Revolted by seeing others eat meat

[hibbledibble]

I am struggling with this a little, and wondering how to deal with it.

I am just starting being vegan with veganuary, but have been a lifelong veggie. Never eaten meat and have no desire to. The idea of eating flesh disgusts me.

I however realise that others have different beliefs and respect that. I don't expect others to be veggie around me.

Last night I went out with a friend for dinner. He got a huge plate of meat (pretty much 2 dead birds) and was pulling apart at it with fingers. The smell and sight was revolting for me. I didn't say anything or do anything as I don't think it would have been right, but honestly it bothered me a lot, and it is still bothering me the next day.

Any idea how I can best manage this? I accept most of my friends aren't veggie. Should I not go out for dinner with them? Is it acceptable to suggest veggie places?

That’s not true peggy

We have a classic mixed dentition pattern - reduced canines but still canines and insufficient grinding surfaces for obligate herbivory. Our biochemistry indicates meat has always been part of our diet (we cannot synthesise several key amino acids.) we do not have a multi chambered stomach.
The pH in our stomachs is perfect for digesting meat (I’ve never heard that particular it of propaganda before but it’s false...)

We are a classically omnivorous creature.

Humans are the furthest possible things from being a carnivore. We're not omnivores either. We're herbivores. Our intestines, teeth, gut and stomach we're all designed to eat fruit and veg. The pH level in our stomach is too high to digest meat, our teeth are also blunt compared to a carnivore's.

Well humans have been eating meat for the last couple of million years and we're are here talking about it, so they must have being doing something right!

I thought the fact that we can eat so many different things, including meat, was one of the reasons humans have thrived as a species?

I’d suggest that what puts people off veganism is that it’s more difficult to obtain all the nutrients needed - not impossible, but biochemically humans need certain amino acids that are found only in a very few non animal sources.

The other main reason people get put off is the endless hysterical childish judgement. Rotting flesh, carcasses, the need for ‘safe spaces’, calling farmers rapists - it’s a very hysterical and childish way to speak. It’s poor argument, it’s virtue signalling, it’s implying they are superior and the meat eater is disgusting and frankly it naffs people off no end. If people want to encourage others to embrace lower or no meat consumption then they need to do it positively. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

Everyone on this thread keeps repeating the old "ah but it's their choice to eat meat! You made the choice not to" and "it's all about personal choice". How is it a personal choice when it involves slitting the throats of an animal that didn't want to die? Personal choice involves making a choice that doesn't affect others around you. Therefore, eating meat is NOT a personal choice. The animal did not CHOOSE to die.

I thought the fact that we can eat so many different things, including meat, was one of the reasons humans have thrived as a species?

Correct. We are very very adaptable. Look at some Masai populations and the milk/blood predominant diet. Or arctic populations who have minimal non meat consumption. Or certain revisions groups in India who are predominantly vegetarian. We do ok on most stuff, and that (along with being a mid sized mammal with excellent endurance and opposable thumbs) along with a big dollop of luck, is why it works.

No it didn’t choose to die. Impala aren’t terribly happy about being eaten by lions. Does that mean that lions shouldn’t eat impala? Both lion and impala are sentient.

Humans have a responsibility to raise and kill animals they eat with the highest possible welfare standards.

Everyone on this thread keeps repeating the old "ah but it's their choice to eat meat! You made the choice not to" and "it's all about personal choice". How is it a personal choice when it involves slitting the throats of an animal that didn't want to die? Personal choice involves making a choice that doesn't affect others around you. Therefore, eating meat is NOT a personal choice. The animal did not CHOOSE to die.

So Peggy, are you against any meat eating at all? Even in societies where meat is the most nutritionally valuable food source and the people wouldn't thrive without it? Because even in those places the animal still didn't choose to die? Is the consumption of animals inherently wrong to you?

Anatidae - please, tell me-have you ever used your supposedly "meat grinding" canines to tear into an animal after it has just been slaughtered? No? Though so. This is because it is physically impossible for a human to get their teeth into an animal that has a coat of fur, our jaw is also too weak. You would also receive food poisoning. That's because our bodies are not designed to digest meat. Otherwise, we, like other animals would be able to eat raw animals.
The pH level situation is not propaganda. Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it's not true, it just means you are uninformed.

My Mother (always v funny about food and with a v restrictive diet) is now visibly disgusted by the fact that we eat anything recognisable as meat- tho' I think she would think she is being subtle and not showing it.
I was veggie for years at home but now eat and enjoy meat.
It really limits my ability to let her see the kids as they have enough junk for school lunches (eg two weekly servings of processed meat etc..) so I tend to serve lots of veg and some roasted or panfried meat as kids don't like sauces etc.. And I don't want them eating carb heavy junk for dinner.-my Ma would always suggest eg a cheese toastie but I want (organic high welfare) animal protein for them. Or eg I will make crispy tofu cubes but she doesn't like the frying smell (rented house with no extractor, I do open the window).
They are visiting atm and the kids will have fish fingers for dinner as these are processed enough she won't complain. But more than once a week and it is tricky.
I've noticed she now won't eat anything in my house either so wonder if she is thinking everything is contaminated...
Anyway, if she was a friend I wouldn't bother meeting up with her much tbh and certainly not for meals. I try very, very hard not to notice or comment on what people are eating.
Food is such a personal thing and sharing a good meal is such a nice way to bond.

Anatidae Lions are carnivores. They ARE designed to eat meat. They aren't going to the supermarket and buying pre-packaged dead animals. They are hunting. How about next time you want to eat meat, you go and hunt it ourself using your bare teeth and hands. Let me know how it works out and how it compares to a lions experience.

Kids are perfectly sanguine(!) at prospect of eating their friends' pet pigs which they have fed etc.. Thought I wanted to expose them to all that early as really would prefer not to have a teenage veggie- tho' will of course cater for them accordingly if I do win one.

As a long time vegetarian who is cutting down on dairy, I find seeing raw meat really problematic, and find cooked pork difficult. Other meat I’m not crazy about seeing but I can manage.

Could you maybe do desserts with friends instead? Or lunch places that are more sandwiches and less obvious pieces of meat.

I don’t think some meat eaters get quite how disturbing this is to some non-meat eaters.

As for the Inuit and other polar people - it’s hardly a comparative situation is it? Do you have any idea how crazy expensive fruit and veg is up there? Aside from local berries most fruit and veg is flown in and the prices are ridiculous. Ditto dairy (so people drink tea with condensed milk). People who are indigenous to that region hardly have a choice to go veggie, if they were so inclined, but we do.

The animal did not CHOOSE to die. Prey animals never choose to die in the wild or in captivity. A 'natural' death where a predator kills it is not pleasant. It's prolonged and painful. And as I've said I've seen my sheep ripped to pieces.
Vegans are entitled to their views and if you were my friend OP I would go to a vegan restaurant with you and not tear quails apart in front of you. Perhaps one day the industrialised nations will be mainly vegan/vegetarian but the logistics of that are huge.

That's because our bodies are not designed to digest meat. Otherwise, we, like other animals would be able to eat raw animals. Early humans learnt to use tools and fire to cope with this. What is steak tartare if not raw meat?

Anatidae - please, tell me-have you ever used your supposedly "meat grinding" canines to tear into an animal after it has just been slaughtered? No? Though so. This is because it is physically impossible for a human to get their teeth into an animal that has a coat of fur, our jaw is also too weak. You would also receive food poisoning. That's because our bodies are not designed to digest meat. Otherwise, we, like other animals would be able to eat raw animals.

Yes, and this is why humans evolved to use tools to make fire and cut meat up so that it could be consumed. And humans as a species have not done too badly out of that so far, they have been doing it for a couple of million years!

I absolutely agree that many farming practices are awful and Western society eats way too much meat and its having a negative impact on both us and the environment.

But the argument that humans were never designed to eat meat, when the ability to consume meat has been one of the reasons we have thrived as a species, is just bollocks isn't it? If humans had never eaten meat, and thrived from eating it, we wouldn't be on the Internet having this argument right now! 😂

it just means you are uninformed

I’d best give my four science degrees back...

Humans use tools for things they can’t get into. Like coconuts. And walnuts. And melons. I use a knife to get into oranges, they’re buggers. And seashells. All those knapped flints in archaeological digs are tools - for skinning, slicing etc. Neanderthal teeth have wear patterns that suggest that a combination of teeth and tool was used.

We can eat raw meat. We get a parasite burden roughly comparable to other animals when we do which is why most of our meats are cooked. Our stomach Ph is just fine for digesting meat. Evidence of cooking meat is hundreds of thousands of years old. Are you actually suggesting that early humans were totally vegetarian?

None of our evolutionary history means we HAVE to eat meat today. We have choices. But it’s plain old wrong to say humans are herbivores. We aren’t. We never have been. We are omnivores.

Yes I have eaten meat that’s been hunted. It’s quite common here. Free range and humanely dispatched, I don’t have any issue with it at all. Much better than a danish bit ofbpork.

OP you are most definitely not alone, and like a pp I've always meat-eating revolts me in much the same way as most people are revolted by cannibalism. The way I see it everybody draws their line in different places. Most find the idea of eating human flesh disgusting, but aren't so put off when it's animal flesh. I can't stomach the thought of eating either, but vegetables - meh - I'll slaughter a vegetable, you just watch me. In my youth I even associated with a couple of fruitarians - now they were a baffling bunch! You'd have murdered an apple if you didn't wait for it to fall off the tree...

Anyway, your feelings are totally reasonable, and they are not something your GP will be able to correct (but you know that). People mock vegans - and "sensitive" veggies (like me) - but don't be put off telling your friends how it makes you feel. You're not trying to guilt them into anything, you're just telling them when something makes you uncomfortable. My dp knows full well we'll be turning Masterchef off if any of them threaten to cook a lobster - breaks my heart - I have a huge soft spot for lobsters! And hell, if there's a hog roast at a wedding, complete with HEAD, someone else is fetching my food for me and I'll be propping up the bar.

Tell you friends how you feel, they might rib you a bit, but no doubt they'll get over it.

The extreme response is yours and not your friends' behaviour. It's therefore your reaction that needs to be dealt with rather than controlling your friends' diet and behaviour.

^This

greendale seriously rtft! I feel a bit like a broken record. I am not controlling anyone's diet or behaviour!!

rat thank you for a helpful reply. I love your username too.

greendale17
The extreme response is eating a dead animal, being revolted by this and making the choice to eat plants instead, is not extreme.

Tolerance is a dying trait.

Peggy2479 Have you ever eaten meat or have you always been a vegan?

I really couldn't care less what people eat. I have veggie and vegan friends and I cook for them, eat veggie food if invited over for a meal etc. What I really dont like is when someone tells me I'm eating a 'carcass' or something of the sort. I know this as I grew up on a farm, I used to take the cows to the slaughterhouse I really do understand what I'm eating.
Then they tell me that we are not meant to eat meat, we are not omnivores, or as one person told me omnivores don't exist. I have a biology degree this is all nonsense which is not backed up by scientific facts.
If you want to educate people then actually quote facts that are scientifically backed up. If you want people to listen to you don't shout that they are murderers first. Don't got to a farm and threaten a farmer. Don't free cows as I have seen on social media some groups promoting, cows are not that bright not matter what you think, they will run onto a road and they will get hit by a lorry I have seen it happen.
If you don't want to see someone eat meat then only go to veggie restaurants or eat at home. Don't tell someone their disgusting etc cause 9/10 it just gets someone's back up.

Teetotal2018

I used to to eat meat until about four years ago, I was brought up eating meat so I always just assumed it was normal. I stopped eating meat when my step father (he's always been veggie) pulled up along side some calf's and asked if I could look them in the eye and kill them without feeling bad. From that moment on I realised I could never kill an animal myself so why should I pay someone else to do it for me? Then I learnt about the negative health affects meat/dairy have and I decided I couldn't support this industry anymore. Anyone who is on the edge of becoming veggie/vegan- I really recommend watching What the Health or Cowspiracy. They're both very educations and provide and insight into the animal agriculture industry. (On Netflix too!)