How are people not grossed out by preparing/cooking meat?

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 10:37 am

amother wrote:

Ewa-jo- I am veggie too- have been my whole life. My entire family is vegetarian, my grandparents were vegetarian too.
My husband is a mega-carnivore and I feed my son meat too because he wants our son to have a choice. I wear gloves to cook meat, but it grosses me out completely.

Is your DH veg? Are your kids? (I know your post isn't about it, but I am curious what other vegetarians do!)

Anon because many people on here know me and I do not wish them to know my screen name.

I am also vegetarian for many years. My husband is an omnivore, but our daughter chose to be a vegetarian. We don't have meat at home. Dh eats meat when he wants outside the house.

moonstone

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 10:39 am

Leesah wrote:

You got it all wrong; I don't see a dead cow when I look at meat, I see meat when I look at a cow.

You made this fellow meat-lover laugh. Love dead anything, doesn't bother me at all to cook it, smell it, or, of course, eat it. I think the poster who said "desensitization" pretty much has it right.

Now I'm in the mood for a big, juicy steak too!! Wink

happywife613

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 10:47 am

as is proved by the diverse cultures of diets, the grossness is controlled by habitual and expectancy.
whatever you are used to eat, or used to accept as food, a normal person can eat, the rest animals can make you vomit.

a unhealthy/sensitive person, may be grossed out by common accepted food in their own circle.

gold21

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 10:54 am

I was a vegetarian since I was a young child.
meat, chicken and fish grossed me out.

later, I became vegan, because eggs (not including eggs in recipes, like for bread and cake) and dairy started grossing me out too.

so I basically lived on bread, avocado, peanut butter, salads, soups, etc.

then my vegan diet started affecting me physically- I was often tired, I got headaches, my bloodwork wasn't great, etc.- and I realized that I need to work on myself to incorporate more high-protein foods into my diet.

these days, I cant do red meat or fish, but I eat chicken. I cant do milk or cold cheese, but I eat coffee yogurt and moderate amounts of cheese mixed into pasta. I cant eat eggs all the time, but if they're mixed with veggies I will eat it.

so, the bottom line is, I dont think it is healthy to be vegan. I work on myself to incorporate as many non-vegan foods as I can into my diet.

I still dont understand why most people dont find animal foods and animal products to be as gross as I find them to be, but maybe thats a limitation on my end. I dont know.

all I know is, I am happy that my kids dont have the vegan-issues that I have! B"H. they are happy eating chicken, meatballs, cheese, eggs, etc. B"H!!

Last edited by gold21 on Mon, Feb 20 2012, 10:59 am; edited 3 times in total

WriterMom

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 10:55 am

amother wrote:

get over it there's nothing like a big juicy rib steak

Also, there's nothing like punctuation.

Ewa-jo: I hear you. I eat meat, and have no ethical, health or religious opinions against it. (We were vegetarian for many years as part of the transition-to-kashrut, and I honestly didn't much miss it.) I prefer fish, dairy, pasta, quiche etc to meat, and not only because that means we can have dairy. But I like it sometimes.

And yet I HATE handling raw meat. I just find it so distasteful, and really scrub my hands carefully after having cooked it (haven't tried gloves.) I know logically raw egg can breed germs as easily as raw chicken, but am not nearly as squicked out.

I am not heavily into the mystic/kabalah stuff, but people whom I respect who have learned this say there are arguments that in a perfect world we would all be vegetarian, and the Torah lets us eat meat as a concession.

celestial

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 10:56 am

WriterMom wrote:

amother wrote:

get over it there's nothing like a big juicy rib steak

That's not kabalah - it's Rav Kook's interpretation of the Rambam.

WriterMom

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 11:16 am

celestial wrote:

That's not kabalah - it's Rav Kook's interpretation of the Rambam.

Wow, thank you.
How do you know this? If the answer is, from a book or a class (as compared to day school) can you let me know the name of the book or teacher? I would love to know more about this kind of thing, and about Rav Kook, but don't know where to start.

wispalover

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 11:22 am

gold21 wrote:

I only eat humane certified eggs and organic milk for this reason.

AlwaysGrateful

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 11:25 am

Why is blood and guts "gross"? Because it was once part of the body?

I used to think dirty diapers were gross. Really truly. I think most of us did. Until we had our own kids,a nd now a "normal" dirty diaper isn't gross at all.

The idea of "breastmilk" grosses some people out. And yet cow's milk doesn't gross anyone out.

As a vegan pp posted on here, what about eggs? Aren't those considered "gross"?

Some people believe that kissing is "gross" before they marry. Ewww it's someone else's spit!

Is blood "gross"? But if you pick a scab and it bleeds you're not grossed out like you would be if a wound were spurting blood.

Nothing is really intrinsically gross. Trust me. It's gross because of what society, the people around you, or whatever consider gross. My brother would squish lightning bugs. I thought that was gross. He obviously didn't, probably mostly because his friends didn't, and my friends did.

So? You equate raw meat with human flesh, something that you find gross. I might equate raw meat with an apple, something that I find quite good.

Al taam v'rayach...

Leesah

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 11:36 am

celestial wrote:

Leesah wrote:

Animals are meant tto be eaten, they eat each other too. We didn't invent the idea.

Right. So that means its a good idea to behave like animals.

Finally SOMEONE gets my point! Ah, thank God! Now I can die in peace knowing my beliefs are understood and respected.

shalhevet

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 11:45 am

ewa-jo wrote:

It's a dead body. OK, an animal, but still it's a dead body. I know a lot of people who can't look at photos from a surgery or from a crime scene or from a car accident..... or who won't watch horror movies (even though they know that it's all Hollywood special effects) How does it not bother people to see an animal's dead body? The butcher counter looks to me like a crime scene... all covered in blood and gore.

I don't see anything good in being grossed out when it stops us doing what we should be doing. I wouldn't think a doctor who doesn't treat a patient covered with blood or an ordinary person who found themselves, ch"v, near the scene of an accident and could help but didn't because they were "grossed out" someone to admire because they were so sensitive.

I once came across a blog by a frum woman who was super proud of herself that she had never changed a diaper on all two or three of her children (she was once alone at night and woke up a friend by calling her in the middle of the night, and once tricked someone into changing her baby in the airport by pretending it wasn't her child - and she was proud of herself). So should we admire her that she's so "super sensitive" that she can't do chessed with her own children and lies and takes advantage of people into the bargain?

Some people have valid reasons to be vegetarian, but if you or anyone in your family needs meat or poultry or prefers it lichvod Shabbos or YT, you are not doing something admirable, but rather playing the spoiled princess at other people's (or mitzvas) expense.

If you want to get used to it, you will (I also found it hard the first few times).

sarahd

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 12:09 pm

Leesah wrote:

celestial wrote:

Leesah wrote:

Animals are meant tto be eaten, they eat each other too. We didn't invent the idea.

Right. So that means its a good idea to behave like animals.

Finally SOMEONE gets my point! Ah, thank God! Now I can die in peace knowing my beliefs are understood and respected.

Love it!

I am an insensitive clod and I love meat. Especially red meat. I love ptcha, I love sweetbreads. I love spareribs, rack of ribs, liver, you name it.

I do draw the line at tongue, chicken necks and chicken wings. Also pipiklach, unless they're ground. I don't eat turkey either, because it seems like a grossly oversized chicken.

celestial

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 12:28 pm

Hmm, I thought the Torah encouraged us to be aware of what we were eating, and that animals used to be living? I thought living a Torah lifestyle meant trying your best not to be an "insensitive clod"? Forgive me for taking your words at face value, but laughing at the idea of sensitivity does not negate it is an important way to live our lives as servants of Hashem.

ora_43

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 12:32 pm

celestial wrote:

Leesah wrote:

Animals are meant tto be eaten, they eat each other too. We didn't invent the idea.

Right. So that means its a good idea to behave like animals.

When it comes to some things, yes. Animals drink water. Animals give birth. Animals nurse their young. Etc.

gp2.0

Mon, Feb 20 2012, 12:33 pm

Watching footage of factory farming, with these animals who never have a normal life and are then slaughtered, can bring tears to my eyes. Free-range animals who are raised on a family-run farm or ranch have good lives, at least.

Death is never a happy occasion.

Having food to eat is a happy occasion.

I am sad that the best way for people to be healthy is by killing and eating other living things. But I'm still going to put MY health first. Law of the jungle.

And now, I have a question for the vegetarians: Don't you care that every time you eat a fruit or vegetable you are killing it?

You tear an apple off a tree. There is an audible snap as the limb holding the child to its parent severs. You bite into the apple. There is a loud crunch as its flesh tears apart. The juices that were carrying nutrients to its heart drip down your hand. You then discard the seeds, the potential life of a baby tree.

You can't hear the apple trees screaming as their babies are taken from them. You can't hear the apple screaming as you rip it apart. But that doesn't mean they aren't screaming.

In every leaf of every plant there is a spark of soul, which you snuff out when you kill it.

If you're OK with eating plants, I don't see why you're not OK with eating animals.