# I crave meat, and it confuses me **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 23, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567 "2005-10-23T22:38:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PinkMarabou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@PinkMarabou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkMarabou)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/21 "2005-10-24T11:06:35Z")
> [@aeropl](#): > > MorningStar Farms, the company that makes all the fake-meat vegetarian products, has frozen patties of soy that are supposed to taste like a [Philly Cheese Steak](http://www.kelloggs.com/cgi-bin/brandpages/prodfam.pl?family=363&company=23&template=burgers). It tasted real to me and, as a vegetarian for 4 years, I didn’t really care for it. > > Since you are at college, I’m surprised there isn’t at least one good eatery that caters to vegetarians. Do you go to a smaller college? I’m not a vegetarian by any means, but I love MorningStar. Their Chick Patties are so good. Try them out if you like veggie burgers and the like. They’re a little expensive, but very yummy (even to this non-vegetarian). ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/22 "2005-10-24T11:25:03Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > In 2004, the US exported $57,831,000 worth of beef products to the EU. (You can confirm this on the USDA website if you’re really interested.) However, the vast majority of US beef exports go to Canada, Mexico and Japan. The EU ban on hormone-treated beef was overturned a few years ago, but the US still hasn’t managed to regain the ground lost during the 15 years or so it was locked out of the market, hence the tiny amount of exports. And now US beef is shut out of the Japanese market to a large extent. So order a 60oz steak immediately, your local industrial meatpacking conglomerate needs the money! ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/23 "2005-10-24T11:43:40Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > I’ve heard, (no cite), that bodily cravings for food often tell us what nutrients we’re lacking. > > Could be an old wives’ tale though. I heard a variation of this, from my nutritionist (no cite, though): She said foods we are _intolerant_ to, our body craves. I’m lactose intolerant, however, I still get plenty of calcium because I drink milk and eat cheese anyway. When I told her this, she asked me if I craved dairy products, and yes, yes I do and always have. That’s when she mentioned it. However… she is a naturopath, and I’d take her advice with a grain of salt. She pushed an awful lot of vitamins and supplements. I did feel better, though, but I’m willing to admit it might have been psychosomatic. She _did_ teach me how to eat healthier, and one is bound to feel better when not scarfing garbage all the time. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/24 "2005-10-24T14:46:09Z")
I don’t really buy into the whole ‘cravings mean you need whatever nutrient’ theory. I doubt that A) I’m deficient in protien, because a huge part of my diet is cheese, and peanut butter; B) my body would, all the sudden, not have enough protein after no dietary change; and C) say after seven years, “Hey, I need protein, so gimme a steak!” I’m going to just assume it’s stress making my brain do bizarre things. I haven’t been sleeping particularly well, either, so I know something crazy’s going on in those synapses of mine. When I’m out in town tomorrow night, I may get a burger at Wendy’s or something if the mood strikes me. I know it’s immensely stupid, and I’ve never been one to buy into mindlessly obeying labels, but I’d just feel silly doing so after being veggy for so long. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/25 "2005-10-24T15:00:59Z")
Back in my early twenties, I tried to become a vegetarian, because for some reason, I felt it _ought to_. I lasted about 8 months, after which time I was suffering unbearable meat cravings and (honestly) dreaming about eating roast chicken. One day I caved and bought a massive burger and I have never looked back since. Ironically, I enjoy vegetarian food much more now than I did when it was the only option. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/26 "2005-10-24T15:58:25Z")
I don’t completely dismiss the nutrient theory, but my WAG is that it’s simply one of those weird things your brain does from time to time. Sometimes I have a desire to listen to a song I haven’t thought about in years. There’s no discernable reason for it, it’s just like, hey, I want to hear that song. I think **Ninjachick’s** brain just went “You know what I haven’t had in a while? Meat! That would be tasty right now.” ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/27 "2005-10-24T16:01:21Z")
Are you perhaps passing a shop/restaurant where they prepare meat and the smell triggers you? I now pass a chicken-roast stand every day. I don’t notice it (my brain says: “Not Interesting”), but my nostrils have me thinking of chicken for two blocks more. ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/28 "2005-10-24T17:01:41Z")
I thought I craved steak once, but it turned out I just craved the sauces and spices that you usually put on meat. Ever since then I just use A-1, Heinz57, BBQ sauce and steak seasoning on my vegetarian food and I’ve never had a craving since then. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/29 "2005-10-24T17:24:57Z")
Regardless of whether it’s true or not, people certainly believe that their cravings indicate what they’re lacking. Several peoples have a separate word for “meat hunger” as opposed to just plain “hunger”. Marvin Harris wrote about this in his books. Quick googling turns up several instances of this: > [@](#): > > RESEARCH REPORT: A craving known as meat hunger is a “widespread phenomenon among peoples living at a subsistence level [i.e., who are not vegetarians by choice]” (Simoons 1994:6). (N.B.: In the U.S., despite well-stocked produce displays, shoppers spend the largest portion of their supermarket dollar on beef, chicken, fish, and pork.) from here: [http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/meaty.htm](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/meaty.htm) Me, I’d go with the assumption that my body really _was_ trying to tell me something, and try to get my nutrients by broadening my input, whether that meant seeking out what I thought I might be lacking, eating soy-based fake meat (I like veggie burgers, myself), or actually caving and eating meat. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/30 "2005-10-24T17:30:57Z")
You’re a human being; human beings are omnivores who eat meat. When you deprive your body of something that it should be eating, it lets you know. Deviant eating patterns such as vegetarianism or veganism fall under “depriving your body of something that it expects to be eating.” End of story. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/31 "2005-10-24T17:58:00Z")
> [@Habanero](#): > > **NinjaChick** - > If you have a way of finding some pure natural meat, then by all means enjoy it. Simple method: Take up hunting. Use a bow if you object to guns. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/32 "2005-10-24T17:59:22Z")
You are probably lacking iron. My wife had the same problem…after being a vegetarian for 7 years, she started to crave steak like nobody’s business. Turns out she had anemia (not from being vegetarian, from an unrelated condition), and when she started taking iron supplements the cravings disappeared. I would ask your doctor to run some bloodwork and check your iron levels…you should be getting regular blood work anyway if you’re a vegetarian. –FCOD ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/33 "2005-10-24T21:36:26Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > You’re a human being; human beings are omnivores who eat meat. When you deprive your body of something that it should be eating, it lets you know. Deviant eating patterns such as vegetarianism or veganism fall under “depriving your body of something that it expects to be eating.” > > End of story. Well, sure, but that isn’t really the end of the story… what about all those other deviant human behaviours? You know, like wearing clothes or washing our bodies with soap. We are omnivores, that’s true - it means we can eat a wide range of different things; it doesn’t necessarily mean we _must eat all of them_. Vegetarianism is no more or less deviant that a whole range of other adaptations modern humans have made to their ways of living. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/34 "2005-10-24T21:44:19Z")
**Ninjachick** : Have you been bitten by any undead lately? If you’re craving really, really rare meat, you’re becoming a vampire. If you’re craving brains, a zombie. If neither, then … well, I’m stumped. What do lich’s crave? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/35 "2005-10-24T23:22:53Z")
> [@Audrey Levins](#): > > I feel the need to mention that a vegetarian friend of mine got really drunk one night (that wasn’t at all unusual) and decided to tear into some chicken wings. (That WAS extremely unusual.) > > She hadn’t eaten actual “meat” or “animal flesh” or whatever in years. > > She was sick as a dog for a good 24 hours. IANAdoctor, but I would assume her digestive system just didn’t know what to do with it after so long without it. > > Fair warning is all I’m saying. Your brain or your body may be craving meat, but your stomach may not be as cooperative. :eek: Oh, and you’re thinking that the drinking played absolutely no part in her being sick the next day? Never heard of a hangover, hmmm? ---
**Author:** ![SusanStoHelit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SusanStoHelit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SusanStoHelit)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/36 "2005-10-24T23:39:06Z")
> [@FlyingCowOfDoom](#): > > You are probably lacking iron. My wife had the same problem…after being a vegetarian for 7 years, she started to crave steak like nobody’s business. Turns out she had anemia (not from being vegetarian, from an unrelated condition), and when she started taking iron supplements the cravings disappeared. > > I would ask your doctor to run some bloodwork and check your iron levels…you should be getting regular blood work anyway if you’re a vegetarian. > > –FCOD My theory was running along the same lines. Is it that time of the month? I always crave red meat during my period, but I only eat red meat a few times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Grelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grelby)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/37 "2005-10-24T23:59:50Z")
Curious, curious, curious. I am a stressed-out college student myself, and yet have never felt an urge for meat. Of course, given what they do with pork at the dining halls here… that may not be surprising… Any-da-hoo, if it bothers you to break your vegetarianism habit (not really something to feel silly about - adherence to labels aside, you’ve been doing this for \seven years\), why not do as a previous poster suggested and get some o’ them meaty-tasting MorningStar or similar patties? Or, another option, that is even more appealing to me, speaking as an omnivore who only eats meat about once or twice a week or so: hie thee to the health food store or somewheres like that and pick yourself up some textured soy protein (I think that’s what it’s called). It’s not meant to be eaten on its own, but mixed in with pasta sauces and such things. It adds the same consistency and texture to spaghetti sauce as does ground beef, and surprisingly, doesn’t really make the sauce taste any different than an equivalent meat sauce. TSP is wonderful, wonderful stuff - all the good things about meat (texture, absorbs flavors well) without the bad things about meat (…being…meat…). On the minus side, it might be hard to find, although a place like Whole Foods - is that a national chain? - or someplace similar ought to have it. Also, given that you’re not likely to find it in your average supermarket, it may be pricey, though I have no idea, never having bought any myself. Anyway, it feels like meat, but none of the guilt! That can’t be a bad. Treat yourself to some nice vermicelli in a homemade sauce with TSP. It’ll be tasty and stress-relieving and meaty, but not really meaty. And, um, mail the leftovers to me, please ;). ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/38 "2005-10-25T00:06:17Z")
> [@Grelby](#): > > Curious, curious, curious. I am a stressed-out college student myself, and yet have never felt an urge for meat. Of course, given what they do with pork at the dining halls here… that may not be surprising… It’s really easy to not eat right when you’re a stressed college student. > [@](#): > > Whole Foods - is that a national chain? It is, and they [have a location in Santa Fe](http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/list_NM.html) ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/39 "2005-10-25T02:28:52Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > **Ninjachick** : Have you been bitten by any undead lately? If you’re craving really, really rare meat, you’re becoming a vampire. If you’re craving brains, a zombie. If neither, then … well, I’m stumped. What do lich’s crave? 😉 Raw souls. Maybe with a little salt, to bring out the flavour. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567/40 "2005-10-25T02:37:47Z")
Somebody said it above, but I’m jolly well going to say it again: get your iron levels checked out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-crave-meat-and-it-confuses-me/327567.md?page=3)