Food on European Cruises

[sanger727]

You will tell your child that the food HAS been treated humanely, if you want them to eat.

 

 

Luckily there will be plenty of vegetarian options on the ship, included in the fare, for her child to try. If this is a stance he/she has taken then having to eat vegetarian sometimes is a possibility he/she will have to accept. I'm not a fan of lying to your child because you don't agree with them...

 

 

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[4774Papa]

I have read posts on cruise critic indicating that the major cruise lines procure most food from US sources, with only items like fruits and produce from local sources.

[SquishTheWhale]

And kosher is more humane?

 

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I eat neither halal or kosher meat and try to avoid restaurants that use halal meat especially. However, I do eat meat so I appreciate that in a lot of ways I'm a hypocrite in pretending like it's okay just because I avoid the less humane slaughter methods. But burgers are just so darn delicious.

[ColinIllinois]

Meat is murder! Give me a double homicide with a side of fries, please. :cool:

[ozscotart]

One of the downsides of cruising imo is the prevalence of US meats, lower quality, and full of hormones, which are banned here. My theory is a week or two in the US or on a US brand cruise ship is not going to kill us. Standards for humane farming are good in the UK, all beef and lamb are free range effectively, dairy products are not, free range chicken and eggs are widely available. Some free range pork is also available. If you are concerned about animal welfare a good place to start would be to avoid all dairy products and to avoid most pork, chicken and beef if you are not certain of its origins. I assume that most animal based foods on ship are not humanely farmed. In Europe off the ship you can be reasonably certain foods are free of hormones but not necessarily humanely farmed. Danish pork and Italian veal are two examples of inhumane farming methods. Let me not get started on French farming. Halal slaughter is not regarded as humane in the UK though widely practiced, and at the lower end of the market quite a lot of meat is halal as it suits the supermarket. While I don't really approve of lying to a child, perhaps there is a way of glossing over all of this as he is not going to get much to eat if he goes vegan, the only way to avoid cruelty completely.

 

 

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[mypleasure]

A hotel director on ship in Europe told me that he spends too much time chasing containers of food that is shipped from the US. Very little is sourced within Europe. If it can be frozen and thawed successfully it comes from the states, so Meat, Fish, Vegetables and some fruit plus all dry or packaged ingredients. Dairy tends to be sourced within Europe, usually Germany. A few supplies are bought in port if there is a major need for it.

 

Expect all meat products to be from the US.

[Moby0215]

You will tell your child that the food HAS been treated humanely, if you want them to eat.

 

 

 

Why in the world would they do that? The child will simply just not eat meat.

 

 

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[Rala]

Luckily there will be plenty of vegetarian options on the ship, included in the fare, for her child to try. If this is a stance he/she has taken then having to eat vegetarian sometimes is a possibility he/she will have to accept. I'm not a fan of lying to your child because you don't agree with them...

 

 

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I agree and if the child is older than say 12 or 13, you telling them that practices are humane is not going to fly, anyway. You will get ...How do you know?, Who told you? I want to ask them myself...etc.., etc..:)

[pebbles1102]

how old is your child?

 

Almost 17 years old. I buy meat for him from a local butcher that only uses animals that are free range and not given a lot of hormones/steriods

[Jetlagged787]

What an interesting post. FWIW, in my opinion your child should be far more concerned about what is fed to the animals than the way they are treated before or during their slaughter but, from what you say, he is already there. Enjoy your cruise and prepare your son for the vegetarian option by the sounds of it.

 

To those of you that consider Halal and Kosher to be humane. There are children possibly reading this thread so I will not go into details, but I suggest that you do some research. Just because they say a prayer over the animal before it is dispatched, doesn't make it humane.

 

I would be interested if lovetheships has ever visited Europe. We have got farm land you know!

 

ozscotart, thanks for your detailed and interesting post. It is good that in the UK at least, farming methods seem to be constantly improving as far as animal husbandry are concerned. What I would give for some decent organic, free range meat in Portugal.

[4774Papa]

Here is the FDA's take on the hormone subject"

 

https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ProductSafetyInformation/ucm055436.htm

 

 

Not all meat in the USA has hormones or antibiotics. I have a 2 nd cousin with a farm in Oklahoma. He says that antibiotics are give to his cattle if a specific animal is sick and the vet prescribes the medication. The vast majority of his herd never receives any hormones or antibiotics. He said most ranchers that he knows in Oklahoma have the same practices.

 

I am sure that the agribusinesses use the steroid antibiotics. Many chicken sellers in the USA specifically advertise that no hormones or antibiotics are used on their chickens. Hopefully, this is a good trend.

 

The best steak that I have ever eaten in my life was in Buenos Aires.

 

I don't worry too much about this matter, since I am too old for it to matter.

[oteixeira]

Almost 17 years old. I buy meat for him from a local butcher that only uses animals that are free range and not given a lot of hormones/steriods

 

Are they a hunter? The most humanly sourced meat with no additives from a meat farm grows all over this country, and just takes some time and patience to harvest yourself.

[KarimaJ]

"To those of you that consider Halal and Kosher to be humane. There are children possibly reading this thread so I will not go into details, but I suggest that you do some research. Just because they say a prayer over the animal before it is dispatched, doesn't make it humane."

 

Since I eat halal I'm very familiar with the rules, it's much more then just saying a prayer. I didn't really want to get into it on this site since it's a religious thing, but just thought I would throw it out as a potential option. Many non-religious folks I know go to a halal butcher due to these reasons as well.

 

 

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[kerryincork]

I was watching a cooking show recently where chef is very much from the field to the table. He went to a modern slaughter house in the UK, there's a vet there all the time to ensure animals are healthy. The factory was designed to keep the animals calm right up to the moment they die. And this was only 5 by-product, this is because when animals are in destroys, their bodies release all sorts of hormones which reduces the quality of the meat and so reduces how much the wholesaler can sell it for.

 

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