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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have some meat for the first time in 40 years.

66 replies

Feelingnotsure · 08/06/2025 15:04

Was brought up veggie but eat fish. DM ate like this. I’ve never had a sausage, steak, bacon in my life, only accidentally tasted ham.

I have a craving for a bacon butty (not PG, just ill). They smell sooo good! But what, if anything would happen to me?

YABU- eat the damn thing, you’ll be fine and glad you did;

YANBU- your body isn’t used to it, it’s like plonking yourself in the middle of a different continent and expecting to eat the local cuisine without a bit of D and V at least. You can’t change such major dietary habits of a lifetime easily.

OP posts:
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AutumnFoxe · 11/06/2025 20:09

Ive never understood the argument that a vegan/vegetarian eating meat would become physically sick. It sounds more psychological than physical otherwise surely everyone would get sick eating anything new and thats not the case .

thestudio · 11/06/2025 15:49

TempestTost · 11/06/2025 11:37

There really aren't vegan cultures, it's a very modern, artificial way to eat.

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Previously vegetarianism was largely ethical, so there was no need for veganism at a cultural level.

Now the vast dairy and egg industry is responsible for perhaps more animal torture than the meat industry - endless factories full of sentient creatures who experience terror just as we would.

Millions of cows and calves in constant distress at being separated, hundreds of millions of chicken living in unspeakable conditions year on year, barely able to move, pecking each others eyes out from fear.

Chickens can recognise and distinguish between up to a hundred human faces. They display empathy when observing the distress of others. They can count, for god's sakes.

I'm not actually against eating meat as an absolute - I'm against causing terror, grief and despair.

ApoodlecalledPenny · 11/06/2025 15:01

I stopped being vegan one day by eating a rare steak. It was very good. Nothing happened.

Words · 11/06/2025 14:54

Quorn bacon is beyond revolting OP. Don't have that.

Words · 11/06/2025 14:53

Go for it. Choose top quality bacon from a good butcher. Maybe a maple cure or some thing like that? Not cheap supermarket rubbish. You will never look back.

MasterBeth · 11/06/2025 13:48

TempestTost · 11/06/2025 11:37

There really aren't vegan cultures, it's a very modern, artificial way to eat.

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Why is modern culture not a valid culture.

MasterBeth · 11/06/2025 13:48

thestudio · 11/06/2025 11:01

Sigh. Ok, the dog or cat belonging to your friends, if you have them.

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I would love to keep the cats near me in a cage, so they wouldn;t shit all over my garden...

And, more generally, those of us who eat meat all know that the meat we eat comes from animals - and we're fine with that, so it's not a particularly smart argument to pretend we're eating our... pet dogs?

Boredlass · 11/06/2025 11:48

youll feel better for eating meat, especially red meat. It contains every vitamin your body needs. If it was a carrot, it’d be called a superfood

iliketheradio · 11/06/2025 11:45

TempestTost · 11/06/2025 11:37

There really aren't vegan cultures, it's a very modern, artificial way to eat.

Show quote history

It’s not! Just to use one example…. Ethiopian cultures eat vegan for most of the year due to religious reasons.

What is artificial about eating plants?!

TempestTost · 11/06/2025 11:37

iliketheradio · 08/06/2025 17:36

The last bit of this 😂😂😂😂 There are cultures all over the world that eat vegan/vegetarian food, do you think it really stops people conceiving?!

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There really aren't vegan cultures, it's a very modern, artificial way to eat.

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 11/06/2025 11:30

Bacon is not the best meat... have a steak.

Shetlands · 11/06/2025 11:06

I've been a vegetarian for all of my adult life and this is what I eat - really delicious! I couldn't eat meat bacon because I'm an animal lover and also I don't want to put dead flesh in my mouth.
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/la-vie-plant-based-smoked-bacon/884415-788439-788440

thestudio · 11/06/2025 11:01

MasterBeth · 11/06/2025 10:47

I don't have a dog or a cat.

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Sigh. Ok, the dog or cat belonging to your friends, if you have them.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 11/06/2025 10:59

It needs English mustard to be really good.

englishandelegant · 11/06/2025 10:58

NuffSaidSam · 08/06/2025 15:12

That's their downfall.

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Even as a lifelong vegetarian myself (40+ years) I laughed out loud at this 😄

FancyCatSlave · 11/06/2025 10:55

Nothing will happen if you eat a small amount of meat for the first time, any perceived issue will be psychological. Obviously if you ate a whole packet of bacon that might be different but a normal serving, nothing.

I reverted to meat after a very, very long stint of vegetarianism and literally nothing happened. Your body is used to fish and other proteins and is designed to eat meat. You aren’t introducing alien plant forms.

Dotjones · 11/06/2025 10:54

Fish is a form of meat, you'll be fine. Just take it slowly if you're concerned, limit yourself to two or three rashers of bacon the first day. You'll soon retrain your body to eat normal levels of meat.

Remember, humans are naturally omnivores - we eat meat and we eat vegetables. The unnatural state is to only eat one or the other, and that's what leads to harming the body.

lyinginthebathpondering · 11/06/2025 10:54

Iamtired123 · 08/06/2025 15:10

Dead pigs smell so good ?

I’m a life long veggie but my mouth still salivates at bacon cooking.

Dodeedoo · 11/06/2025 10:53

I do have dogs and a cat but I’ve just out chicken in the slower cooker for tonight’s dinner. Yum

Haveanaiceday · 11/06/2025 10:51

Leaving aside the moral issues I have heard that it can be hard to digest meat if you haven't eaten it for a long time .

MasterBeth · 11/06/2025 10:47

thestudio · 09/06/2025 19:36

Or... empathetic people who stopped looking the other way at the fact that we now produce meat like it's plastic rather than creatures who feel physical and psychological pain exactly like the pets we love - and couldn't continue to participate, even though they love the taste and it's much, much easier to eat meat than be vegan?

If you wouldn't keep your dog or cat in a cage so small it can't turn around, stealing its babies over and over and over again, so that every day, month, year is torture until they are actually better off dead - then please, don't eat meat.

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I don't have a dog or a cat.

thestudio · 09/06/2025 19:36

Dodeedoo · 08/06/2025 17:55

I see all the meat eating haters are out in full force. Such a bunch of judgemental twats!!

Or... empathetic people who stopped looking the other way at the fact that we now produce meat like it's plastic rather than creatures who feel physical and psychological pain exactly like the pets we love - and couldn't continue to participate, even though they love the taste and it's much, much easier to eat meat than be vegan?

If you wouldn't keep your dog or cat in a cage so small it can't turn around, stealing its babies over and over and over again, so that every day, month, year is torture until they are actually better off dead - then please, don't eat meat.

UndermyShoeJoe · 09/06/2025 19:12

Someone did tell me Richmond bacon is a bit flavoured like ribs.

However if op craves meat that’s like giving someone an orange who wants a chocolate cake.

Womanofcustard · 09/06/2025 19:11

Also Richmond do meatless bacon, a bit thicker than Quorn.

Womanofcustard · 09/06/2025 19:10

OP have you tried Quorn bacon? Smells and tastes like pig bacon, a bit thinner. Nothing nasty in it and no cruelty to poor pigs involved.

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