Dealbreakers come in all shapes, sizes and character quirks — and apparently, palates. In a recent survey, 30% of omnivorous, meat-eating singles said they wouldn’t date a vegetarian or vegan. Is tofu’s bad reputation among non-vegetarians to blame or is this about shared interests outside food consumption?
The survey conducted in a joint effort by the Today show’s Love Bites and Match.com polled 4,000 single in the process of coming up with the anti-vegetarian date results. As for vegetarians, they’re more open to omnivores, with only 4% saying they wouldn’t date a meat-eater.
The refusal to date a vegetarian is perhaps because couples like to share things, and love of a really great cut of steak is one of those things that needs to be shared. And that’s just biology, say the experts.
“It’s so common in the animal world to give food for sex that it’s called the nuptial gift,” explains Match.com’s chief scientific adviser, a biological anthropologist. “Mankind’s first luxury was meat, and when carnivores share food – what they are sharing is this luxury. It’s more than just cultural, it’s instinctual.”
While many meat-eaters also love a good pile of veggies, the potential scenario of your loved one eyeing up your burger with distaste is not a comfortable one. And according to 66% of respondents, picky eating in general is a turn-off, even if that pickiness leads to a healthy philosophy.
Then there’s the whole manliness factor — says the biological anthropologist, men who don’t eat meat might suffer from a prejudice that goes back to caveman days.
“I think in a lot of cultures it would be considered less manly – men used to bring home the meat, they were the hunters,” she said. “If you came in carrying a potato versus a hunk of gazelle, it made a difference. All gifts are not alike.”
I would prefer a steak gift over a whateveryoumakeoutoftofu gift. Fact.
Survey: 30% of meat eaters won’t date a vegetarian [MSNBC.com]
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This article, and many of the commenters, seem to suffer from a false premise: they seem to think that food matters.
Some people like food. Some people don’t. Some people have ‘weird hangups’ (in my immediate circle, I can think of people who don’t eat meat, who don’t eat vegetables, who don’t eat crunchy things, who don’t eat squishy things).
I have to be reminded to eat. If I get hungry enough, I grab the nearest edible object and shove it in my mouth until the hunger stops.
My wife is a vegetarian. She cooks vegetarian at home. I eat it. Hunger gone: me happy.
One of the biggest travesties in the West is that we murder vegetarian cooking. Turns out like half the planet eats veggie, and eats very well. Indian, Thai, Japanese all have these amazing things called ‘spices’ that make vegetables – and even tofu! – taste really good! Why North American vegetarians eat twigs is beyond me.
You’re all welcome to your opinions – but it’s a great big world out there, and lots of it tastes good – even without meat.
So the dark circles under my eyes, excruciating migraines, and debilitating fatigue I get when I consume MSG, even unknowingly, doesn’t really exist? That’s funny, cause my family members are usually able to tell when I’ve been MSG’d before I even know it just by looking at my eyes. And each time I have had symptoms and verified ingredients after eating, I truly had been MSG’d. Now that I am careful to avoid it, I have not had any of these issues. But my sensitivity to MSG must be untrue, huh?
Sorry, forgot to quote which comment I was replying to.
“July 7, 2012 7:21 PM
Sorry, that just is not true. MSG is not an allergen and studies have found extraordinarily weak evidence that people can even be sensitive to it. When a documented researched reaction HAS occurred it was only with extraordinarily high doses (way more then you would ever eat) and only occurred without food, just when patients are given pure MSG. “
Do you get them when you eat mushrooms, real soy sauce, Parmesan cheese, or seaweed? If not, then your symptoms are either psychosomatic or caused by something else.
“So the dark circles under my eyes, excruciating migraines, and debilitating fatigue I get when I consume MSG, even unknowingly, doesn’t really exist?”
Of course those symptoms don’t exist. It’s a conspiracy. /s
I can tell when my friend has consumed MSG. She gets all this weird, raised purple-red blotches on her skin which I point out to her. Other far more nasty symptoms follow. She must be faking.
Turning this statistic on its head, 70% of meat-eaters would be open to dating a vegetarian. The 30% are likely to be particularly narrow/small-minded people who hold similarly narrow/small-minded attitudes in other areas of life.
As for eating meat being “manly”… well, this is utter nonsense. I wrote something about this a few months ago after reading a news story which made this claim: http://mb27.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/some-thoughts-on-meat-vegetarianism-and.html
Most people specific criteria about what they put in their mouth….food or otherwise. Inverse correlation?
People feel judged by some vegetarians and vegans, that’s the turn off.
Vegan and male = vegan women think you are sexy particularly if you are chubby. No joke.
There are plenty of picky non-vegetarians that people date and have to accommodate. Anti-vegetarianism is rampant and this is just another form of it.
http://uh2l.blogs.com/things_ive_noticed/2006/03/unjustified_res.html
I’m veg. and have dated some non-vegetarians. One thing I know is that I’m healthier than probably 90% of non-vegetarian guys my age. I’m not militant about my vegetarianism and there are always places to eat with both good veg. and non-veg. food, (especially ethnic ones.) In fact, I’ve found that places that make good vegetarian food make great-tasting non-veg. food according to my friends who eat meat.
Just look at some of the vegetarian dating sites out there and see how much healthier, younger looking, and thinner the women are compared to ones on a mainstream site like match.
We had a couple vegetarians on one of our ball clubs. CONSTANTLY injured. Way more than any of the meat eaters.
What a strange thread this is. I never realized there was such dating discrimination based simply on what one eats.
Be that as it may; we eat far more vegetables than we used to as it makes it much easier to lose weight and keep it off. Meat dishes tend to have extra cheeses, sauces and other wonderfully fattening additives (I’m staying away from the MSG argument). We are quickly approaching 60 and it is getting harder every year to keep in decent physical shape. Diet and more exercise are things we can no longer take for granted. Seems to be working. We are in pretty good shape for a couple of middle aged specimens and we hope to keep it that way. We still occasionally enjoy a big fat steak or some BBQ ribs, but only a couple times a year. Moderation and discipline seem to be the key. On the subject of the article though, we don’t seem to have any issues with our vegetarian friends or the organic foodies either (They cab be another whole subset of food snobs ,with all due respect of course).
My personal experience, and yours may vary, is that people who CHOOSE “special needs diets” – whatever form they may take – tend to be sanctimonious and boring. From the tedious dieter who describes in excruciating detail every mouthful they’ve consumed that day, to the insufferable superiority of the privileged localvore organic food nut who disdains the “ignorant hoi polloi” who are not as erudite in their repast, to the virtuous vegans and vegetarians or even the impassioned dumpster diver sourcing their food from what others throw away and all the other shades and forms of this creature in between, there is nothing more tedious than listening to them wax rhapsodic about their food choices and how their eating habits make them a better, more superior individual and, most irritating, how their choices are right for everyone else.
If your someone who genuinely has food intolerance, allergies and disorders that force you to give up many foods, you deserve the same compassion that one would show someone undergoing chemotherapy when they speak of their debilitating side effects. It’s not your fault. It’s the folks who choose to create their elaborate food rules that make me stabby. When cornered by one of these folks I just get this glazed look in my eyes and start casting about for some means of escape.
The people with the most elaborate food rules are the ones most willing to discuss them ad nauseum. (Pun totally intended.) It’s a form of self-importance and it’s a clear and distinct signal that they are deeply wrapped up in themselves. Run away as fast as you can.
Funny, after reading the comments you get some interesting points
1. I’m a very tolerant vegetarian, I just tell my wife/husaband nothing with eyeballs is allowed. Kinda sucks if in my own house I am forbidden to eat what I like
2. My hus/band/wife can eat meat but he always comes home for a healthy meal. I love those comments when they automatically thin meat = unhealthy.
3. just because a signifcant other accomodates to the other’s doesn’t mean they “saw the light” and now he/she misses eating meat.
4. eggs are animal products, last time I check Youcan’t plant and egg and expect it to grow
I don’t eat meat, and I don’t generally want dead (or alive) animals on my plate.
But my husband eats meat – when he wants that, he can cook it himself (and he’s a good cook).
I have not eaten meat for over 20 years, and I’ve never used the food preferences as a criteria for selecting boyfriend, fiancé or spouse. I was vegan for years and it felt good for my body’s need – yet it was a disaster for my social life as I lived in a place where too often you get chicken and sausages when you order vegetarian. So I got back a bit, being just a vegetarian (and with my husband even more back; occasional seafood and eggs too). Now I have much more social life options when we go out to eat: we never eat in “white people foods” places. Sichuan, Korean, Japanese, Hmong, Nepalese… we eat foods from around the world. Why go out to eat if you’d eat the same stuff out that you could cook as well home?
However, two food related things would influence my dating decisions (if I was still single); 1) I hate food nazis of any kind. I don’t care if you’re a vegenazi or a meatnazi – enjoy what you have on your plate, and let everyone else enjoy whatever they have on theirs. Anything else is rude, and I don’t like that, and 2) food adventureness: if you eat just boring americana foods, burgers, TGIF, IHOP etc, and in white people chains when you go out, no, I would not want to date you, no matter what sort of omni/meat/vege/nomnivorousness qualities you do process.
Both being a food nazi and/or a boring eater would probably be a turnoff for me. The boringness can sometimes be remediated, if one is willing to try other foods (most people are), but if the food (or drink) nazi tendencies would stay as they are, I’d be gone. Most of the boring eaters I’ve met tend to be omnivorous/meat eaters.
The objection might come because of previous exposure to a “I’m-Better-Than-You” attitude from a vegan.
“And according to 66% of respondents, picky eating in general is a turn-off, even if that pickiness leads to a healthy philosophy.”
Spot on.
I’ve never met a vegen or that did try and “convert” me.