loqi comments on Essay-Question Poll: Dietary Choices - Less Wrong

12 Post author: Alicorn 03 May 2009 03:27PM

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Comment author: loqi 03 May 2009 05:41:47PM 1 point [-]

Avoiding creepy foods like balut or fried locusts counts as "culinary taste".

I'm a lifelong vegetarian, raised by non-vegetarians, but my "rationale" falls squarely into this category, so I guess I can't answer these usefully. I don't see what's so creepy about eating fried locusts compared to eating flesh. Or, for that matter, what's so creepy about eating human flesh compared to the flesh of other mammals.

Comment author: JulianMorrison 03 May 2009 07:58:47PM 2 points [-]

Humans are an interesting special case: they can consent.

Comment author: Alicorn 03 May 2009 05:45:21PM *  1 point [-]

I was mostly trying to control for cultural bias. People who grew up in southeast Asia wouldn't be averse to locusts or balut; the fact that I wouldn't eat a locust doesn't reflect a considered decision, it reflects the fact that I'm from the United States. I'm still interested in your answers if you find foods creepy that your culture of origin does not. I'll revise the wording of the question.

Comment author: loqi 03 May 2009 07:02:16PM 2 points [-]
  1. Animal parts.
  2. I find the smell, taste, texture, and concept repulsive. I consider "fake meat" products intended to simulate the first three just about as bad as the real thing.
  3. Very strictly. I don't order things at restaurants that I could reasonably expect a dishonest answer from the server wrt meat content.
  4. If I had children, I would certainly try to ensure that their diet was less meat-heavy than average, but that's mostly for health reasons. I would probably not encourage them to emulate my diet for at least a couple reasons. One, there are minor social disadvantages that would no longer have a preference to weigh against them. Two, I wouldn't want to go out of my way to deprive my child's developing digestive system from valuable experience before they have a chance to make up their minds for themselves as an adult.
  5. No.
  6. B12 and protein coverage are my main concerns, which I try to compensate for with spirulina and multivitamins.
  7. Neutral, although I'm suspicious of the consistency of most restrictive rationales I encounter.
  8. Lifelong. I can't remember anything before age 5, but am told that by then I was already firm in my intolerance for meat.
  9. N/A
  10. On the occasions that I have accidentally ingested meat (in small amounts), my digestive response has been... unfavorable. Nausea, upset stomach, intestinal cramps. Vegetarians who can otherwise "stomach" meat may want to consider doing so every now and then, if they value the ability to usefully digest it. I'll just cross my fingers and hope I don't ever need to.
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