telling them that their culture and way of life is “gross”.
Hard to deny that in most cases. But not all, because people’s minds work differently. Personally I rind risible the idea that somebody is attacking my “culture and way of life” when they question my diet. Am I really so rare in my individualism and openness to new ideas?
Because here’s the thing: I personally have stopped eating certain foods simply after thinking about what they are. Cheese is literally the congealed secretions of the mammalian reproductive apparatus. Pretty yucky when you think about it like that, right? No rational arguments or statistics required. That’s a pretty cheap conversion to veganism. Yes, I know that most people will not be open to this kind of novelty thinking. But presumably some will, especially if it can be done with humor.
Also, some of the best plant based food is totally gross. Fermentation is life.
True. I’ve always found mushrooms a bit icky too, but I soldier on and eat them anyway because they’re so healthy.
To pursue my point, something is definitely happening on the disgust front. A few decades ago, it was normal in the West to eat offal. Now plenty of Westerners are grossed out when they find bits of bone in their chicken broth at an Asian restaurant. For meat to be widely palatable these days, it has be only the best cuts, if possible in a sealed packet with no indication that it comes from an animal. Part of the explanation is surely a subconscious awareness of the horrors of factory farming. But I think something more fundamental’s going on. Something about disconnection from nature, ironically.
Absolutely agree that legislation must bring transparency to factory farming.