Could you eat carrion?!
Could you eat carrion?
Sorry if you find the title inflammatory. I do ask with respect.
I'm sure there are plenty of meat eaters that wouldn't, but for the sake of the question please assume that the animal was clean, fresh and disease free.
I'd like to understand that if an animal had lived a natural life and died of causes unrelated to being slaughtered for food, could (I choose 'could' over 'would') you eat it? I'd appreciate reasons either way.
I pose the question to you as individuals in order for me to better understand what it is to be a vegetarian and why there are so many strong views posted here. Is it purely about ethics and empathy?
Please say what you think - if that includes derogatory remarks, feel free (especially if they are amusing), but please bear in mind that I can't put an 18 certificate on the question.
2 days ago
I feel a little daft really. I had assumed that vegetarianism is all about the inethical treatment of animals, but it wasn't mentioned once. It seems it's much more personal than that - a state of mind even - and that explains why some vegetarians will think meat eaters disgusting and some carnivores think vegetarians strange.
What is striking is the number of peripheral arguments I have seen that go on outside of here; teeth, health, ethics etc. Based on this very scientific Y!A brass tacks survey, they all seem irrelevant. As it turns out, it's simply a question of whether or not to eat meat and that choice is presumably based - as every choice is - on genetics, experience and circumstances.
I suppose the fact that there are heated discussions about this highlights a fairly grim part of what it is to be human. When you see someone who apparently has had similar influences to you in their life and they make a what is percieved to be a radically different decision, you become wary.
Answers:
2 days ago
I feel a little daft really. I had assumed that vegetarianism is all about the inethical treatment of animals, but it wasn't mentioned once. It seems it's much more personal than that - a state of mind even - and that explains why some vegetarians will think meat eaters disgusting and some carnivores think vegetarians strange.
What is striking is the number of peripheral arguments I have seen that go on outside of here; teeth, health, ethics etc. Based on this very scientific Y!A brass tacks survey, they all seem irrelevant. As it turns out, it's simply a question of whether or not to eat meat and that choice is presumably based - as every choice is - on genetics, experience and circumstances.
I suppose the fact that there are heated discussions about this highlights a fairly grim part of what it is to be human. When you see someone who apparently has had similar influences to you in their life and they make a what is percieved to be a radically different decision, you become wary.
I could not eat carrion no matter how the animal had died.
I gave up meat because I didn't want to eat animals so the idea would feel wrong to me. I am not a crusading vegetarian so I am not going to give you a hard time for the question but would you eat carrion.
Thanks for making me think.
You should try the Roadkill Cafe http://www.vgg.com/otr/roadkill.html...
Nope, I'm a vegetaran!
My Granny used to say you can eat anything, rotten or not as long as you cook it long enough to kill any bacteria in it!!! She sure used to cook stinking cows hearts for the dog and we used to keep out of the kitchen while she did it! I certainly am very fussy about what I eat and don't even buy meat that is on its sell by date, reduced or not, especially fish, pork or chicken so I can't say I've ever put her theory to the test. My daughter is vegetarian, and she eats absolute crap!! Pasta and potatoes, very little veg, due to her colitis, and she looks pale, ill and has dark bags under her eyes!! She does eat tuna though so that's something!! She only weight about 8 stones and she's 5ft 6" tall!!!
I'm a meat eater and given the stipulation of clean and disease free yes I could quite easily eat it.
Vegetarians don't eat meat or meat by-products.
Vegans don't eat meat, meat by-products or animal resourced foods (hence no dairy or eggs)
Jews who are meat eaters, couldn't eat carrion since they are forbidden from eating carnivores; they are also forbidden from eating anything which "dies of itself" - I think that is in the second book of the Bible (I'm sure someone will put me straight if it isn't!)
I reckon that even the real hard-liners would eat meat if there was nothing else at all - not many of us would die for our principles!
Yes. Some travellers will use road kill if it's not too badly mangled and is fresh. I've eaten a pheasant that flew into my windshield...yummy!
yes u could. i have heard of people who eat rotten food to stay healthy. i saw it on ripleys believe ot or not..
yet ultimately, i wouldn't recommend it.
just eat roscoes house of chix and waffles instead.
Assuming it fit your criteria, yes. The natural order of evolution, check dentition.
NO I don't agree with how some animals are raised, ie. factory farming, additions of God knows what in their feed etc.
I f you want a fresh rabbit, a quick clean as far as possible kill, the skins used, meat eaten, other unwanted bits fed to local fox/wild life, your pet cat or dog, that is fine by me. What I disagree with is just because you have say 10 shots you kill 10 rabbits that is unnecessary, same as introducing a disease to remove an over abundance of them, sheer criminal waste. ie. 'Myxomatosis', what is the 'knock on' effect to the human population several generations later?
But then all dead meat could be classed as carrion
I like this question because it applies to two quite different types of situation :
1. If you're an ethical vegetarian and object to meat-eating because you're against the slaughtering of animals for food, well here's a case of animal food arising without slaughter, ill-treatment or whatever. A vegetarian or vegan on purely health grounds would reject carrion and all meat regardless of its conditions or origins.
2. If you're a meat-eater there's a nice psychological problem of disgust. Would you eat soup from a chamber-pot that was absolutely new and pristine ? I'd have an aversion from doing this because of the normal associations - and risks - of eating soup or anything else from a standard chamber-pot. Those associations are irrelevant here but still hard to suppress. I think it would be the same with carrion. We're so used to the filth and awfulness of carrion that we feel some disgust (at least I do) at the idea of eating it - even though in the case described there'd be no rational reason not to eat it. If the meat were good and I were hungry I hope I'd be sensible enough to eat it, but my emotions could get in the way.
NO WAY!....................!
No, vegetarians cannot eat carrion.
Its a moral and pricipled situation, nothing to do with how or when the animals died.
Its a question often posed ( would you eat a dead animal if it died of natural causes) by meat-eaters but at the end of the day the thought of eating a dead animal is likely to make most vegetarians ill, whether it was slaughted or died naturally.
The formal, internationally recognised defintion of a vegetarians is: "Someone who does not eat meat, fish, poultry or slaughter by-products"
As you can see, there is no room in this definition for exceptions depending on how the animal died.
No, I wouldnt eat it. Its still a dead animal. You can get all of the nutrition you need from a plant and grain based diet. I see no need to turn my body into a graveyard for dead animals. Just my personal choice.
I eat nothing that has a brain. Whether it works or not.
Unfortunately, saying this brings a lot of my sarcastic friends (and my own tendancies) out and I have to ponder if my own morales would allow me to consume several of the people I run into on a daily basis. -.-
I regularly eat road kill. The secret is that if the rabbit, hare or game bird is in the middle of the road and not too badly knocked about, it can't have been there very long as something would have gone over it and squashed it completely. A good bet that it is reasonably fresh. If it is in the gutter then leave well alone - it could have been there for days.
I would eat it for sure if it was a survival issue.But saying that i would also eat my grandmother if i had to. Other than that i vegetarian through and through.
You shouldn't eat anything unless you were absolutely sure of what it died of.
Old age would make it tough and stringy.
Disease, especially that which could be passed on from its own diet, could be fatal.
Carrion is not normally eaten even in backward countries as it doesn't have a good taste.
However, if thats all there was, and to not eat would mean starvation, then yes you could.
It wouldnt be the first thing on the menu that I would choose but as you state that it is clean and disease free I dont think I would have a problem with it. I would just have to be feeling adventurous that day. I have turned down Pigeon salad in favour of a nice Lamb Bhuna in our works shop before now but thats because I work in a town centre, And the only pigeons I see are are basically rats with wings and I couldnt quite get round that.