Myths I was told as a vegetarian
I was born into a vegetarian family in a small village in South India. We didn’t eat any kind of meat or eggs due to religious beliefs. We’re still allowed drink milk and consume other animal based products like ghee, butter, cheese and their derivatives. I only started eating meat from about a year or so. Here’s a few things I heard from my family and others growing up regarding meat.
It’s a sin.
The most common one. How can you kill a living being with feelings and cause pain? This is a moot argument. We all studied in school that plants have life but in practice, choose to ignore it. I’m not arguing whether you should eat meat, but you should prolly not claim the moral high-ground just because you don’t.
It’s not good for your health.
In our (small) part of India, most non-vegetarians eat meat only on Sunday afternoons. Meat is not good for health is the reason that you usually hear for this. I think this is due to three reasons:
- Meat is expensive compared to vegetables and most people in villages are not financially well off. Infact, most of our diet is just grain (rice, lentils etc.), not even vegetables or fruits. If a family owned a chicken farm or a fish pond, you could see them eating meat more often.
- The caste angle: the Brahmins who don’t consume meat look down upon everyone else. Communities who consume only chicken or mutton look down upon other communities who eat pork or beef. Even the colloquial word for meat is neesu which roughly translates to inferior or putrid.
- Eating protein without enough fiber leads to constipation. Given that most of our diet is grain or carbs, we don’t get enough fiber. This problem would’ve been exacerbated when you also had protein-heavy meals regularly and wrongly attributed to eating meat. There is a lot of guess work here, so I could be wrong.
So, there is a general opinion among the public that eating meat is bad and it is consumed only for taste - which is not true. Protein is an important part of diet and meat is a good source of it. I make sure to eat a balanced diet.
It’s unhygienic.
It is an optics problem which has more to do with how the meat vendor shops looked like in small villages - right beside a drain with all the blood flowing around and meat hanging on a thread. But you also got your breakfast twenty steps away from the same place, so it’s mostly a non-issue. It’s also not a problem anymore as there are lot of vendors in cities who maintain hygiene (at least on the surface level). I’m not sure about villages, though.
It contains parasites
Somehow, over the years I convinced myself that eating meat is dangerous because uncooked meat contains parasites. While there’s some risk, it was an irrational fear that I had to get over.
There are so many tutorials on the internet now a days on how to cook that it’s not a problem. There are machines like airfryers and ovens which make it extremely easy to safely cook at home. When eating out, you should pick a vendor you trust the same way you do with vegetarian food - people might use bad meat just the same way they might use rotten vegetables to cook.
It impacts your mood.
Not sure where it comes from, but this is another thing I’ve heard - that eating meat somehow reduces cognitive abilities and you’re more prone to anger and negative emotions taking over. Sometimes, that you feel more anxious and sometimes attributing it to gut bacteria, red meat causing inflammation or higher blood pressure etc. I don’t claim to know what is right but personally, I didn’t notice any difference.
Popular commentary
I don’t know why but people who are supposedly “very smart” still end up spreading non-sense. I feel that it’s okay to share what you do, but come on, don’t spread non-sense.
It’s only for certain sections of people
I’ve heard it here. They suggests that meat is only for people who do physically strenuous work or people who need to show “temperament”, not for “us” (us being Brahmins).
Suggesting “home made”
And the second spreads outright non-sense saying that some foods increase your “thirst” and “desire”, making fun of everything from spoons and forks to other cuisines all under the pretence of supporting “home made traditional Andhra-food” - which is mostly grain.
Environmental impact
It’s still mostly a “west” thing, I haven’t heard anyone talk about it in my circles. I don’t know how much impact it has in India. I am not claiming that it’s a myth by putting it on this list, but just to mention it as one of the problems cited to reduce meat consumption.