Vegeroos may drop the roo

Tuesday 02 March 2010 01:00 GMT

(Christopher Meder - Photography)

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On February 21, many kangaroos have been poisoned reported The Age, an Australian newspaper and site, in Victoria, Australia near factories emitting high levels of fluoride and could impact the kangatarian or vegeroo movement.

A group of greenies and vegetarians were converting to Kangatarianism, a vegetarian diet with one exception - kangaroo meat. The decision, according to the CentralianAdvocate.com.au, a regional Australian news site, is based "on environmental, ecological and humanitarian grounds," as the "kangaroo is often described as the ultimate in free-range, organic meat" that "...require[s] no additional feed, water or land cleared for them. They also produce a low level of greenhouse gas emissions."

On February 9, Samantha Vine, a kangatarian told The Sydney Morning Herald, a Sydney-based newspaper, "after being vegetarian for so long, after a certain amount of time I craved some meat... it's not worth the pleasure of eating meat if it hasn't been treated well, I don't want to be part of that."

Jimmy Cocking, from Arid Lands Environment Centre, told the Centralian Advocate, "more people are becoming ethical consumers of food and kangaroo has been the ecological alternative. But in places like Alice Springs, camel is one of the more ethical meats you can eat here in the desert," and "...there is great potential for cameltarianism to be the new semi-vegetarian food trend." Cocking continues to boast that camel is "the healthiest meat in the world" with "low cholesterol, Omega 6, Omega 3."

It's unclear if the kangatarian Facebook group's 31 members will swap their roo for camel or return to veggies if the supply of kangaroo meat is jeopardized.

The semi-vegetarian has many labels and dietary restrictions including flexitarian, pescatarian (fish), pollotarianism (poultry), now adding kangatarian to the list and possibly cameltarian. One trend is certain ethical eating is on the rise.

The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/roos-victims-of-factory-fluoride-20100220-oms2.html

The Centralian Advocate article: http://www.centralianadvocate.com.au/article/2010/02/12/6235_news.html

Tweets on kangatarianism: http://topsy.com/tb/www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/good-living/kangatarians-jump-the-divide/2010/02/08/1265477561439.html