# Can a vegetarian from birth become a meat-eater?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-vegetarian-from-birth-become-a-meat-eater/463764>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 16, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-vegetarian-from-birth-become-a-meat-eater/463764 "2008-09-16T00:31:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-vegetarian-from-birth-become-a-meat-eater/463764/41 "2008-09-16T16:48:01Z")

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I was born into a vegetarian family (for religious reasons) and remained so for for the next 18 years until I went to college. There I was tempted by the flavors of tandoori chicken and took my first bite of meat. No adverse reaction.

I have not developed a taste for meat though and will eat it only when vegetarian choices are very limited and the chicken alternative is more attractive. I still cannot stomach the smell of fish or any seafood. My digestive system does not rebel whenever I eat meat. I have a number of friends and family members who are exactly like me and have not heard of any problems.

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**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-vegetarian-from-birth-become-a-meat-eater/463764/42 "2008-09-17T13:25:07Z")

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My first post! been a long time lurker though…

I was a vegetarian for the first 21 years of my life. Just couldn’t bring myself to eat the stuff. I used to eat eggs rarely, but that was about it. After that I moved to Japan…

Initially I couldn’t bring myself to eat any Japanese food. After a few months though, I was pretty much sick of making my own food and decided to take the only sensible course left. First I started off with eating chicken and other “easy” stuff. It didn’t seem tasty at first, but then I got used to it in a few weeks. Then moved on to burgers and such, no problems. After that, I rapidly progressed through almost all imaginable types of meat known to mankind (Probably I was trying to prove a point to myself, I am stupid that way).

Some of the wilder examples:  
Some cricket like insects in Thailand - crunchy and spicy.  
Also tried Balut(duck embryo) without throwing up as I had expected. - little yucky but not too bad.  
Rice crackers with wasps embedded in them - extremely good.  
Fresh raw octopus - strong smell but pleasant taste like hard gum.

It wasn’t such a big deal to become a meat-eater, once I got past my initial queasiness. The toughest part was getting past the smell and the chewy textures.

When I go home for the holidays(for around 3 weeks a year), I don’t eat meat and don’t miss it, and when I get back, I switch to eating meat without any problems. Never had any problems.

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