Ethical Semiveg here–I eat only the cold-blooded. No four-chamber hearts for me, unless my wife doesn’t finish her sausage biscuit, and then I might sneak a bite out of curiosity.
Hamburgers smell just plain nasty to me when they cook, and pork chops are pretty foul, too. Bacon can cloud the air. But sausage, chicken, steaks, turkeys smell delicious to me, and pepperoni pizza makes my eyes mist over as I long for the day that someone invents a tasty veggie pepperoni.
Daniel
Once in a while it’s a turnoff. Usually not, and sometimes it smells very good. I’ve been a vegetarian for about 4 years, by the way.
I think I’ve had tasty veg pepperoni. Unless I’m just imagining that, which could definitely happen.
I know this is a bit of a hijack, but so many vegetarians are here so I want to ask something that I’ve wondered about. For ethical vegetarians, how do you feel about carnivorous pets like cats? If you have them, does it cause you a qualm to feed them meat-based foods?
[kinda off topic]
Does anyone have any sites bookmarked that do a reasonable job with either of the following?
A list of all/most of the types of vegetarianism and the nutritional issues (positive and negative) surrounding them
A list of the major arguments for vegetarianism (or various forms of vegetarianism)
[/kinda off topic]
Mmm…vegetarian pepperoni.
I’ve got two cats, and I feed them meat. If I thought they could live healthfully and happily on a vegetarian diet, I might try that–but they can’t. It’s a compromise I make.
Daniel
You could always give them carrot cat food, re: Wilco’s mom.
'Course, they might take it out on you. I had a cat that, when he didn’t feel he was being properly fed, would jump up on the counter and savage a loaf of bread. It was a vicious sight.
Stranger
I’ve been a mostly vegetarian for almost twenty years now. (I say mostly because I started eating tuna about a year ago and I sneak an Arby’s about twice a year) If I’m starving, the smell of meat can smell good to me, most of the time I don’t notice it. Really aromatic meats like bacon smell kinda icky and I find it kinda annoying when a neighbor cooks something pungent. (of course, they’re probably just as annoyed when I overdo the garlic)
As far as the pet food goes, I have two cats and they eat regular cat food. Cats will not be healthy without meat and if I didn’t think it was OK to feed them properly, it would be unethical of me to keep them as pets.
The next time you use the words “overdo” and “garlic” together in the same phrase, or sentence, or even paragraph, I will come to your house and…and… (no threats of bodily harm allowed on SDMB)…I’ll short sheet your bed. I’ll put salt in your sugar shaker. I’ll vigorously shake up every can of carbonated beverage in your refrigerator. 
Everyone knows that there is no such thing as too much garlic.
Thank you, vegetarians of whatever level. This is very interesting. I suppose I can relate it to how I will avoid bananas at all costs, but a baking banana bread is one of the nicest smells I can think of.
I used to think the same thing until I accidently threw twice as much garlic into a pesto I was making. Phew! Yeah, there’s such a thing as too much garlic.
But you have to work at it.
Stranger
I think you missed the whole point of the post. We’re not talking about someone’s dietary habits, here, we’re talking about their manners. Someone who comes into your house as a guest and makes demands about what you may and may not serve to other guests is rude. People who put condidtions on accepting someone’s hospitality are jerks. BrotherCadfael doesn’t invite rude jerks to his house for dinner. BFD.
Quasi-ethical/quasi-religion based quasi-vegetarian here (hee hee). It’s complicated but I come from a pescatarian culture and my family added poultry to that although I’m so fussy that it has to be organic free-range/very young chicken so right now I’m stuck at mostly fish and veggies in the area I live in. My parents gave us the choice as to whether or not we wanted to eat beef and at the age of 13 I chose not to eat any red meat. I go through long phases where I claim I’m not going to eat poultry anymore but I always come back.
I absolutely cannot stand the smell of red meat cooking. It makes me feel slightly ill. The smell of bacon/sausage, on the other hand, makes me violently ill (I think it’s the grease). My roommate in college switched to veggie sausage b/c of me throwing up in the bathroom and eventually became a vegetarian altogether after she claimed my smell-reflex actually ended up making her feel healthier.
Oddly, I love the taste of that soy sausage stuff and it doesn’t smell up the kitchen.
Also, I would never dream of bugging someone about what they serve at their own house. Height of rudeness! I’ll even “eat around” (i.e. pick it out and give it to someone who eats the meat) if it’s a stirfry, pizza or curry or something. And there’s always mashed potatoes. The only time I ever got pissed was when I signed up for the vegetarian meal at an Alumni banquet and they gave my meal to someone else and then tried to make me eat the steak option like they are substitutes for one another (I’m Hindu and that’s the last one I’ll eat).
Thanks, CCL, you put it much better than I did.
You know, i wonder if this sort of thing is some type of urban legend. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but…
I’ve been a vegetarian for about 12 years. In that time, i’ve known dozens of vegetarians, and met literally hundreds more. I’ve even known my fair share of vegans. And never once, not on one single occasion, have i ever met anyone who is the “type of vegetarian” that you describe.
I realize that my anecdotal experience is not all-encompassing, but it seems to me that the stereotype of the in-your-face, don’t-eat-meat-around-me type of vegetarian is rather overstated.
Yeah, but at the same time, it’s kind of odd to come into a thread where the OP is not about vegetarians refusing to eat with meat-eaters and no one has posted anything about vegetarians not eating with meat-eaters, to not answer the OP, and to instead post about hypothetical vegetarians hypothetically being rude after receiving a hypothetical invitation to dinner.
I mean, the whole OP is about the smell of cooking meat, and yet BrotherCadfael’s post is devoid of any mention of smells, scents, fragrance, et cetera. I wouldn’t say it was defensive, but it does kinda look like he had a . . . er . . . bone to pick . . . with somebody.
Like radical feminists and Howard Dean supporters, they’re few but like Ann Coulter they strive to be the focus of attention by adopting the most absurd positions and making derisive statements about anyone that doesn’t toe their line. I knew one militant, in-your-face invective spewing vegan…but she was also a large-type bitch in every other way, too, so I daresay it had little to do with meat consumption. Some people are just jerks and manage to make themselves the lead pony for whatever cause they espouse, to everyone else’s dispair.
Stranger
Yeah, I liked it, unless I’m imagining it. Can’t remember the brand though.
It doesn’t crisp like the meat stuff, but it had a nice texture and flavor.
Have you tried some brands? I know you say you haven’t found any, but I don’t know if you looked for a while or didn’t really bother.
Yah - I got that too - ignored the OP, hauled out soap box, had rant. However, YMMV.
Anyhow - I’m mostly veg (I eat fish once and a while). Meat generally doesn’t bother me, except for bacon and hamburgers - they just smell disgusting (although I think it’s the grease smell I don’t like).
I can’t cook meet, however - I tried to fry some turkey guts for my dog at X-mas, and almost threw up (when you try to slice the heart, blood oozes out - even my dog wasn’t very interested).
A combination–I’ve not looked in awhile, and when I did look, it wasn’t very thoroughly.
My big problem with fake meats is that they tend to be mass-market, to health-nuts and non-foodies alike. In order to sell them to the health-nuts, they make them fat-free; in order to market them to the non-foodies, they make them spice-free.
Recently I found that I can empty a tube of Gimme-Lean into a mixing bowl, add a severe dollop of olive oil, sprinkle on a healthy dose of oregano, basil, cayenne, chili flakes, and other spices, and smush it all together. My hands get nasty, but the resulting product is greasy and spicy, and far more palatable than otherwise.
Daniel
As for my answer to the OP:
I don’t mind the smell of meat at all. Hell, i’ll even handle and cook meat for other people on occasions. My wife isn’t vegetarian, and i’ve been known to cook or help her cook meat. We had a big barbecue, with a whole bunch of friends, last July 4, and it was me standing over grill flipping burgers.
Also, i worked my way through college as a waiter for a catering company, and i’ve also worked at hotels and restaurants in my time. Plenty of meat being served in those locations, and it never worried me.
Y’know, you may be right.
The OP was asking about whether you found the smell of cooking turkey at the Thanksgiving dinner objectionable, and I took it as questioning whether it was possible for a person who does find it so to sit at table with the carnivores. I have run across veggie’s like that (not my wife, thankfully - she cooks a mean steak, just doesn’t eat it!), but yeah, I think I may have reacted a little too strongly.
My apologies to one and all.
This may be my last post for a while… my subscription runs out tomorrow, and I really need to take a break from the boards. I tried to stay away back when the subscription was first imposed, but it lasted only a week or two. We’ll see what happens this time.