Ring a Bell And I'll Salivate

mosch writes "Humans have been trained to yearn for ice cream in the same way as Pavlov's fabled bell. I won't be impressed until they can make a healthy human male yearn for a nice healthy vegan dinner."

Comments

At what point was this doubted?

[ip_vjl]

Humans can be trained to crave food in response to abstract prompts just like Pavlov's dogs, reveals new research.

Maybe I'm out of touch - but at what point was it even questioned whether or not conditioned response worked on humans? Sure we've got a lot more going on that might "override" the stimulus, but conditioned response just seems to be one of those very primitive reactions that would still be with us.

ah... so it begins...

[eclectric]

What I've never understood is why non-vegetarians are so damned abrasive towards vegetarians? Granted, there are some of us who are... less than polite when it comes to their views, but that's true of any group. I chock it up to "fear of all that is different."

Re:ah... so it begins...

[Experiment 626]

I think part of it is backlash against the militant vegetarians who try to impose their beliefs on others. The non-vegetarians do not want want to hear all about "meat is murder", the conditions in a slaughterhouse, or the plight of the cow they ate for lunch. The vocal minority of vegetarians' self-righteous attitude and proselytizing causes them all to be viewed by suspicion by some people, much as some people react towards Christians.

Of course, there are other factors as well. In American society, men tend to eat a lot of red meat, whereas salads and vegetables, being more popular among female diets, are sometimes viewed as "chick food". While these are not a universal correlation (men eat some salads, women do eat hamburgers), the topic post's reference to males' dislike for vegan foods clearly plays to this tendency. Deviation from societal norms leads to occasional abrasiveness and ridicule, particularly when it comes to behavior that is deemed unmanly. If I showed up for work on Monday with a pink Hello Kitty t-shirt, the other guys at work would probably tease me.

Re:ah... so it begins...

[andrewski]

I really don't think that you could eat meat and not consider yourself a killer. If you aren't prepared to kill, butcher, and then prepare your meat you shouldn't be eating it.

I think the vegan diet is alright. If strict attention is paid towards acquiring all the amino acids daily, it can be healthy. If not, hormone imbalance, malnutrition, and many other maladies can be the result.

I personally love meat (had a dry-aged ribeye wrapped in uncured bacon last night) but my bride-to-be eats only fish and other seafood. It's a healthy choice. As far as the manliness factor, who gives a fuck? If you are so concerned about looking manly then grow a handlebar mustache and drive a monster truck, and call everyone else who doesn't a 'faggit'.

Re:ah... so it begins...

[nelsonal]

I don't think that he means this should be the only way you get your food, but that if asked any meat eater should be prepared to kill their own food at least once. I've butchered a cow I raised from a calf, and well, it really changes the whole eating process. You realize that a living thing had to die so you could eat it. It should make you want to not let that death be wasted, or change your eating habits. It's pretty hypocritical for someone who regularly eats meat from a store, but is unable to look the creature in the eye before killing it for the meat.

Re:ah... so it begins...

[Tower]

>No animal on Earth drinks milk of another species at all, and none even drink milk of their own species past infancy.

No other species wears clothes, cooks/bakes, builds motorized vehicles, reads poetry, plays baseball, or posts on slashdot.

Rice milk and soy milk are like skim milk and powdered milk - if you grew up with them or have been drinking them for a while, they are fine, but they are a major shock to those who haven't had them on a regular basis.

Re:i wonder how much commercials

[joelpt]

The fact that somebody rated the parent post here as "Troll" only seems to reinforce the validity of the poster's observation.

Re:Vegans

[I(rispee_I(reme]

For those who have somehow managed to avoid these fools, Vegans are a group of new-age diet gurus who tell everyone who will listen that they are evil for eating meat. While there are many reasons to reduce the amount of meat in your diet, morality is not among them. Also, most "vegans" kill animals passively too. The real vegans who actually believe their own hype all grow their own food and are all rail-thin from malnourishment. If you meet a vibrant, glowing person who tries to sell you on a vegan diet, they're killing animals somewhere.

Re:Vegans

[Anonymous Coward]

What FUD. Veganism has nothing at all to do with new-age thought. I am a vegan, and do not believe in any new-age thought. If you think the fact that some new-age people are vegans, and vice versa, means that one is a subset of the other, then I guess carnivores are also new age gurus, by your specious logic.

Have you ever met any of these 'real vegans' in person? I have, and they are the healthiest people I've ever met. When you say they're rail-thin, I assume you mean they're not the normal fat-ass overweight American, in which case, yes it's true, vegans generally have the weight and figure that people are supposed to have.

Um, but?

[Lord Kano]

won't be impressed until they can make a healthy human male yearn for a nice healthy vegan dinner.

Isn't this an oxymoron? In the immortal words of Paul Rodriguez "I've never met a vegetarian that looked like he could kick MY ass".

Regerdless of how many times you people say otherwise, it doesn't change the fact that a BALANCED diet that includes some meat and/or animal products is healthier than a purely vegan diet.

LK

contradiction in terms

[SlugLord]

"nice healthy vegan dinner"

That's highly unlikely. If we want to make "having the nutrients necessary for good health" a prerequisite to "healthy," then it is nearly impossible to have a "healthy vegan dinner."

This of course assumes we take the optimistic view of the possibility of a "nice vegan dinner."

A nice healthy vegetarian dinner is quite possible, but you will be hard pressed to find anyone who can actually maintain their health (in the sense of not becoming seriously ill) as well as a vegan diet without loading their diet with supplements. To me this seems to demonstrate that a vegan diet is clearly not "natural," as vegans could not exist without modern technology. The logical conclusion, then, is that the vast majority of vegans are hypocrites or fools. The remaining minority are sickly and quite possibly dying of malnutrition

You had the answer, why overrule yourself?

[lorcha]

How did you get from

Granted, there are some of us who are... less than polite when it comes to their views

to

I chock it up to "fear of all that is different."

?

It's not fear of what is different. It's, as you say, that vegetarians have a tendency to be impolite.

Here's an example. I was sitting at a table at a wedding and one of the people at the table was a vegetarian. The wait staff messed up who had the vegetarian meal and accidentally set down a steak in front of said vegetarian. What do you think she did she do to address the situation? Do you think she politely informed the waiter that she had ordered the vegetarian entree and could he please correct the problem? No, that would be the normal thing to do. Instead, she let out a blood-curdling scream and started shrieking, "Get it away! Get it away!"

Now, is there any point in making a scene like that? If it really distressed her so much to see something that once went "Moo" put in front of her, she could have stood up, walked over to the waiter, and asked him to correct the problem. You want to know why the meat-eating public doesn't want to hear about your vegetarianism? It's experiences like that, coupled with moralistic lectures (we've heard them all before, believe me) that make us uninterested. You want meat-eaters to not be abraisive? Here's a hint: when you go out with us, simply order a meal that doesn't contain meat and keep your fucking lectures to yourself.