Meat flavoured munch

[Dupree]

Is eating stuff like chicken flavoured noodles that contain chicken flavourings but no actual chicken wrong if you are a vegetarian? Or beef flavoured crisps?

The idea of people have actually going to the trouble of finding a complex and bizarre set of chemicals that replicate the taste of chicken and that people ingest these chemicals seems somehow wrong to me but morally...is it wrong?

I suppose it depends on the reasons you became vegetarian in the first place...

Ideas/opinions/suggestions pleeease!

 

[DeadLinDy]

Probably not... Vegetarians eat fake burgers, hot dogs, chicken and the like... made of tofu or tempe or whatever it is that really isnt 'meat' but tastes like it. Is that wrong?

 

[Sister]

Definitely wrong. Not for the vegetarian reasons, but because it's just wrong to eat chemicals.
Viva Organic food!

 

[Dupree]

Hmm, yeah, whenever I am at work eating a bowl of chicken and spring onion noodles or something this girl always comes up to me and goes 'Chicken flavour, that's wrong...' and I'll say 'but look, it has the veggie symbol on' and she'll pick it up and study the packaging mumbling 'monohydrogluxamanol....sodium diazanemylonate...hmmm, that is still so wrong' (guessing they're not actual chemical names..). I see her point but still, surely it's only as bad as eating a packet or Wotsits or a cheesestring?

I just feel like saying 'for the love of God woman, I just like noodles! Okay?!'

 

[realitybites]

It is only morally wrong if you are trying to be perfect. It is vegetarian. Is it healthy for your body or the environment? I dunno.

 

[Codreanu]

I think a more interesting, and disturbing, quandary for vegetarians to ponder is the ethicality of the consumption of human placenta -- it is, after all, a cruelty-free source of meat!

From the September, 1983 issue of "Mothering Magazine"...

Each placenta weighs approximately 1/6 of the baby's weight. Cut the meat away from the membranes with a sharp knife. Discard the membranes.

Placenta Cocktail: 1/4 cup raw placenta, 8oz V-8 juice, 2 ice cubes, 1/2 cup carrot. Blend at high speed for 10 seconds

Placenta Lasagne: Use your favorite lasagne recipe and substitute this mixture for one layer of cheese. In 2 tbl. olive oil, quickly saute meat of 3/4 placenta, ground or minced plus 2 sliced cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/2 diced onion & 2 tbl. tomato paste, or 1 whole tomato.

Placenta Spaghetti: Cut meat of 3/4 placenta into bite size pieces, then brown quickly in 1 tbl. butter plus 1 tbl. oil. Then add 1 large can tomato puree, 2 cans crushed pear tomatoes, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tbl. molasses, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbl. rosemary, 1 tsp. ea. of salt, honey, oregano, basil, and fennel. Simmer 1 1/2 hours.

Placenta Stew: Meat of 3/4 placenta in bite size chunks, 1 potato (cubed), 1/4 cup fresh parsley, 2 carrots, 3 ribs celery, 1 zucchini, 1 large tomato, 1 small onion. Dredge meat in 1 tbl. flour mixed with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp. paprika, pinch of cloves, pinch of pepper, 6-8 crushed coriander seeds. Saute meat in 2 tbl. oil, then add vegetables (cut up) and 4-5 cups of water. Bring to full boil, then simmer for 1 hour.

Placenta Pizza: Grind placenta. Saute in 2 tbl. olive oil with 4 garlic cloves, then add 1/4 tsp fennel, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/4 tsp. thyme, and 1/4 cup of wine. Allow to stand for 30 minutes, then use with your favorite home made pizza recipe. It's a fine placenta sausage topping.

* * *

Coffee, Tea, or Me:
The Story of How I Ate My Placenta
by Elyse April

The first time I ever heard of the consumption of placenta was just about two years ago when I moved into a living situation with a pregnant couple. At that time, being pregnant was far from my own mind. In fact, I was a little bit uneasy with babies in general and with that mothering part of myself in particular. However, I attended their homebirth and I was there for the afterbirth as well.

Now, if you can understand my inner conflict in regard to motherhood, you can understand how repulsed I was when Marie, my housemate, ate her placenta. Her hubbie just cooked it up with sautéed onions and she gobbled it down with gusto. How could she eat it? My stomach turned somersaults as I tried to listen to all of the explanations as to how nutritious it is and how natural. "Why, mama cats do it," I was told. My thought then was, I'm no animal and I'm no cannibal.

A year and a half later, I was to eat my words. Nothing seemed more natural nor more appetizing to me than to eat my placenta. Baby Aaron was born at home in the company of six women and his father. There were no complications and the placenta received as much praise from my midwives as did the baby. Both were intact and beautiful. The placenta shone red and full-bodied as it lay in its special bowl. Soon, I found it brimming in a glass mixed with V-8 Juice. One of my midwives blenderized some of it and served it to me with a smile. To my delight, and surprise, it was great! I felt myself filling up, taking back what I had created for baby's use while in the womb. I fell very natural, like a mama cat.

A few days later, while I indulged in resting and bonding with baby Aaron, my husband suggested that we get "it" out of the refrigerator. He offered to cook it up with sautéed onions. Immediately, I flashed back to the days of yore when I almost gagged at the thought. "Sure, honey," I said, secretly wishing that he might try some with me. Although my husband has come a long way in terms of accepting the birth, I was glad that he refused to sample my placenta and left it all for me. I gobbled it up and then felt sorry that that was the end of it ... at least until the next birth. As for my husband, his attitude towards this unusual delicacy has changed radically. One of the silk-screened T-shirts he is currently marketing is an "Eat Placenta" T-shirt for women. Not only is it very tastefully done, but he enjoys the varied reactions people have toward it, and I enjoy wearing it.

 

[Dupree]

Well, I have a bowl of noodles in front of me as we speak and I really don't want to put myself off them so I'll think on the subject only briefly...

Placenta does seem fairly cruelty free so I suppose the odd dish wouldn't be too bad - as long as you didn't get hooked to it. It seems quite a nice way to celebrate the birth of a wee bambino...a special placenta feast. The only trouble would be if you liked the taste so much you began farming pregnant ladies to fuel your placenta lust.

Hmmm...well, I wouldn't eat it personally because it just seems way too gross and verging on Hannibal style but for the less grossed out I don't see why it wouldn't be a nice treat to share with your friend and their new child.

 

[jossu]

Hmmm... I'm a vegetarian also but I wouldn't eat chicken flavoured noodles. Morally wrong?.... Dunno but I don't like the idea of eating something that tastes like meat. But that's just me! You do what you want to do and all that..

 

[Spicer]

I'm veggie and I'd rather eat a plate of glass than a placenta! How revolting! Call me old fashioned, but I don't consider medical waste "dinner"

 

[Mmmmmm]

Eating meat flavoured noodles or veggie burgers - or meat flavoured meat for that matter - is exactly as imoral as you wish it to be. Since you are biologically an omnivore, there is no natural (evolutionary) reason not to kill and consume meat or meat flavoured products. If you wish for it to be moral then it is since morality is a law you construct to guide your dietary choices.

If the basis of your moral objection to meat lies in the fact that animals are treated cruelly in its production, then rest easy, as synthetic meat flavour does not violate that moral boundary.

If the basis of your choice to be vegetarian is for health reasons (to preserve the moral integrity of your body) then, I'd run heartily away from ramen.

If, on the other hand, you are seeking some spiritual sense of moral comfort in your choices by conforming to some social ideology (which is what it sounds like to me as you are already cognizant of the issues realated to the previous two choices) then you really should explore your own individual free agency more and make choices independent of others' equally ersatz moral constructs.

Finally, if the yuck factor is what is driving you (i.e. placenta stew, slain cow, etc.) then stop being such a sissy! It won't be any prettier when it comes out the arse end of you

 

[The Youngest]

I am a veggie and I still eat chicken noodles, beef crisps, etc. The reason I stopped eating meat wasn't because I didn't like the taste it was because I think its wrong.

btw: That placenta looks awful. I felt sick looking at it

 

[DeadLinDy]

wow... people eat placenta? what has the world come to? my stomach hurts now...

 

[The Cat's Mother]

I've read that you can slice placenta and fry it up with onions, but I reckon it'd be a bit tough and stringy as placentas are past their functional best by the time you sprog. Frankly, on all three occaisions, I've been too knackered after giving birth to make culinary plans for my afterbirth. Although I've played midwife to a variety of cats and dogs who have tucked in with neither qualms nor onions.

 

[Codreanu]

The idea of people have actually going to the trouble of finding a complex and bizarre set of chemicals that replicate the taste of chicken and that people ingest these chemicals seems somehow wrong to me but morally...is it wrong?

I know this is only tangentially related to the topic of this thread, but linked below is a fascinating article that I recently read, incidental to the quote above, on the artificial flavour industry.

Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good (excerpt from Eric Schlosser's 'Fast Food Nation')

 

[Busy Clippers]

I'm veg; don't like the taste of meat, chicken or fish. Don't really like fake meats, either. Too meaty. For me chicken is the grossest thing, probably grosser than that placenta up there. Ever spend time with chickens? If you watch them scratching around the barnyard for awhile you'd be hard pressed to want to put one in your mouth. There's a reason they're called fowl.

Actually, the placenta looks like something that the folks at rathergood.com would paste eyes on and have singing a ska song...

 

[Dupree]

Although I've played midwife to a variety of cats and dogs who have tucked in with neither qualms nor onions.

Yeah, lol, coming from a show dog family too I have seen many a mummy-dog wolf down afterbirth. Sometimes you can't get in quick enough to take them away - according to my mum they can eat one or two but more than that is bad for them...don't know if you do that too Cat's Mother?

No hesitation there...

But then I suppose they also spend hours licking their own genitals and sniff each other's bums so I'm not sure if I would like to follow their lead. They're more in touch with nature than us though...

Just for the record, the future of my diet is not in the balance here...I'm not going to decide not to eat chicken noodles or anything. Like I've said earlier, noodles are hella delicious and I'd have their babies if I could...I just wondered your opinions on the subject.

 

[The Cat's Mother]

As I recall, more than a couple can upset the bitch's stomach. Cats have a talent for giving birth the moment you go out to do the shopping so they often as not make the decision for themselves.

I don't eat meat but I love fake-chicken-flavoured crisps and noodles. I keep a couple of ex-commercial laying hens in the garden and they love leftover fake-chicken-flavour noodles too - I told them it was fake-slug-flavour and they're not too bright, so.....