Two-parter:
(a) Vegetarians out there, would you eat meat if the animal died of natural causes? (Not counting, presumably, diseases that would make the meat dangerous to consume.)
and…
(b) What would such meat taste like?
I know the first one is a little IMHO. Can you work with me?
I’m not a vegetarian, so I’ll skip the first part of the question.
Depends on the natural cause, I suppose.
If the animal died of kidney failure, it would have been uremic before death. I suspect that would lend a nasty flavor.
If it died of metastatic cancer which had spread to muscle among other organs, it would mean the meat would probably need more chewing, and not taste so nice.
If it died of chronic respiratory disease, the tissues might have been hypoxic for some time and resulted in acidosis. I’m not sure how that would alter the taste. Sort of like pre-death meat tenderizer?
If it had a stroke, but lingered for a while to allow some of the paralyzed muscles to atrophy, they’d be smaller with less fat content; hence probably poorer taste.
If it died of septicemia, (overwhelming infection) I sure as hell ain’t gonna eat it.
Perhaps its pancreas failed and it died of hyperglycemic coma. Could make it sweeter, I suppose.
“I like my food surprised and running.” --Hobbes (Watterson)
Seriously, though, any butcher can tell you that younger animals make tender meat. For example, dairy cows are the oldest cattle. Their meat is not good enough for steaks. They’ll be hamburger and stew beef.
That’s on top of what our esteemed Qadgop the Mercotan said.
I’ve heard that there’s a certain type of beef jerky that is labeled as coming from cows that have died of natural causes and been certified by a veterinarian as being disease free. I don’t eat beef myself, but if you’re interested, find it and you’ll answer your second question.
nope. I would’nt eat it because along with any meat the chi of death is also ingested and I want to keep that out of my body at all costs. IMHO.
I’m sure it would taste like meat.
The what now?
The lingering essence of death, I’d assume.
The energy of death. It is my belief that when an animal dies the feelings that it has remain in the body, therefore when we eat meat we are also ingesting the fear and pain of the animal. This is a personal belief that I discovered while studying Taoism and hinduism.
:rolleyes: I see. And dead vegetables don’t have this, then, I assume?
Have you ever seen an animal experiencing fear? I have, but I’ve never seen a fearful plant. Perhaps plants experience fear in some way imperceptible by us humans, but that seems unlikely.
Not that there is any such thing as the “chi of death”, mind you. Besides, wouldn’t there be chi of death in slaughtered animals as well as in animals that died of natural causes?
You assume wrong. In the strictest sense of a vedic diet even vegatables have the energy of death. The energy is nowhere as strong as the death energy that comes from an animal, which has a brain capable of experiencing pain and fear. One can easily rid themselves of negative plant energy through exercise and meditation.
There are vegetarians that eat Placenta because it is one of the only meats you can get that an animal didn’t have to die for. I look forward to the answer to the first question myself-I’m assuming the answer will be “no”, followed by some odd justification for it.
Read my post again. I stated an animal that dies of natural cause WOULD have the chi of death and thats why I wouldnt eat it. And if you dont believe in the chi of death, stop eating meat for a month and if you meditate deeply you will feel the wieght of ingesting death lifted from you. I am not preaching or saying everyone should be a vegan, just offering a way to see my point of view.
I tend to think of “natural causes” as various diseases and debilitations that would make the meat very unappealing to me personally.
I can think of a few acceptable means of death, however:
lightning strike
falling off a cliff
bleeding to death after an attack by predators
I don’t know about cows, but I for one would rather die from a spike driven into my brain than being pulled down by a pack of wolves. But that’s just me.
According to this site, respiratory acidosis involves a buildup of carbon dioxide. The chemistry books will tell you that carbon dioxide is odorless and tasteless, but personally, having both smelled and tasted the leftover gas from an empty bottle of cola :D, I can tell you it most certainly does have a smell and taste. So if there was any CO[sub]2[/sub] in the animal’s muscles, it would lend the meat a club soda taste.
I like both my food and women like that (Hehehe) 
As for the first question, I must ask… under what circumstances? I find meat unpleasant, and the times I’ve tried it the past few years, it made me feel ill. I could concider eating an animal who died of natural causes if my life was hanging on it, but other than that, I find no reason to.
Besides, I do think I give out a better impression if I’m coherent with my diet. No flexitarianism for me.
Well, yes, of course. But that’s a far cry from claiming that the animals’ emotions are somehow retained in its body following death. That’s just plain silliness.
I seem to recall reading somewhere about certain plants (the acacia tree, perhaps?) that send out chemical signals when under attach by insects or other foragers, that nearby plants respond to somehow, but the details escape me at the moment. You around, Colibri or Blake?
[Homer]
Mmmmm. Club soda burgers…
[/Homer]
Hey. It’s Sunday morning.
Hey, I don’t want to be rude, but if you and OfBlinkingThings are going to fight about what seems to be a matter of faith, shouldn’t that be somewhere other than GQ?