Posted on 07/07/2012 6:21:37 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Is it a dealbreaker if your partner skips the bacon in favor of tofu? For some meat eaters, thats exactly the case. The recent Love Bites survey of 4,000 singles conducted by TODAY.com and Match.com found that nearly 30 percent of meat eaters say they would not date a vegetarian or vegan.
Writer and omnivore J. Federer told TODAY.com that while he agrees couples should have interests outside the relationship, food is one thing that should be shared. Food is social, and the dinner table is where a couple gets back together after a day of work or play, he wrote in an email. This is where the relationship happens. The ability to provide and share food is part of romance, and I just can't date a person who does not share those moments of life with me.
Blame it on biology, says Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist and Match.coms chief scientific adviser. She explains that sharing food is integral to courtship throughout the animal kingdom.
Its so common in the animal world to give food for sex that its called the nuptial gift, Fisher explained. Mankinds first luxury was meat, and when carnivores share food what they are sharing is this luxury. Its more than just cultural, its instinctual.
Federer tried but couldnt get past the distaste for dating a vegetarian. He had a two-year relationship with a vegetarian and another with a vegan, but said he always felt judged when they would sit down to eat.
She kept talking about the carbon footprint of a pound of meat and the impact of fishing on the oceans, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bites.today.msnbc.msn.com ...
All things in moderation. And that includes moderation.
and moderators especially!
We went thru the same thing as your friend with our then-7 year old deciding to become vegetarian. Well, except for hot dogs. So we let her for the day it lasted.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I had heard that there was a difference between vegetarian and vegan and that the difference was that “true” vegans were way more selective (restrictive) about what they would consume.
Several years back my band hired a keyboard player. He and his wife were both outspoken vegans, always evangelizing just how healthy and cool the vegan lifestyle was. The funny thing was they both looked like ghouls. Pale grayish skin-tone and slightly sunken eye-sockets with the dark around the eyes.
They never looked or acted healthy or happy.
No thanks!
You nailed it. He rode for fun. The bike was an old Honda
150 Benly that we restored together. When he was just going
downtown he walked or rode his bicycle. He had an Indian
when he was young and told me that he still reached for the
tank shifter once and awhile out of habit.
That said, there are other underlying beliefs/philosophies which often accompany vegetarian or vegan diets which are not compatible with my own insofar as a serious relationship goes.
To each their own, but some days I crave red meat.
My daughter, around the age of nine or so gave up pork. She always loved pigs, but still ate pork and loved it (in all forms). But when she was about nine she went to the zoo - and the highlight was always to see the pigs in the “farmland” area. Except the pigs weren’t there! That is when she gave up pork - she knew the pigs didn’t get sent off to slaughter, and they were there the next time - but it just triggered something in her mind.
We didn’t push it, and we didn’t give up pork.
Just a little while ago, at age 14, she piped up while mom was making breakfast “Mom - can you make enough bacon so I can have some too?”
I was very proud of her for making her own decisions on what she wanted to eat, and for how she stuck to it over all those years. (And never gave us grief for eating it). But also that she came to terms with it on her own as well. And told her all that too.
When she had her first bite of bacon again she said something like “Boy - I’m glad I didn’t give this up for good!”
Part of this is probably the holier than thou attitude of many vegetarians and vegans. Those who keep Kosher rarely brag about it and don’t sit around condemning those who do.
I’ve seen vegans denigrate vegetarians and condemn meat eaters - at a church Thanksgiving dinner with, “I would never give my kids that, did you know how toxic it is?”
And a vegetarian (barring Hindus) or a vegan is almost certainly liberal, while conservatives rarely bother skipping the meat. It’s then an easy way to determine the political divide.
Or you can at least say that the vegan/vegetarian’s Gaia worship is just not compatible with your religion.
I know a 25 year old vegetarian woman...she’s about 5’6” and 250 lbs....
I dated a vegan and met many in the process. I sort of admired how much they cared about what they ate. I didn’t care for their ignorance, arrogance, or outright insanity.
I also don’t care for people who think their pets are people.
“All things in moderation. And that includes moderation.”
Moderate moderates? Isn’t that what we used to call RINO’s in these parts????
Thanks - I forgot the http when I did the URL.
Lettuce is not “date food”. Steak or lobster is “date food”.
It is easy to tell if someone is a vegan.
They never shut up about it.
Unless it does them harm, I think it’s always best to let kids work things out in their own time and their own way. That is, assuming a fairly reasonable kid. Hovering and/or domineering parents never seem to do themselves much good, and only make the kids more determined to rebel against their authority. You showed your daughter you respect her, and that is worth an awful lot.
Pigs and chickens are omnivores.
Most vegans I know are proselytizing fanatics who wear very thin with me in short order.
I dont care what a gal eats just so long as shes hot.
Suppose she’s “hot” but tries to dictate your diet. Never forget: No matter how hot she is, someone somewhere is through putting up with her crap.
I have zero patience with the ignorant. Being old and grumpy has it's advantages. You can speak your mind and not give a rat's pointy little tail about what others think.
I don't really have to answer to anyone until I'm dead and gone. That, I care about.
/johnny
Amen...I dated a Vegenut once. Ok...she was hot, an aerobics instructor who taught six classes a day. Talk about a hardbody. But she constantly complained about being run down and tired. I told her she needed the protein and vitamin A that could only come from meat. I recall once we went out to supper and she had her usual salad with some cheese. I had a cowboy ribeye and the same conversation came up about how she always was dragging and tired. I gave her my standard response as I was running a chunk of ribeye through some horseradish. She finally gave in and asked for a bite of the meat. I cut out a nice, juicy piece and fed it to her. Talk about DRAMA...she began shrieking and gagging and asking loudly “How can you EAT that!”...needless to say a lot of heads in the restaurant turned and started watching us. We didn’t last as a couple much past that. I had another interesting relationship with another vegenut too. They made crappy girlfriends but as someone noted earlier, great dates. Cheap and easy and usually being lib’rul, there were few things they wouldn’t do in bed...
This means that 70% of meat-eaters WILL date a vegetarian.
I met an old logger here in N. Idaho who told me he was allergic to alcohol.
“Really, I’ve never heard of that.”
“Oh yeah. Everytime I drink alcohol I break out in handcuffs.”
“Unless it does them harm, I think its always best to let kids work things out in their own time and their own way.”
That’s what I learned in nutrition class. Kids will go on food jags. I’ve always had lots of junk food in the house as well as healthy food. Since nothing has ever been forbidden, my daughter has never felt deprived. She’s skinny as a rail. Basic psychology- tell someone they can’t have something, they’ll want it. I tell her the beef roasts are expensive ;) She loves rare beef. LOL.
If those folks knew exactly what pigs and chickens can/would eat.... they might get faint.
When I was bootlegging the last commercial style pig here in town where it's not legal, I did draw the line on feeding Miss Piggy any pork products.
I did feed her the ugly bits of chickens I was slaughtering, and she loved it.
Later, we missed her, but damn, those ribs were good.
/johnny
Reverse it: why would a serious vegitarian or vegan date a carnivore?
I'm sorry, I took a clue from 'pops' I made a wrong ssumption! :(
No harm, no foul. I should have picked a better screen name. “Pops” means Parachutist over Phorty.
I have had several veg friends. Only 1 is still alive.
I mis-read the title: Survey: 30% of meat eaters wont EAT a vegetarian.
I’m still good looking, pushing 50 and don’t take orders.
I do take “take out”
Who wants to date someone who will continually be on your ass about what you are eating?
How much poison do you want, in moderation?
More than 30% I damn guarantee.



Compare and contrast:

Look at that glistening coat.
Not possible on "veggies".
[plus, soy is goitrogenic and wrecks your thyroid]
That's if we're talking a poison like ethyl alchohol.
Socialism? No, not even in moderation.
I was talking about food.
/johnny
Botulism then?
Some thing, more moderate than others. :-)
I always order something meaty, red and bleeding when I eat out with them.
And no, I don't want shigella either.
Nope. Just food. Real food, including meats, dairy, eggs, starches, veggies and fruits, when I can get them.
I will consume them in (mostly) moderation.
You know, like our ancient ancestors did.
/johnny
We're omnivores - totally eschewing all forms of meat and anything elses that originates in a living piece of food (milk/eggs/butter) is never a totally "for my health" type thing.
My brother in law is engaged to a vegetarian. She is the same dimensions you described. About 5’6” and 250lbs. I wouldn’t describe her as liberal. I would call her a communist.
Only 30%? I’m guessing it’s higher. I’d no sooner date a vegan than a democrat.

For decades I have been told that, “You are what you eat.”
If the saying is true, if you eat beef you are a vegetarian.
That isn't someone who'd into her diet. That is someone who is a global warming cultist who seeks to impose a lifestyle choice on everyone.
I know when some businesses/bars have a grilling event, vegans INSIST that their food be cooked on a separate grill.
And for muslims, halal preparation of food requires that no forbidden items come in contact with their foodstuffs.
I can’t speak for vegan/omnivore homes but could see problems in the kitchen with boundaries being set over which cutting board to use, where to store meat items, etc.
For some, it is an obsessive compulsive disorder “the foods can’t touch!”.
I don’t like raw bean sprouts but I don’t argue about the risks of ecoli contamination of my bacon when a stray bean sprout falls in the bacon container on a salad bar.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.