Wong Column on Carnivores

* I have heard many arguments that advocate vegetarian lifestyles, but few if any have been as weak as those put forth by Elizabeth Wong (Commentary, Sept. 29). The distinction between calf and veal, or pig and pork, is not to disguise where the meat comes from, but is the result of the different linguistic traditions that have given us our words. American-Indian lore to avoid eating meat probably evolved in order to restrain consumption of food that was scarce and difficult to obtain.

And Wong’s uneasiness at eating something that was once alive reflects her own failure to deal with the world as it is. She may ask why she is entitled to take another life so as to sustain her own, but such questions do not alter a fundamental truth that, on Earth, each life form exists at the expense of some other life form. There may be some who have doubts about eating meat, but Wong is light-years from providing any answers.

WILLIAM S. LaSOR JR.

Corona del Mar

* I trust that Wong’s play makes a whole lot more sense than her pointless gobbledygook. I contend that she doesn’t do a thing for the vegetarian movement. Her pointless commentary about turtle feet floating in her soup and dead anemic baby calves only reinforced what meat eaters and most of the U.S. think about vegetarians--that we are delirious from lack of protein.

She went on to take the name of John Robbins in vain when she quoted his book “Diet for a Small Planet” and then spoke of her vegetarian epiphany. Correct me if I’m wrong. She still eats meat after all her babbling? I rest my case.

SUSAN M. TELLEM

Los Angeles

* All discussions of vegetarianism aside, Wong definitely needs some help in the visualization department. Sweetbreads are not “the innards of dead disemboweled baby lambs.” They are the thymus (throat) gland of dead baby calves. They have a delicate, buttery, nut-like taste that is indescribable. And they are particularly good when prepared with a light sauce of cream, sherry and wild mushrooms.

GEORGE PALKA

Laguna Beach