I have noticed that among philosophers, vegetarianism of one form or another is quite common. In fact, I became a vegetarian (technically a pescetarian) myself partly out of respect for an undergraduate philosophy professor. I am interested in finding out if there is a similar disproportion in the Less Wrong community.
I didn't request that this go into Yvain's survey because I want more information than just what animal products you do or don't eat; I'd also like to see nuances of the reasons behind your diet. There are a lot more shades than carnivore/vegetarian/vegan - if you want to be a vegetarian but are allergic to soy and gluten, that's a compelling reason to diversify protein sources, for instance. I'd also like to hear about if you avoid any plant foods (if you think they're farmed in a way that's environmentally destructive or that hurts people or if you have warm fuzzy feelings for plants, maybe). Here are some questions that come to mind:
What foods, if any, do you normally avoid for reasons other than pure culinary taste, cost, individual health concerns (allergies, diabetes, etc.) or ease of preparation? (Avoiding foods that are considered revolting or just non-food in your culture of origin, like balut or fried locusts, counts as "culinary taste".)
What are your reasons for avoiding those foods?
How strictly do you avoid them? For instance, will you eat them if you are served them while a guest at a meal, or if you are hungry and there is nothing else available? Do you check to see if they're in potentially questionable dishes at restaurants (and if so, do you trust what the server says?)
If you have children or plan to have children, will you expect or encourage them to avoid the same foods?
Do you try to convince your friends and family members to make dietary choices similar to yours? If so, have you ever succeeded?
If you avoid a class of foods with valuable nutritive content (as opposed to Twinkies), what do you replace it with to get complete nutrition?
What are your attitudes to people who are more restrictive in their diets than you are? Less restrictive?
What is the timeline of your dietary restrictions? (Transitions, lapses, increases or decreases in restrictiveness, etc.)
If you have not avoided these foods for your entire life, how much did you enjoy them when you ate them, and do you still sometimes want to eat them?
Is there anything else about your choice of diet that might be relevant or interesting?
None. I'm ~vegan mostly for amoral reasons- I love wheat, am somewhat miserly, am lactose intolerant, live alone and so prefer to cook smaller meals, and so on. I get a bit of warm fuzzies from the trophic level of my food- but that's a tertiary reason, at best.
Not really relevant.
I will eat meat at most restaurants because it's the menu item I like the most. (Not a fan of salads, restaurant pasta tends to be terrible, and so it's pizza or chicken.)
Not sure. It seems easier to switch to meat for developmental reasons and ensure they get everything they need to (I'd probably go with fish for the other benefits), but I might just stick with my normal diet.
I have gotten a few people to try the weird flavor combinations I've preferred. Mixed results. I haven't done any evangelizing.
Mostly hope. I've started turning to more and more varieties of grain and branching out when it comes to vegetables (the addition of sweet potatoes to my diet ~4 months ago was a great plan, and now cucumbers are moving in), but I've always had a long history of ignoring dietary concerns and remaining healthy. I live a sedentary lifestyle, which most likely helps reduce my various protein needs.
I prefer not to judge people based on their dietary preferences.
My diet contracted when I started cooking for myself (and meat went from a daily thing to a monthly thing), and has slowly expanded since as I've found more things I enjoy eating.
I have a poor sense of smell; I cannot tell much difference between steak and chicken. I vaguely enjoyed them, and I do not miss them.
In food science there's something called the "triple point," if I remember correctly, which is the right balance of salt, sugar, and fat. People will eat foods at the triple point until they are physically incapable of eating more. I have that response to the bread that I bake, which is just King Arthur Bread Flour + yeast + salt + water + time + heat. I don't know how to explain this, especially since varying the flour (adding whole wheat flour, quinoa flour, etc.) will put the flavor off a bit and it'll just be good instead of "yeah, I think I'll eat 3/4ths of the loaf instead of the half that would fill me up."
I have noticed that among philosophers, vegetarianism of one form or another is quite common. In fact, I became a vegetarian (technically a pescetarian) myself partly out of respect for an undergraduate philosophy professor. I am interested in finding out if there is a similar disproportion in the Less Wrong community.
I didn't request that this go into Yvain's survey because I want more information than just what animal products you do or don't eat; I'd also like to see nuances of the reasons behind your diet. There are a lot more shades than carnivore/vegetarian/vegan - if you want to be a vegetarian but are allergic to soy and gluten, that's a compelling reason to diversify protein sources, for instance. I'd also like to hear about if you avoid any plant foods (if you think they're farmed in a way that's environmentally destructive or that hurts people or if you have warm fuzzy feelings for plants, maybe). Here are some questions that come to mind: