# I'm a vegan...but human's okay? (TMI and Gross) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733 "2002-11-14T16:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Typo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Typo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/21 "2002-11-14T18:17:51Z")
Good point, Dangerosa. Fruitcake, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/22 "2002-11-14T18:29:16Z")
were the people cooking the placenta british? if so, i think it’s from one of hugh fearnly-whittingstall’s series. yes, this is from a real cookery program. he also cooked squirrel, various odd things he caught in the countryside, and in one memorable episode, a large pet catfish that had outgrown its tank. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/23 "2002-11-14T18:41:47Z")
Just for the record, equating eating placenta with eating an egg is all but ridculous because the CHILD IS ALREADY OUT of the placenta and is finished receiving nutrients from it. An egg contains the material to create a living organism and by eating it you are preventing a life. (I suppose). If they were eating the placenta with the fetus inside, that would be like eating an egg. J ---
**Author:** ![Typo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Typo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/24 "2002-11-14T18:55:24Z")
**irishgirl** , I _think_ they were British, but I’m not sure. It was a relatively short clip and I missed a few of the finer details. Interesting point, **jarbabyj** - I hadn’t considered that aspect of it. The egg analogy did cross my mind, but being as I’m fairly ignorant when it comes to vegetarian philosophy, I wasn’t sure of the rationale behind it. What really struck me was “flesh of animal=bad, flesh of human (technically flesh)=okay” and it made me wonder. However, the Dopers have done a stellar job of fighting my ignorance on this issue. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/25 "2002-11-14T19:15:11Z")
and for the record = i find it so gross as to ALMOST stop eating the crumb cake I had. ALMOST ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/26 "2002-11-14T19:17:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > \*\*An egg contains the material to create a living organism and by eating it you are preventing a life. (I suppose). > > If they were eating the placenta with the fetus inside, that would be like eating an egg.\*\* Not really. Eggs in the supermarket are unfertilized. They will never grow into a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/27 "2002-11-14T19:25:57Z")
But if you’d never taken them from the chicken, they may have been. See? ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/28 "2002-11-14T19:31:24Z")
Wait a sec, don’t cows and pigs give birth in the same way as humans do? So they have placentas too, right? So some “vegetarians” can actually eat cow or pig placentas without feeling guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/29 "2002-11-14T19:43:39Z")
I think most non-human mammal mommies eat it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/30 "2002-11-14T19:59:08Z")
**Jacknifed Juggernaut** - Unless you’re a vegetarian or vegan because you feel that animals are exploited/abused to provide us with food. If the cow was from a usual “factory” (large-scale) farm, the very act of inseminating the cow was merely to produce a calf to create veal/more beef cattle/more milk cows, and so the placenta originated from a “cruel” act. I suspect most vegetarians would have trouble digesting a (non-human?) placenta anyway; my body no longer produces sufficient enzymes to digest meat, and when I accidentally eat it, I become ill even if I don’t realize I’ve done this. Anyway, compassionate and educated people should instead (IMHO) be donating placentas for the “cord blood” stem cells, which can be used to to treat a variety of diseases, including various cancers, blood and immune system diseases, bone marrow disorders, etc. I would find much more meaning in an act like that. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/31 "2002-11-14T20:02:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > \*\*But if you’d never taken them from the chicken, they may have been. > > See? \*\* No. Doesn’t work like that. And I thought it was funny, **Typo**. You asked a question, though, and that seems to put people into ‘provider of knowledge’ mode, rather than the ‘laugh and sympathise’ mode. Do you happen to have a video of the Dance of Agonized Repulsion? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/32 "2002-11-14T20:07:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > \*\*But if you’d never taken them from the chicken, they may have been. > > See? \*\* No. Doesn’t work like that. And I thought it was funny, **Typo**. You asked a question, though, and that seems to put people into ‘provider of knowledge’ mode, rather than the ‘laugh and sympathise’ mode. Do you happen to have a video of the Dance of Agonized Repulsion? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/33 "2002-11-14T20:08:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > \*\*But if you’d never taken them from the chicken, they may have been. > > See? \*\* Nono…because the eggs get laid even when the chicken doesn’t…y’dig? ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/34 "2002-11-14T20:10:13Z")
Funny you should say that, Denise. I looked into donating that material from my last birth and _I_ was going to incur quite a cost! ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/35 "2002-11-14T20:14:01Z")
My point is, the placenta is ALREADY USED by the baby and is going to be discarded anyway. sorry about the egg thing. I think I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Typo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Typo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/36 "2002-11-14T20:14:03Z")
Awww, how sweet! Thanks, **Wikkit!** Just goes to prove that you never know what’s going to happen when you post in the Pit! (And no video - it’s a private thing. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/37 "2002-11-14T20:14:25Z")
What **Hamadryad** said. If you left them with the hens they still wouldn’t turn into chickens. The reason is that the hens are laying them while being kept separate from the roosters. It’s like menstuation, bird style. Except it that a bird ovum gets a whole self contained living environment when it is expelled. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/38 "2002-11-14T20:15:50Z")
Ok. Allow me to say, I’m sorry again. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/39 "2002-11-14T20:17:32Z")
If you notice, I simulposted. It wasn’t meant as a further dig. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733/40 "2002-11-14T20:22:31Z")
They **charge** you to donate? :eek: Was it the kind that kept it specifically for your family’s use, or were they collecting for research, etc., in general? I hope there are some services that don’t charge, or I find that more disgusting than the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-vegan-but-humans-okay-tmi-and-gross/136733.md?page=3)