[MarjorieMargarine]

So, I've had a lifelong struggle with meat. Don't get me wrong, I LIKE meat. For the most part. But I have never really been able to get past the mental hurdle of "what it is." I grew up in an average omnivorous family, and no one else in the family feels that way. For years, I kind of just admitted to myself that I was a hypocrite- though I obviously had strong feelings about meat, I would still eat it if I didn't have to think about it- things that didn't LOOK like what they came from. The sight of a Thanksgiving turkey in all its glory does NOT look like something delicious or even really edible to me. It looks like a dead bird, which kind of makes me want to vomit. It's like if I came across a dead bird in the street. I wouldn't think to put it in my mouth. I don't have any particular moral or ethical problems with eating meat (I know some here do, and I absolutely respect that, but it's just not how I feel), it just kind of grosses me out sometimes.

I've noticed whenever I'm around someone who is dying, and then for several months after their death, I have a complete aversion to all meat. It is uncontrollable and the smell of meat even makes me nauseated sometimes when the aversion is really strong.

I am working a new job lately where part of the job is...kind of morbid. I am a defense attorney and I work with a lot of pretty violent cases. For some reason, I think related to this, I am developing a really strong aversion to meat again.

I don't have any problem with the aversion. I don't think it's a big deal to not eat meat, and is probably much healthier. I guess I was just wondering if any of you other vegetarian chicks are veggie for the same reason- not so much for ethical reasons or purely health reasons, but just because you don't like the idea of meat.

[nelie]

I started going vegetarian because I started not to like meat. At the end, I was really forcing myself to eat meat. It wasn't because of 'what it is', I grew up knowing what meat was and seeing animals slaughtered occasionally.

I felt so much happier after I gave up meat though.

[Fatness]

I saw one movie on how they kill and treat animals and that was it for me. I do get a taste for a hot wing every now and then. One week I am vegan and the next week vegetarian! Love it.

[Ilene]

When I was younger I had the aversion you talk about, but I ate it because it was the thing to do with your family...

I was vegetarian when I was in my 20s but I guess I wasn't doing it right because I was always hungry...

I have been vegan for about a year now and it all started when I watched Forks over Knives... I did it at first for my health, cholesterol, etc... then I watched all the other films, Food Inc., Vegucated, etc... ... When I see people eat wings and ribs, I feel almost sick to my stomach...

[Michael101]

I think that the question to be a vegetarian is the correct choice for many people ate meat frequently may cause health crises for many I am not a vegetarian but I respect the motives of others to give up meat

[Fortunate]

I'm a veggie (as my family call it) because I dont like meat, the taste and texture and the thought of where it comes from and what it once was just freaks me out.
My family all love meat and my boyfriend is a huge meat eater, i dont mind it - its their choice and it really doesnt bother me (unless its a wing or leg, and you can physically see what it was - that make me feel ill)

[musicalchick]

Originally Posted by Fortunate

I'm a veggie (as my family call it) because I dont like meat, the taste and texture.

I was the same way growing up I hated the taste of meat (still do), i also went veg for other reasons on top of that.

[stella1609]

I've been vegetarian a couple of times but I just can't live completely without Chick-Fil-A nuggets and bacon bits, lol. Otherwise, I eat very little meat--I just don't crave it. On average, I'd say I have about 3-4 servings of meat a week. Maybe a couple of times a year I will feel like a steak and I'll eat a 4 oz. filet and be satisfied. It doesn't have anything to do with ethics or aversion for me--I just don't want it. In the past year, I've worked with two different people from very different backgrounds who were both vegetarian because they just didn't care for meat.

[PostWeddingsmallsize]

I have a meat aversion too, I think its totally gross that my husband eats almost rare steak, it still looks alive to me on the plate.

He has eaten a lot less meat around me which is good apparently since his family has a history of heart disease etc.

My family was shocked at first but now they are fine with it and some of my aunts and uncles are now on board with me because they find they feel better when they eat more veggies. Maybe we'll all start a trend!

[Haley8203]

When I ate meat I did like it. But the overwhelming guilt of the poor animals was too much for me so I stopped all meat and seafood...13 years later I've very happy with my decision. However now I have guilt of the dairy cows and the animals that produce all the dairy products. Mostly because they are being used for that only and then once they can't do it they are probably auctioned off and killed. So I go back and forth with being vegan. But it's so hard because I love cheese way too much.

[Pyrrhic]

Taste and texture was the initial reason I gave up eating meat at age 12. Now 17 years down the line I don't think I could ever eat it again.

I grew up in the Middle and Far East and I frequently went to meat/slaughter markets with my parents to get fresh meat (where you pick and animal and it is killed for you on site). I think looking back, that had a lot to do with it too.

I can cook most meat for my family, except beef. For some reason that smells more meaty and bloody to me and I can't cook it.

[versace]

Every thing about it was always too gross for me as a kid. The taste, the smell, and even just the feel of it in my mouth trying to chew it was downright nasty. At 8 I decided I'd try each different kind of meat my family would present me with once, to not only make sure I didn't like any of it, but also so my family couldn't use the excuse 'you won't know unless you try it..!', and then said nope, never again to them all. By 9 I'd tried as much as I could stomach, and I was so done.

[sburleson89]

I know exactly how you feel. I am studying Forensics in school and the thought of eating meat has really turned me off. I can't look at pulled pork the same way... My thoughts are, you are essentially eating muscles, veins, skin, etc... Plus, after knowing how they treat animals and how they kill them sickens me. I still eat fish but I'm debating whether to give that up as well.

[imperialistic]

I started going meat free in January since I had moved out of my family home and was cooking for myself for the first time. I've spent the past few years avoiding the idea of meat but I think, it was finally time for me.
I still crave meat every once in a while but then I start thinking about what it actually is... erk.
So it's not really the way they're treated for me (even though it probably should be) but the flesh of a living thing.

[noshoes]

I never liked the texture, don't remember eating it much as a kid.