Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Vegan

Join Mumsnet's vegan community and discuss everything related to the vegan diet.

Original poster

Revolted by seeing others eat meat

298 replies

hibbledibble · 30/01/2018 14:20

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?

OP posts:
LemonysSnicket · 01/02/2018 18:39

My friend is vegan - we go to vegan or vegetarian restaurants if with her as we like them on occasion and a much nicer meal for her.

Teetotal2018 · 01/02/2018 18:51

Peggy2479 I understand I’m vegan too 😊 just be careful to get scientific facts correct though and try not to believe too much of the ‘far out’ vegan propaganda (I’m not having a go 😊). Meat can be healthy for people to eat and contains lots of nutrients. I think the animal welfare/environment issues/factory farming is the way to go with the vegan debate. Humans have eaten meat with no issues for a long time so I don’t think we can really use that argument and there are much better ones out there 😊 Also try not to judge others especially when you have eaten meat yourself in the past. We should all be kind to each other xxx

JustAnotherPoster00 · 01/02/2018 18:53

You would also receive food poisoning. That's because our bodies are not designed to digest meat.

My body seems to like a blue steak just fine, never had FP from it

Anatidae · 01/02/2018 18:56

Oh my ‘what the health’ is really, really pseudosciencey. It’s a terrible documentary

Look there are many positive benefits to being vegetarian- there are plenty of facts and real evidence that show this. Those are what you need to plug, not this nonsense about us being herbivores or the ridiculous claims about eggs in that documentary. None of that is needed.

If someone tells me that the ecological footprint of beef is x and that reducing meat consumption by y would result in z benefits I listen. Show me the correlation between processed meat consumption and colon cancer and I listen. If someone starts shouting about carcasses and expounding demonstrably wrong ‘facts’ about human physiology I switch right off. It just feeds the worst stereotypes that people have about veganism.

Could I kill a calf? If I had to. I’ve not been trained and I’d worry I’d do it incorrectly resulting in pain or suffering. If I had confidence that I could do it cleanly and efficiently with minimal distress to the animal then yes I would if o had to. Because I eat meat and I understand what meat is. You have to kill animal to get it and so that process of killing needs to be as efficient and pain free as we can possibly manage.

There are seven billion of us on the planet. We all have to have a bit of give and take about lifestyle choices, politics and religion - engage in polite factual debate if you want to change minds.

blindmelons · 01/02/2018 18:58

Yes but the meat eaters are destroying the planet they we all share.

blindmelons · 01/02/2018 19:05

That was in response to

There are seven billion of us on the planet. We all have to have a bit of give and take about lifestyle choices, politics and religion

Teetotal2018 · 01/02/2018 19:10

blindmelons really - so I take it you’ve never flown in an aeroplane or driven in a car? Please guys stop with the insults! It’s not helping the vegan cause at all x

Peggy2479 · 01/02/2018 19:16

Teetotal2018
Thank you for your words! You didn't come across as condescending, although I have to say-everything I have mentioned in my past comments are factual.
The pH level of a lions stomach is

Teetotal2018 · 01/02/2018 19:31

Peggy2479 I’m sorry I really didn’t mean to come across as patronising. Reading back over my post I can see where you’re coming from x

DarthArts · 01/02/2018 19:40

Not a vegan or even a vegetarian.

Thought it might be useful to offer a perspective though from a meat eater.

I have a few vegetarian friends and when we eat out (if I'm arranging) always keen to make sure where we go has a good range of vegetarian/vegan options - as opposed to just one "veggie virtue dish" as I call it. I'm equally happy at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant.

I've never come across the situation you've described but tbh I'd have no problem desisting from ordering a "lump of meat" for an evening out if that meant my friends being able to enjoy the night out.

I think some suggestions above are good about going to places where you are unlikely to see meat in that form are reasonable, but tbh I'd be sad if one of my friends just couldn't tell me the truth.

I want to have a nice night out with them and I'd have no hesitation in forgoing meat to do so or at the very least ordering food where it wasn't so visceral.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if this is something your friends won't accommodate then I'd rethink who my friends are.

SayNoToCarrots · 01/02/2018 19:42

Peggy, I have taught several A Level Biology syllabi, and I do not recall your facts on any of them.

Dazedandconfuzzled · 01/02/2018 20:17

They are not facts I'm sorry bit they are not. Humans are omnivores, so our bodies can digest both vegetable matter and meat. Lions eat raw meat with parasites etc so their stomachs have to be acidic we have evolved to create tools and to cook meat so we don't need such an acidic stomachs.
Have you ever studied the digestive system of truly herbivorous animals? Do you understand that humans can no get certain amino acids from plant matter? Our bodies literally can't break it down. That is all fact.
You do vegans no favours by spouting misinformation and then shouting them down when they point it out. If you want to educate people perhaps listen to them as well.

Thehairthebod · 01/02/2018 20:31

These are all facts and indicate humans are physically not designed to eat meat, nor are we mentally.

Seriously, this bollocks is why people get annoyed with vegans. I have total respect for people choosing whatever they want to eat, and there are many good reasons for not eating animals. You don't have to make up bullshit to back up the argument for being vegan, there are already lots of good reasons.

It's also kind of insulting to people both now and throughout history who weren't born into such immense privilege that they are able to choose not to eat animals.

MonumentalAlabaster · 01/02/2018 20:41

To answer your question: yes it is acceptable to suggest veggie places. However your friends may not be keen if they are avid meat-eaters. I enjoy going to vegetarian restaurants but then I eat very little meat.

mrbob · 01/02/2018 23:34

I am vegan now and don't have huge problems with watching people eat meat generally (although ripping apart birds might be a bit much!) I am very lucky to have friends who are happy with veggie heavy places but otherwise I find the asian cuisines (we have great Thai/Vietnamese food here) are a bit safer in terms of aesthetics! I should ignore all the people talking bollocks about the evil vegans ;)

brownelephant · 02/02/2018 00:03

even chimpanzes, gorillas, orangutans are not entirely vegetarian.
if they catch a small animal they kill and eat it. chimps even actively hunt.

Anatidae · 02/02/2018 09:57

Chimps are violent buggers who engage in cannibalism, rape, infanticide and hunt. They hunt actively, eat the meat and seem to enjoy hunting.

peggy you are throwing around words like enzymes without any understanding about what your talking about. These are not statements that are true or show that humans are herbivores. Honest. Scientist here, I know what I’m in about.

Anatidae · 02/02/2018 10:05

You’re mixing up the definition of an OBLIGATE carnivore with that of a carnivore. Humans are omnivores. The fact we have amylase in our saliva doesn’t mean we don’t eat meat. One does not follow logically from the other.

Peggy2479 · 02/02/2018 11:08

Anatidae
Again, just because you haven't put these two things together (enzymes and herbivores) does not make them false.
Just for a moment stop trying to justify your actions by hiding behind your scientific beliefs.
Look at it from an ethical viewpoint, eating animals is not ethical.
Whether or not it is organic, grass fed, free-range, you name it. Whether or not you "were brought up on a farm and saw how animals were raised and killed in a peaceful manner".
None of these things can justify the killing of animals, the taking of their milk designed for a calf's consumption. They do not justify artificially inseminating animals to force them to reproduce.
All of these things are disgusting and wrong. Just because animals don't have a voice, doesn't mean you have the right to take away their right to life.
Science doesn't have to tell you that, it's pretty obvious.

Thehairthebod · 02/02/2018 11:36

So I'll ask again Peggy, do you think that for example, Inuit people, should just stop eating meat then?

Is it OK for humans eat meat if that is the only way they can thrive?

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 02/02/2018 11:46

The very fact that vegans rely on artificial supplementation of b12 (either through fortified foods or actually tablet supplements) is all we need to see that human beings are not natural herbivores
www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/vitamin-b12/what-every-vegan-should-know-about-vitamin-b12

Each to their own I say.

Thehairthebod · 02/02/2018 11:49

Yes, ive always thought that about b12. Humans can't get it from a plant based diet can they, so vegans have to take a b12 supplement, it's the only supplement they must take isn't it?

Anatidae · 02/02/2018 12:08

I personally don’t think that killing animals for food is disgusting or wrong. So we disagree on that and that’s fine- you do and it informs your food choices.

I’m not hiding behind scientific facts. I’m presenting scientific facts that say that throughout our evolutionary history we have eaten meat and animal products. That is a fact and it’s indisputable- you can even look at the isotopes in bones to see what proportion of meat /shellfish a person had (and geographically from where .)

Humans are omnivores. In the modern world there’s no obligation to eat meat. So some people don’t and that’s fine.

There are plenty of data to support the health benefits of vegetarianism (less so for veganism actually) - this pseudoscience humans are herbivores stuff isn’t needed. Plant dominated diets are fantastic in multidurs of ways from individual health to ecological footprint. I’m just baffled as to why people try to argue humans are herbivores

derxa · 02/02/2018 12:37

They do not justify artificially inseminating animals to force them to reproduce. Is it OK to let a bull run with a herd of cows then?

Peggy2479 · 02/02/2018 13:12

derxa I don't understand your point... a bull running with cows does not give humans the right to rape them....