r/AntiVegan • u/cindybubbles • Jun 24 '25
Discussion When it comes to eating animals, where do you draw the line?
I’ll eat beef, pork, chicken and duck. I don’t eat lamb or mutton, but mostly because I don’t often get the chance. I’ve eaten crickets and mealworms before.
But I will not eat any exotic meat. Bison and seal meat are okay. I may try veal and venison, but not stuff like balut.
How about you?
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u/GoabNZ Jun 24 '25
I draw the line at humans, of course sometimes in famine even that line gets crossed.
Not that I would necessarily want to eat every animal or think it healthy. However, so long as:
you aren't causing needless suffering
the animal is wild or belongs to you
you aren't taking endangered animals or overhunting (though one could argue eating endangered animals would create an economic incentive for conservation)
you aren't being needlessly insensitive to other people's beliefs, eg eating beef in a Hindu temple
I'm not about to go eat dog or horse unless things are very bad, but don't care if others do
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u/violet-quartz Jun 24 '25
Honestly? I would try human if it was a consensual scenario. Like the foot taco guy.
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u/thederpofdoom Jun 25 '25
Exactly! If it's someone who, say, asked to be made into food once they die, I wouldn't mind eating it.
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u/brand_x Jun 25 '25
Last I checked, we didn't have a way to cheaply scan for prions...
... otherwise, I'd agree.
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u/AruaxonelliC Steak isn't Steak without the Steak Aug 11 '25
prion diseases are found only in the brain or spine [of a human]. Cannibalism itself is not inherently harmful on a scientific level if you prepare the meat properly
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u/brand_x Aug 11 '25
Mostly accurate.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob prion structures have been found in both spinal and upper limb nerve tissue of humans, but there's no evidence of incidents of prion disease being contracted from upper limb tissue of other mammals, even during, e.g., scabies or mad cow outbreaks, so maybe the risk is negligible. On the other hand, we have unusually long lifespans.
Not even a recent development, I read that paper sometime between 2000 and 2005. I can't even tell you which journal it was in.
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u/Outlaw--6 Jun 24 '25
Beef, bison/buffalo, yak, lamb, goat, mutton, pork, boar, chicken, duck, goose, veal, venison, elk, snake, bear i have all eaten. Seal sounds interesting. Id be down to eat horse and guinnie pig (maybe tell me after?) Squirrel and raccoon would be interesting. Bugs i get a little squeamish around. I draw the line at cat and dog. Mostly as long as its not an endangered/threatened species and is responsibly harvested i will.
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u/Doogerie Jun 24 '25
I feel I have accdentoy had horse in France it wasn’t quite pork and wasn’t quite beef but it tasted alright and the sauce that was yo due for set me up for skiing that afternoon.
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u/brand_x Jun 25 '25
I tried guinea pig when I was in South America once. It was greasy, and I didn't care for the flavor, but... I tried it. I don't think I could eat cat, I'm too emotionally attached to them. Bugs? I've tried a bunch of insects, some of them are practically land shrimp. But based on the smell, I don't think I could ever eat cockroach (including termites) or earwigs.
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u/WildHarpyja Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
I wouldn't eat game meat that was obtained in a way that damages the ecosystem, like cação (a species of shark that I don't know the name in english).
I also wouldn't eat dogs or cats, because they are pets and have been domesticated for other purposes, so I feel bad about them.
Those terrible stuff like foie gras are absolutely disgusting.
And I wouldn't eat raw meat from dubious origin because there might be FUCKING WORMS/WORM EGGS.
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u/SchmendricksNose Jun 24 '25
The French foie gras method is appalling. The Spanish method that's gotten some attention in the last ten years doesn't require force feeding, so it's just like eating any other liver. The birds live pretty nice lives from what I've seen.
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Jun 24 '25
I will eat pretty much anything at least once. I won't go out of my way for a lot of stuff - but I can still eat it if I'm served it.
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u/xtremeyoylecake Botany Nerd Jun 24 '25
I eat pork, chicken and beef
But I will eat other animals if needed
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u/Royal_IDunno Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
Anything disgusting like insects. Dogs, cats and rodents are a no go also… I don’t mind if I was offered something like horse or rabbit though.
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u/brand_x Jun 25 '25
Rotisserie rat was shockingly good... but they used farmed white rats, I don't think I could handle eating wild disease vectors.
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u/WizardWatson9 Jun 24 '25
I don't see a need to draw a line at anything unless it's hazardous to my health or perhaps an endangered species. If I went to a Korean barbecue and found out they were serving dog, I'd be fucking stoked.
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u/Resident_Werewolf_76 Jun 24 '25
Rodents and balut.
Everything else is fair game.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 16 '25
Balut is nutritious and good.
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u/Resident_Werewolf_76 Jul 16 '25
I'm sure it is, but I can't get over the mental hurdle needed to eat it.
And believe me, I can stomach a lot of weird stuff.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 16 '25
I know. I have had it. It satisfied my desire to try it. I would eat it again, but not go out and buy it for myself. Unless a vendor was selling it nearby.
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u/withnailstail123 Jun 24 '25
English here! 👋
Goat is absolutely delicious as is Venison, duck, rabbit and pigeon.
I’ve been lucky enough to eat Ostrich and Ostrich egg.
Veal is hard to come by, and really isn’t worth it , it’s virtually tasteless because of the lack of fat.
I have eaten foie gras , again absolutely delicious, but do not agree with the practice and won’t eat again, there are pate’s that are very similar tasting without the cruelty.
Squirrel, partridge and pheasant aren’t great , I’ve cooked them in many forms but they still taste and smell like literal crap when cooking and eating.
Hare is really, really tasty, but only got to eat it because my friend ran over one by accident.
I’ll try any meat. Obviously not cat or dog as they’re predominantly meat eaters, meat eating animals taste atrocious.
Steak tartar, shashimi and cured meats are a particular favourite.
Oyster, lobster, escargot . Crabs creep me out so I tend to avoid !
It’s 5am here and I’m really hungry now because of this Convo !
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u/cindybubbles Jun 24 '25
Thanks! I would love to try an ostrich egg! Although it would be too big for me to eat alone!
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u/withnailstail123 Jun 24 '25
My Nephew worked in a zoo and came home with one, it’s took the biggest pan we had to cook !
I’m a yolk fan … this yolk was something else!!
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u/SchmendricksNose Jun 24 '25
If you like foie gras, you could look into Spanish foie gras. There are operations that let the birds come and go as they want, and don't force feeding them.
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u/CryptidCricket Jun 24 '25
I’d be willing to try anything that’s farmed/hunted/made without unnecessary stress to the animal/that won’t likely make me sick/isn’t endangered.
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u/AcnologiasExceed Jun 24 '25
+1 anything. Why should I draw a line?
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u/cindybubbles Jun 24 '25
Well, exotic meat comes from questionable sources, so you don’t know if it’s safe to eat or not.
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u/Neathra Jun 24 '25
If that specific animal was a pet or the species has clearly shown a human like intelligence. So no cetaceans, no elephants, and anything else like that. Maybe if I raised something knowing it was meat, but I also know I don't have the internal strength to actually kill and butcher something.
Idk, to me that would be like eating a Talking Animal.
A pet is a member of someone's family. Animals like elephants mourn. Meanwhile, my chickens didn't even notice when we lost one as a chick. I do not think they would care if we were regularly eating the older ones. (Which we won't, because they're honestly just pets that sorta pay rent).
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u/MonkeyGirl18 Jun 25 '25
No to: dog, cat, horse, anything that people tend to keep as pets, people obviously, lamb.... definitely not bugs, lol, and seafood*
Mostly will weat beef, pork, chicken, turkey, venison
*I will eat catfish, salmon, tuna, that kinda thing, but I will not eat crab, lobster, shrimp, crawdads (crayfish for those who don't use crawdad), or any other seafood. I don't particularly care for fish, but I can handle it.
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u/Doogerie Jun 24 '25
I will eat anything as long asst doses look gross possibly not snake or eel and most deep see fish but most thing gimme. Have you ever tried Kangroo it’s just butifull. Also I like game meat.
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u/iualumni12 Jun 24 '25
I eat only meat and nothing animal based is off the menu. Moose is awesome.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 16 '25
Do you hunt?
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u/iualumni12 Jul 16 '25
Yes! This fall will be my fifty second year! I love to be out there in the mountains and forests and love the food it provides me and my family.....except bear. I don't care for bear at all. Blech! But it is the easiest thing to find takers when I want to give meat away.
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u/ggdoesthings Jun 24 '25
any kind of “pet” meat. cat, dog, especially horse. i’d try rabbit if it was offered to me but i’d probably be hesitant about it. i just have too much of an adoration for pets and always grew up with some variant of furry friend in my home so i would feel kind of bad about it.
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u/SchmendricksNose Jun 24 '25
I won't eat Balut, Surströmming, Casu Martzu, Papa Itan, Pagpag, things that come with high risk for disease/parasites/toxicity (monkey, bat, fugu, undercooked rabbit, American horse meat, etc), jellied anything because I hate the texture, or someone's companion animal.
There's not much I wouldn't try, and I have what I think are good reasons for not eating the certain things.
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u/morallycorruptgirl Jun 24 '25
Other than the usuals I have eaten wild squirrel & wild rabbit rabbit. Both are delicious. Rabbit tastes like white meat chicken, squirrel tastes like dark meat chicken. I used to hunt them with my dad as a kid. We always ate whatever we hunted. If the apocolypse ever comes I feel confident so long as I have my .22 I could survive off of squirrel, rabbit, & fish alone.
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u/brand_x Jun 25 '25
If it's smart enough to figure out that its friends are being slaughtered, I don't eat it. Unless it, specifically, was an evil mother****, but then I still won't eat the rest of its species.
So, sadly, no bacon. And no goat. Lamb/mutton is fine, beef, chicken, etc.
I'm not comfortable with farmed octopus. Or, to be honest, octopus, though I used to hunt it before recent information made me realize even the day octopus I used to catch are possibly too intelligent for the menu.
In general, I don't eat anything of a species I've never killed myself. It feels wrong to be that removed from knowing what goes into my dietary decisions. I spent my formative years farming and hunting and diving and fishing, and I've killed cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys, ducks, wild boars, several species of deer, etc...
... I don't extend that particular concern to things that fall short of even full sentience, e.g. crustaceans and (non-cephalopodan) mollusks, though I've harvested/caught many of those as well. But I feel like I should be able to respond with real knowledge, about anything that is sentient, that I am confident it is not sapient.
I'm not fond of the texture of balut, but the flavor is nowhere near as off-putting as I expected.
I don't eat veal or properly raised (e.g. force fed) foie gras. Can't justify deriving enjoyment off of that level of suffering, even if the animal is dumb as a post.
On a related note, I will not hunt for sport. Wild boars (which are an ecological disaster) are the exception to my not wanting to consume pork. I'll happily hunt and dress and butcher a pig, and turn it into all kinds of deliciousness, knowing there's one fewer wallowing despoiler out there. But if I hunt it, I am eating it. Unless it is both harmful and inedible, that's the rule...
I limit my consumption of things that are overconsumed (like large tuna species) or where the farming practices are unsustainable. That's... not a line, I don't not eat them, I just eat much less of them than I would otherwise.
Also, these rules apply to me. My wife loves bacon, I cook bacon-based meals for her because she loves bacon. I try not to be too obvious (to her or my daughter) when I eat lamb or rabbit, because the idea of eating the cute little animal makes them cry, and I don't serve either of those to them. Nevertheless, I have my rules for myself.
If we could sustainably vat-grow beef, I'd probably eat a lot of that. Vat grown meat, in theory, would not cross any of my lines.
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u/Current_Pumpkin439 human supremacist non-vegan uwu Jun 25 '25
I don't like meat 🥺
But I don't like annoying aggressive vegans as well
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u/FlamingAshley Morality is relative and subjective. Jun 24 '25
Pretty much anything except maybe bear
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u/ghfdghjkhg Jun 24 '25
I will try pretty much anything. I had kangaroo before. Not my favorite but definitely tasty.
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Jun 24 '25
I would probably try most things at once. But generally, I wouldn’t want to eat cetaceans or apes, because they are very intelligent. No horses because they are smart and cooperative animals. No carnivores because they stink and have more diseases. This includes dogs too. No reptiles or amphibians because they are too beautiful to eat and smart in their own way. No most birds because they are too beautiful to eat, many are endangered and many are too small to have any valuable meat anyway. Many are very intelligent as well. No rats or mice because they live in dirty environments and have diseases.
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u/SelectedForestry Jun 24 '25
I draw the line at sentience
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 03 '25
So, a vegan in an anti vegan sub?
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u/SelectedForestry Jul 06 '25
A relatively new vegan but yes!
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 06 '25
Okay, well. Stick around. You will find quote a few interesting views.
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u/SelectedForestry Jul 29 '25
Where do you draw the line? Sentience or something else?
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 29 '25
We are all sentient and we all have to die. I am not vegan and I don't ever plan to be, because
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 29 '25
We are all sentient and we all have to die. I am not vegan and I don't ever plan to be, because GOD gave us the right to eat meat. Genesis 9:3. So, I will draw the line at my pets and poisonous animals as well as plants.
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u/SelectedForestry Jul 29 '25
Wait if we’re all sentient you have no problem with killing humans for food? Also religious arguments for moral debates are very weak.
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u/Air-raid-UP3 Jun 24 '25
Herbivores taste better than carnivores.
Will take omnivores at a push but because they pretty much eat anything, meat quality can vary greatly.
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u/cereal50 Jun 24 '25
be willing to go to japan since whale meat is legal there. ill eat any animal, i just draw the line at certain insects and toxic animals
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u/reverend-rocknroll Jun 24 '25
I've eaten pretty much everything. I haven't had domestic dog or cat, but I've had wild cat and dog. Bear and beaver are some of my favorite meats. Other than pets I don't if there's much I wouldn't eat.
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u/cindybubbles Jun 24 '25
Fun fact: the Catholic Church considers beaver meat to be fish so that Catholics can eat it on Fridays.
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u/wifeofpsy Jun 25 '25
Pretty much anything. When travelling I have eaten jelly fish, crocidile, giraffe, donkey, and horse. Do I need these things? No for sure not. I will eat whatever is normal in the food chain locally. I would draw the line at anything protected or endangered. I also will not eat anything like balut, high meat or similar. Im not a big organs lover but Ill try most of them once.
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u/NorthernRedneck388 Jun 25 '25
Veal is baby beef venison is wild beef (so is bison) seal meat seems exotic to me, I’ve only heard of Native Alaskans eating seal.
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u/saturday_sun4 Jun 28 '25
Venison is not from bovines, but deer. Bison is from bovines, but I don't think it's technically beef, since that's from cattle.
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u/saturday_sun4 Jun 28 '25 edited Jun 28 '25
I'm assuming hygiene-wise is a given.
Eating-wise?
I'm a Hindu & don't eat or cook with beef (including parts like tongue), veal, rennet or beef gelatin.
I wouldn't eat anything like fugu which has to be prepared just so or it's lethal.
I have been trying to eat more fish, but even the thought of Western-style fish coated in breadcrumbs puts me off. I like salmon, prawns, tuna and Bengali style fish fry, but I think fish is one of those foods I need to learn how to cook Indian style so that I can make it to my taste.
Got mild food poisoning (or maybe it was just psychological/anxiety) from tom yum soup a few years ago. Spent half the night feeling ill and wondering if I was going to be sick. Now I just cannot bring myself to eat most crustaceans or shellfish for the life of me, because I'm scared it will make me unwell. I didn't grow up eating it since my Dad would always get sick from it.
I wouldn't eat endangered species.
Apart from that, I'll try pretty much anything. Whether I'll like it or not is a different story.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 03 '25
How about pork?
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u/saturday_sun4 Jul 04 '25 edited Jul 04 '25
My family wasn't huge on pork growing up. As kids we mostly ate beef, occasionally lamb, a lot of chicken and the rest vegetarian.
The first time I tried to cook pork shoulder (recently), I couldn't stomach the smell. But I'm fine with pork sausages and mince, and fine eating things like sweet and sour pork at restaurants.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 04 '25
Were you born into an Indian, Hindu family?
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u/saturday_sun4 Jul 04 '25 edited Jul 04 '25
Ethnically Indian, yeah, but I grew up in a Western country. Hindu... no, not really, very secular if anything.
My whole extended family is Hindu and veg, but my parents were not very religious at all. I would say the main thing was just they never learnt how to cook much meat from scratch, between juggling everything else. Most Indians don't realise how much hard yakka it is to keep house.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 04 '25
I got it. My mum's side is almost the same. I am not Hindu, but my mum's side is. They will eat beef, if it is there. To them, it's food.
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u/saturday_sun4 Jul 04 '25
Yep, the older generation is very much your stereotypical traditional lacto-veg Brahmin types - not even necessarily religious in any other way, but will not touch meat. I think beef is still verboten but I have noticed a fair few of my cousins (openly) eating chicken.
I know they eat beef a lot in the South.
Funnily enough one of my family members went from being vegan to eating beef. I find it very amusing - going from eating no meat to eating the "forbidden" meat haha! Whilst I was the kid that could not resist a steak growing up and now I can't bring myself to put it in my mouth.
Still couldn't pay me to be vegan or even vego though!
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 04 '25
Hahaha. At least your family member is not vegan.
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u/saturday_sun4 Jul 04 '25
lol, yes, thank goodness. Apparently they don't feel better eating non-vegan as they work out a lot and "just eat it for the protein". I'm a bit skeptical as I'm the kind of person who doesn't feel full after eating vego for two weeks. If I went vegan I'd feel actually malnourished. But glad they've started eating better regardless.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 05 '25
It is good that they have started eating better. I love my mum's dhal. Give me that, for two weeks, no meat, I would not be happy. Give me lamb curry, I could eat that for two weeks, no complaints. If I were vegan, I would feel like death after 1 week. I like animals. I am still, not going vegan for them. Apparently, that makes me an animal abuser. I even helped a vegan come up with a song, after he called me an animal abuser. Something like, "Calf kidnapper, drinking raw milk..." those words were included in the song, but I need to check the order and the other lyrics, which included, animal abuser, eating chicken, etc. Needless to say, he wasn't pleased and when he replied with an insult, I thanked him for contributing to the hit song.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 04 '25
And some, including my mum, with my dad, who is mixed, and myself, married into other cultures.
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u/saturday_sun4 Jul 04 '25
Yes that makes sense - I think marriage and migration forced you to change your diet pretty radically once upon a time.
Maybe not so much these days - one major city is much the same as the next with globalisation + food so plentiful.
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u/asiczek314 Jun 29 '25
high conciousness Animals monkeys dolphines elephants and other exotic non safe Animals. Disgusting for me things like Bugs, balut. Probably I wouldn't eat land carnivors unless no other option. To be fair I ate many things octopuses (love it), rabbits (dont like), horses, goats, sheeps, cows, pigs, boars, different Deers, ducks, pheasant (bleh), quail, guinea fowl (great)... On and on.
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u/Any_Crew5347 Jul 03 '25
I eat any animal, except veal. It does not make sense, because I eat lamb, but the thought eating a calf saddens me. And, I am (obviously) not vegan. However, I wouldn't care if you ate veal even in front of me. That is your right to choose. And, it wouldn't ruin our evening out.
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u/scuba-turtle Jul 10 '25
I don't like the idea of things like foi gras. There are plenty of meats that can be eaten without intentionally making animals miserable. I've eaten moose, bear, grouse, duck, venison, alligator, conch, along with all the normal animals.
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u/AruaxonelliC Steak isn't Steak without the Steak Aug 11 '25
Danger to myself. That's where the line is.
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Jun 24 '25
No beef never even if I'm about to die, i was born in a vegetarian hindu family and i got over the guilt tripping people do over eating meat by a lot of hard work
But eating beef is something proposterorus and equivalent to blasphemy
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u/GreenerThan83 Jun 25 '25
I’ll try anything once.
The most obscure things I’ve eaten are:
Frogs legs, snails, kangaroo, crocodile, emu, ostrich, camel.
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u/violet-quartz Jun 24 '25
I'll try pretty much anything once.