselves vegetarian or vegan, though. The same is true for veg*ans eating veg*an leftovers to keep the food from being wasted. (These people can call themselves veg*an; I don't mind.)

I do have a problem with hygiene, though. I do hope that any leftovers that get eaten are safe to eat.