I don't like meat, what happened to me?

Question

I became vegetarian about 8 months ago, and I've been pretty depressed thinking I was giving up all the foods I've always loved. I've been giving a lot of thought to going back to eating meat. It was on my mind so much that I figured the only thing I could do is try to go back. I tried fish and chips. I tried sweet and sour chicken- 2 things I used to love, and they both tasted disgusting. I don't like meat anymore. How can I eat meat for 34 years, stop for 8 months and all of a sudden not like it?
Has this been the case for other vegetarians who have tried to go back to meat?

Answer 1

I never tried to go back to eating meat after I went veg. As I got older, my body started objecting when I ate meat, and they weren't as pleasing to my tastebuds. So I went veg almost six years ago at the grand age of 33 and never looked back. It's possible that as you've aged, your taste buds have changed, and your body has changed.

So what you want to do is find analogues that will approximate the taste and texture of the dishes you loved but without the nasty mouth-feel of meat. If you make your own seitan, you can do a sweet and sour dish with that.

Answer 2

Yeah, you know what the person who mentioned the taste buds is right. My sister, the soon to be doctor, told me that taste buds are constantly changing, and if you give up a certain food or taste for two consecutive months, the way you perceive the flavour/texture will have changed entirely.

Eat no junk food for two months and after those two months, the rest to follow will be easy! You probably won't crave your old foods, and if you are curious to try them once again, you're probably not going to enjoy them like you used to.

Taste buds are cool.

I haven't tried eating meat since I have been vegan because I'm not really curious to go back to my old carnivorous diet. Blegh. My taste buds probably have something to do with that!

Good luck!

Answer 3

Well why do u feel depressed?
giving up meat is a very good thing
it's healthy, in fact people who eat meat have 9 times the chance of getting cancer.

Plus giving up meat and a generous and loving choice.
A vegetarian saves about 100 animals a year, that were used for meat.

The animals kept on farms are treated very brutally
not eating meat for one meal is saving at least one life.

Being a vegetarian is a great choice..
plus why would you even try to eat something that you don't like?

Humans don't need meat to survive
there are many other healthy choices in place of meat!

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 4

Well thats the vegatarian effect. Its actually a good one once you think about it. People think they cant stop and they have no control, but you have all the power. Just stop- its that easy. You did the right thing, and this isnt an abnormal effect. Im vegetarian, too. I wondered if i would ever go back. Never could, but n ever wanted to, and of course wont dare try! :)

Answer 5

I actually had a friend tell me that the taste buds in our mouth die and fall off after awhile,and new tastebuds emerge, and this is why someone might have liked something along time ago, but then may not like it ears later. I used to love celery a few years back, now I think it's disgusting.

I don't know if he was joshing me around. He's known for it. But he's also a pretty smart guy who went to Cambridge. So I dunno...

Hope that might help some

Answer 6

Hey, you know we had same worry before. I once loved to eat fish, now that I am a vegetarian, I don't eat fish anymore, though sometimes I eat depending on the kind of cooking specially fried and escabetse. I suggest you try the taste what your taste buds crave, if you want salty, try cooking meat with salty flavor. Flavors help you crave the food you want to it. I think it's normal for a person to change what he/she likes or dislikes. You know, people change, we change, everything changes. hehehe

Answer 7

I never went back to eating meat once I went vegetarian, but I have had other foods that I've quit eating then gone back to and I do notice when you don't eat something for a long time then go back to it, your tastes really change. Think: soda. When you don't drink soda for a long time, then when you drink it it's suddenly very syrupy.

I'm guessing your tastes just changed.

Answer 8

I gave up meat all naturally, i.e. never been a big meat eater and was glad I could eat eat no longer.... I really don't want to get back to eating meat. The thought of it makes me sick. Also murdering animals...

Answer 9

Me, too.

I used to adore turkey sandwich meat, the really thin-sliced, roasted stuff. I tried to eat it about a year after going veg, and I couldn't even eat it. It smelled vile. Absolutely horrible, like something that had gone bad.

I still can't eat it, even though I still like the idea of it in my head.

Answer 10

I gave up meat for a long while and when I tried it again, it was too heavy. Generally, when you give up a food, you'll crave it for awhile, and then no longer have a taste for it. For allergy reasons, I had to give up all wheat, barley and rye. For about a year, I really craved bread. Now I don't even think about it.