I'm a vegetarian now

Yes, the spider-goat, henceforth, no longer eats meat. More specifically, processed meat. I’ll still eat fish, and if I know the butcher, farmer, hunter, etc. I’ll eat it since I know where it’s coming from, but you’d have to give me a lot of $$$ before I eat a whopper again.

There are a lot of reasons for this change in my diet, none of them having anything to do with any sort of PETA sympathy for cattle and swine. First off, I was talking to many vegetarians and vegans who explained to me what was in our food. Then I picked up the recent issue of Mother Jones, which outlines how dangerous the meat-packing industry is to its workers. But what finally tipped the balance was something I ate (but-THANK G-D- didn’t digest!).

I was at a party and some dude dared me to eat a can of something called “Potted Meat Food Product.” I figure, can’t be that bad, right? (you can laugh at this point at my stupidity)

I took one bite and I go straight for the nearest bottle of mustard and start chugging just to get rid of the taste. This stuff was not fit for consumption by the scrawniest of street hounds. “What the fuck was in that stuff?!” I exclaimed. Then the guy told me (he’d actually memorized it, the asshole!): mechanically separated chicken, partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue (I’d like to know what’s left after that), beef tripe, water, no more than 2% flavoring (flavoring with what? cyanide?), vinegar, salt, dextrose, extracts of paprika, sodium nitrite.

He was barely past the beef by the time I was purging in the nearest sink. I vomited twice. Fortuneatly, all of the mustard I’d consumed covered up the meat taste. At this point, everyone in the room is laughing their asses off, while I’ve got my head in the sink.

It was then that I swore never to eat that vile substance known as processed meat again.

And so, fellow Dopers, let the mocking begin.

I eat meat but for the most part try to stay away from anything that comes in a can or a factory-sealed plastic package. The only meat I will eat that comes factory sealed is O Boy! Oberto Beef Jerkey, because it tastes so damn good. :slight_smile:

Don’t let Scylla know you’ve become a vegitarian… :slight_smile:
Besides, that stuff isn’t really meat, you know? Now, giving up a prime New York Strip grilled to a perfect medium-rare… well, now that’s what you’d call meat.

FWIW, I nearly had the same reaction when my ex talked me into eating spam. Blech.

Just for regurgitation’s sake, I gotta tell the story about a house-cleaner we had when I was a little kid who spent her lunch-break sitting on the couch, watching tv, and eating spam right out of the can… The worst part was that she left the empty can in the trashcan in my room so it always smelled in there.

of course…now it seems I’ve already told the story… so … I’ll just do my little dance and exit stage right

Ehm, sorry, but you’re not a vegitarian by any reasonable definition of the word. There was a thread about this IIRC. You just abstain from certain meat products.

Good for you, anyway :slight_smile:

— G. Raven

Potted meat product? That’s not even real meat. All that can contains is the crap they sweep up off the slaughterhouse floor. My dad calls it “Snouts and assholes”. I love meat, but I would never eat that junk.

Please don’t get techinical with me, MR. I consider myself a vegetarian, even tho’ I might be a social carnivore. So sue me.

I also don’t smoke, but doing it socially actually got me a five-pack of Phillies on Friday. It’s like they’re an endangered species now; smokers, they must look out for their own kind.

What would happen if Scylla heard this?

That’s the number of cans of SPAM that have been bought since July 28, 1998 when this site went up: http://www.spam.com/.

And this one is all you want to know about potted meat: http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/potted.html

Giving up meat just because of either of the above is like giving up all fruit, because you ate a Jamaican banana.

Probably something like this.

‘Insufferable vegetarian’ is the usual appellation. Please don’t share with everyone you meet.

Good for you. PETA was a good idea hijacked by moralistic assholes worse than most fundies. The first time I heard of PETA was when Mike Farrell (BJ of MASH) promoted it. It made sense to me then. Now Jesus was a vegan in their eyes. The choice to become a vegatarian is a personal one and not a moral crusade. From a health standpoint. Eating far less than the average amount of meat would be optimal. To eliminate it entirely means you need to eat certain non-meat products that can replace some nutrients found in meat. The way I see it, humans were designed to eat meat maybe once or twice a week. I personally eat it daily.

Also, just so you don’t get anal-rententive vegetarians like me pestering you, do make sure (whenever you can) that you clarify that you are not exactly a “mainstream” vegetarian. (The mainstream vegetarian diet does not include fish, chicken, or game, ever ever.)

I think it sounds like you’re got a “virtual vegetarian” diet, or “mostly vegetarian”, or something like that. Which I have a lot of respect for, don’t get me wrong. But if you declare yourself to be a 100% bonafide vegetarian, (and I’m not sure if you’ve done that) it confuses people about the accurate definition of vegetarianism. See the discussion on this thread for more clarification on this issue. Yeah, I’m picky, and I apologize. But I’m directing you to that thread, so you’ll know where I’m coming from.

With that anal-retentive little lecture aside, I have to say, it sounds like you’ve got a great gameplan there! Congrats to you! Limiting your meat intake to just fish is a great way to go, and it will eleminate the possibility of eating such revolting dishes as the one you encountered. It’s GREAT to be “off the hook” from eating that kind of stuff! It’s one of my favorite perks of vegetarianism! The thing that finally pushed me towards vegetarianism (I had been leaning towards it for a while) was a gristly meat dish I was served at a friend’s house. It was tough, tasteless, a HUGE serving, and just utterly disgusting. My hostess is a defensive type, and I KNEW I just couldn’t opt out of eating the dish without offending her terribly. So I choked it down. After that, I thought, “Never again”. Becoming a full-fledged ovo-lacto veggie has been totally worth it, because I NEVER have to eat that kind of disgusting dish ever again. Some people may still get offended that I am a vegetarian, but screw that. They all know that I DON’T eat meat ever, no exceptions. So that leaves me out of eating any sort of revolting psuedo-meat dish. What a relief.

I also want to reiterate what straykat has said. Don’t share with everyone you know that you are mostly veggie. Some people won’t care, but many others will want to argue with you, or ask you rude questions. Or, they will assume you are “judging” them - and get hostile. I’ve been veggie for 15 years, and trust me - the less you bring it up, the better. No one can accuse you of being “holier than thou” if you just don’t discuss it a lot. (And if you read Scylla’s now closed Pit thread, you will see that there is a lot of hostility out there against vegetarians. Some people just care way too much what the rest of us eat, or don’t eat.)

I’m “partly vegetarian” too. I always get a potato and salad with my steak. :smiley:

:ducks and runs:

It bothers me a little to be negative, and please understand that this is in no way an attack on you or your beliefs, but I think you’re searching(nobly, might I add) for something that doesn’t exist. You have examined the food you eat, and found that the ingredients offend you, as they should any reasoning human being. However, humanity has spent its existence eating anything and everything we come across. Think free range eggs were always collected from orderly little cartoon nests by jovial men in bib overalls? Chickens have a marked propensity for laying them in dungheaps. This did not slow your ancestors down for even a second. People failed to bath or wash their hands for years at a time, and you are concerned because a machine processed the chicken you eat? Do not think for a minute that any food product you can possibly hope to obtain is in any way clean. From the vegetables grown using human waste as fertilizer, to the toxins that pollute every growing and living thing, you and your food are tainted. They are harvested by workers whose idea of hygeine is poor, even if it were otherwise their sweat and filth would still permeate your vegetables. The waste produced by the slaughterhouses we all abhor finds its way straight back into the food chain, even if some enterprising farmer doesn’t spread it directly on his fields. To pretend that you can avoid that taint by shifting your eating habits is really a bit… Quixotic… You’re after an ideal that never existed, and certainly can’t in the poisoned world we have created. Hell, consider the list of things that are delicacies from the time before slaughterhouses, the time before ANY sanitary conditions, the time before refrigeration or decent preservation techniques: tripe in all its forms, virtually every organ, various mixtures of clotted blood and milk, a frightening assortment of male reproductive organs from nearly every animal imaginable, and brains, up to and including those of human beings. I have known many people who vouched for the excellent flavor of cow brain and eggs, and many Tennesseeans consider squirrel brain and eggs to be a delicacy. Any food that comes from the ocean either filter-feeds or eats filter feeders at some point, meaning that every bit of crap and crud anyone has ever thrown into the ocean has been thoughtfully collected and provided for your consumption in that salmon steak. The food we eat is always irrevocably tainted, caution on the part of the consumer is pretty much limited to picking out the broken glass and still-moving bits.

The bit that actually scares me sometimes is that I think it all still tastes just fine. I have eaten Spam, and been glad to have it. Your reaction to potted meat, though understandable, would mystify anyone born before the modern food system we have in place today.

I agree with Yosemite on this one.

You might feel it’s easier for you to apply the label vegitarian to yourself, but it doesn’t help the rest of us that are constantly served plates of chicken and ham, “instead of” the meat everyone else is having.

Of course I respect your choice, but you won’t do yourself or anyone else any favours by incorrectly labeling yourself, that’s all.

I, for one, am not a vegitarian. I don’t eat meat, but I have been known to nibble on the odd piece of fish once in a while.

— G. Raven

Thanks Morrison’s Lament, for clarifying my position!

I appreciate your respectful politeness, but I am confused.

I cannot speak for the OP, but what’s your point, exactly? Sure, if we really think about it, all sorts of vile things are everywhere. (Ever taken the time to think hard and long about the horror that is dust mites? :shudder: ) But when someone makes a decision such as this, they are drawing a line in the sand and saying, “That’s it, no more of that” (whatever it is.) It’s an emotional response, among other things, so cares what anyone else thinks? Sure, we all eat stuff that has so many parts rat feces - you can’t escape it, alas. But just like with me and my gross gristly meat experience, and the OP with the vile potted meat - sometimes enough is enough in one certain area. And eliminating that one source of potential puking material is a great comfort.

And for whatever reasons, the decision to limit this certain thing makes you feel a whole helluva lot better. I am constantly reminded that I NEVER have to eat some of the gross, underdone, “questionable” meat dishes that I used to feel obliged to choke down before I went veggie. I’ve felt better about it for 15 years.

So, I’ll confess I am confused - what’s your point exactly?

You ate potted meat?

You have my pity. I can see how you’re scarred, and like a jilted lover swearing off relationships, you have sworn off all meat.

Perhaps one day you will be a whole man again instead of this empty vegetarian shell.

Good luck.

potted meat? I’d rather eat the pot.

and veggies have plenty of pesticides, too. Pesticides are also great excuses to not eat liver.

Trucido: There’s a reason why people live a lot longer now than they did back then.

Everyone else: thanks for the ongoing support :slight_smile:

But, he still eats fish! He’s not 100% vegetarian all the time! That should make you happy! :rolleyes: