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Do you ever crave it?


Vegan Aspirant
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The taste of meat I mean... the other day I had some grilled falafel that was prepared on a grill with left over grease from kebab meat- and while I made sure to ask the cook to place my falafels on some tin foil, so that it wouldn't come in touch with meat fat- I ended up tasting meat fat anyways...

 

...And DAMN did that taste good! I realise this is an admission that doesn't go too well with my veggie convictions but it's the truth. Because unlike the few vegetarians I know I didn't become vegetarian for health reasons or simply because I didn't like the taste of meat. In fact quite the opposite- I primarily became vegetarian for moral reasons- my conscience just couldn't deal with me consuming living concious creatures.

 

Lol I kind of feel like a vampire fighting my carnivore urges (much like those "good guy" vampires that lay off human beings and feed on rats instead- except my "rats" are veggies haha).

 

For a moment there I seriously questioned my will and purpose for becoming a vegetarian. I guess I still can't quite believe that I haven't touched meat in a month and a week and on a subconcious level just think this is a temporary arrangement. I am a spontaneous person known to make important decisions in the spur of moment, so my close friends still remain undecided as to whether or not I can go through with this new green life style. In fact one of my closest friends who knows me the best didn't comment on my vegetarian transformation at all and when I asked her about it, she just said "Let's just wait and see". While that was kind of demotivating for me to hear I understand why she would react that way.

 

How do you guys deal with this, other than watching videos on animal cruelty? Like when you're on the run and don't have time or the equipment to surf the net? Because I found that constantly thinking about animal cruelty- while effective- is too time consuming when you're on the run and shopping, so what I do instead is sign off mentally and just read the ingredient list on whatever I'm buying and if it says eggs, animal fat or whatever, I just put it aside and quickly walk over to the next item of interest and that's pretty much my strategy- not think about why I have to avoid it, just do it without any introspective analysis. And it does work until situations like the one last night occurred... Then I feel utterly weak.

 

How long did it take you guys to be indifferent/dislike the taste of meat? Or does it ever happen? Is it a constant hurdle/ "inner struggle"?

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I was vegetarian.. then vegan purely for ethical reasons. But I grew up an omnivore so I know that meat and cheese taste good.

 

But I guess for me the visions left in my head from the cruelty videos I've seen were enough .. I seriously can't think about meat or cheese without those visions haunting me. I feel overwhelmingly sad at Costco when I pass the dairy section.

 

In my mind, supporting the abuse, torture, suffering and finally killing of an animal for pleasure (ie. taste) is no better than supporting the abuse, torture, suffering and finally killing of an animal for pleasures such as a fur coat, or dog fighting or animal crush videos. To me, there is absolutely no ethical difference.

 

Fortunately I don't 'have' to eat meat. And I have discovered many new food loves. So it's all good.

 

I'm trying to cut out processed food now, which means I no longer need to read a lot of labels. I feel better and healthier for that. Trying to stick to mostly whole foods like grains, legumes, fruits, veggies and seeds.

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First year as a Vegan, yes. I missed the flavor. Mostly because you are used to it, your mouth can't recognize some flavors in vegetables.

After this first year never again. And honestly, I don't miss it at all.

 

About your question, how to deal with it, for me it came naturally. I try to be ethical in every aspect of my life, and by knowing that where animal based products come from I don't have the need to constantly remind myself of the cruelty.

 

I know that my 'not eating meat' doesn't help directly any animal, if I don't eat that dead cow other person will eat it, or they will throw it away to keep the prices up. But that is a matter of showing everyone that one can live without cruelty and that a huge sum of people are already trying to change the way the world is. I believe that not now, not even in the near future, but someday everyone will wake up because of the little actions and choices we are making today. That is my motivation, not the cruelty that exists today, but the hope that someday there will be no more.

 

Today, seven years later, no craves for animal based products. =)

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Maybe about once a month it crosses my mind that some mc donalds would be good. Was always a sucker for double cheeseburgers. Can't even have the fries there either because they are prepared with beef fat. I've been on a bland diet for the past month due to health reasons and I've really been craving polish. It's like someone else said. As you walk through those aisles you can just feel the despair. It's hard to watch people plopping it in their carts without a second thought. It's been a few years since I've eaten any meat. I think I didn't have any slip ups because of my convictions. Eating a bland diet is worse. Anything that has any flavor whatsoever I have to pass it up or just longingly gaze at it on the shelf. It's funny that I cheat more on my bland diet when I'm making my ulcer worse and risking getting stomach cancer. I guess I care more about the animals than I care about myself. I just can't really justify the torture and slaughter of animals simply because of flavor.

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I don't think you have to go through some kind of mantra or watch X amounts of animal cruelty videos, like a punishment. Rather, just think about what your ultimate goal is, what kind of person you want to be. You are the one responsible for your decisions. So are you going to do what you think is right, or ignore that and do what you think is wrong? That's the bottom line for me. You can make yourself sick with those animal cruelty videos, but food products are so far removed from their origin, I don't know what it would do.

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All very interesting replies and certainly some food for thought. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who has these cravings. Today I bought pizza with actual cheese and had some chocolate chip buns with milk powder of some kind. Eggs I've steered away from completely (except this one time at my friends birth day) but other than that I still come back to milk, milk powder or butter in some way or form. While I am not satisfied with this, I am a vegetarian for the time being and *not* a vegan- and I accept that, because my ultimate goal is veganism (well preferably organic at least 50 % raw veganism) and this is my comfort.

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post pics when you have the apparel.. lol. I still haven't gotten any tho I really would like a hoodie that says 'Gorilla Army'.

 

 

Lol you know it! Man I'm sooo going to be showing off my veganism to folks, especially to the juiced up guys at my gym hahah.

 

Gorilla army? Lol I think I get it, but just in case I don't, explain to me why "Gorilla army" :-P

 

 

@Compassion: I think once my home-situation is a little more stable and he vegan diet has become a more natural part of my daily planning (grocery shopping, how to prepare for nights out with friends, how to respond to dinner invites and all that) it will be easier for me and I won't have to constantly think about animals having their skin ripped or living under shit conditions in slaughter houses.

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Gorilla army? Lol I think I get it, but just in case I don't, explain to me why "Gorilla army" :-P

 

Well my conjecture only is that Gorillas=Vegans. And that the army part is referring to the fact that number of vegans is increasing (ie. I've seen numbers suggesting there has been an increase of like 50% in last 4 years - most of those converting are in the younger generation). So I like to think we are building an army and we're gonna take over the world.. hehe.

 

So yah, I want that shirt dammit. I just don't know where to get it.

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Yay! Hopefully that exponential growth will continue and eventually the vegan diet will be dominant! I conversed with the sushi guy about their veggie clientel and he told me more and more youngsters (i.e. prepubescents) are going green, which was pretty heart warning:-) I thought gorillas- although generally herbivores - would have their "meat on" every now and then (sometimes in rather brutal ways by going cannibalistic and slaughtering one of their own and consuming him/her alive)?

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I suspect you are thinking of chimpanzees.. they don't kill their own that I've heard, but on the rare occasion they hunt, kill and consume other smaller monkey species. They show that in the Disney movie 'Chimpanzee. Beautiful nature movie btw.

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Nope; The very thought of eating meat makes me sick to my stomach, the very thought of eating eggs will make me sick to my stomach too. Cheese is probably the only thing I am not sickened by, not milk, but cheese. I am not even horribly strict about cheese. If I am in a bind and need to eat a slice of pizza I just scrape the cheese off, if I end up getting a bit of casein or milk in an emergency meal I don't really blink at it. I am Vegan 99% of the time, if by accident I get some milk product in there it's not worth bashing your head into a wall over. I fight for the animals and 1% of the time won't make a huge difference in my mantra.

 

I'd rather starve than eat meat, egg, bone etc. Fuck. That.

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I used to get sick at the sight of rare and medium rare meat. for me it was and still is an issue of taste and texture, nothing more nothing. but it was always a temporary thing because once I'd think about where that meat came from I'd get sick at the thought of it. I remember as a kid I was literally about to throw up at the thought of eggs because it repulsed me to know I was eating the product of animal sex and even more worrying *how* that egg had come out hahaha (that age where you'd just learnt about sex in school). But even on my cheat/weak vegetarian days (before I became vegan) I'd feel disgusted with myself for eating butter and/or eggs- and the aftertaste of things like raw eggs (in mayo) certainly doesn't diminish the disgust.

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  • 2 weeks later...

not at all, even if it would smell good, or taste good, it still revolts me after being veg for so long, i think if i were to taste that meat fat/grease type thing on my dinner, gag reflex would kick in and i'd spit it out

 

that said, unfortunately, it's hard for me to eat out also, i normally dont trust places unless they are like, an exclusive vegan place, or maybe maybe maybe a health food resturaunt that comes very close- i would definitely feel uneasy walking up to a street vendor/market restuaraunt type thing, or just any type of restuaraunt and ordering a "vegan" dish - unfortunately alot of the times, even if they do think it's vegan or vegetarian safe, they just wouldnt have the care/dedication to find out for sure

 

i'm picky

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Wow. I am both excited and saddened when I hear those of you saying that you never crave it (meat, dairy etc.). Excited because it gives me hope that one day I might reach the same stage you're at and sad because I am not as evolved. Hopefully with time it will come.

don't be sad, i'm not, i turned vegetarian when i was very young due to well, general disgust for meat, really i think i was around 10-13 when i swapped, it started off by me being disgusted by things like sausages/chicken/meat pies etc, anything that contained meat, it might have been because i started out so young, i mean, i remember eating meat, i remember some of the tastes and textures, and i don't miss them at all, honestly, it's hard for me to get down fake meats that tase very real, even though i know they are 100% vegan

 

for the most part, cooking meats just smell like death to me, the times it would smell appealing would probably be when it's cooked in a seasoned sauce or something, the flavours would mostly be coming from that

 

at this point, i really have an iron will against meat and well, probably a lesser will to dairy/egg poroducts etc as i'm less picky about those (i'm sure i will be one i finish my degree, move out of home and have more freedom), but yeah still, i do avoid dairy products as much as i can

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Muchidna- I definitely think that having a few years (in your case maybe a decade +) in the luggage as a veggie helps keep the urges in check, so I'm hoping with time that these cravings will become more and more weak. For the time being though it is difficult for me. I'm having all these dreams where I wake up the next morning *still* tasting meat! I think I'm at the point where *morally* I'm way pass wanting to eat meat again but like with any (ab)user I'm suffering from withdrawals (cravings). And while I realise that it started the other way around for a lot (i.e. distaste for meat followed by moral conviction not to consume slaughtered living beings), for me it started with moral disgust - hopefully the physical disgust will follow soon enough.

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Did you say you've been veg for a month and a half? I did a complete transition from heavily meat omnivore to veganism overnight and found the second month was the hardest for cravings. I relied quite a lot on meat substitutes at that point to try and find a sort of compromise for my brain. After that though (third month onwards, now in month 7) the cravings stopped and I've been able to phase out to purely plant based. Then again, I do live on my own and was single for most of that time, and my family are in a different country, so there was little to no temptation around. Tonight I was in a kitchen where bacon and kidneys were being cooked... and they just smelt corpse-like and weird. No cravings at all. Time definitely helps.

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