Attitudes towards meat and meat-eating among adolescents in Norway: a qualitative study

Disgust sensitivity and meat consumption: a test of an emotivist account of moral vegetarianism

“…Likewise, the linkages between appearance, smell, and taste that appear in our data are congruent with the overlapping contributions of different sensory modalities to food preferences (Kubberod et al, 2002;Tuorila et al, 1994). The presence of individuals who selected two or more of the three major categories of reasons (ethical/environmental, health, and taste) indicates that, for some participants, meat avoidance is markedly overdetermined (cf.…”

“…Moral vegetarians frequently report a history of highly charged encounters with such normally muted meat-related cues prior to 'turning vegetarian', and there are hints that the road to moral vegetarianism may often begin with a disgust response to specific features of meat (cf. Beardsworth & Keil, 1992;Jabs et al, 1998;Janda & Trocchia, 2001;Kubberod, Ueland, Tronstad, & Risvik, 2002;Santos & Booth, 1996;Ritson, cited in Simoons, 1994, 11). For example, despite the fact that the logic of moral vegetarianism applies equally to the consumption of any sort of flesh, in Western populations meat avoidance often begins with red meat (typically beef), then progresses to other meats (Kenyon & Barker, 1998;Santos & Booth, 1996).…”

“…2 Blood is a powerful stimulus, and the avoidance of red meat frequently stems from revulsion at the presence of blood (Kenyon & Barker, 1998;Santos & Booth, 1996)indeed, even those who eat red meat may be disgusted by bloody meat (Beardsworth & Keil, 1992;Chagnon, 1997, 101, 102;Fiddes 1991, 89, 90;Kenyon & Barker, 1998;Kubberod et al, 2002;Twigg, 1979;Santos & Booth, 1996). Pork, poultry, and fish only appear white once the blood has been drained from the tissue, a transformation that artificially alters the meat's evocative power.…”

“…3 In a sample of New York college students, Mooney and Walbourn (2001) found that, among women, those who avoid meat express significantly greater disgust toward it than those who do not avoid meat, but no such difference exists between male meat-avoiders and male meat eaters. Kubberod et al (2002) found that Norwegian women are in general more likely to express disgust toward meat than are men, a pattern that is duplicated in the ethnographic literature: Simoons (1994, 323) summarizes two cases of acculturation, the Siberian Yukaghir and the Hawaiian Japanese, in which men adopted novel meat foods while women resisted, expressing revulsion (but see also Pliner & Pelchat, 1991). Similarly, Aunger (2000) explains the large number of idiosyncratic 'personal [meat] taboos' possessed by women in the Ituri 2 Unpublished data indicate that the road to vegetarianism sometimes begins with avoidance of meat from young animals, behavior which does not fit easily into the disgust-as-motive pattern (P. Rozin, personal communication).…”

Donut worry

“…As this did not lead to an increased intake of calories this cannot be explained by men's higher daily required energy intake but has to arise out of diff erences in diet choices. A good explanation for this eff ect might the fact that men are likely to eat more (red) meats (Beerman et al, 1990;Goldberg and Strycker, 2002;Kubberød et al, 2002;Prätt älä et al, 2006), a food type that is usually rich in protein and fat. Finally there was an interaction between sex and daily stress on intake of saturated fats, where women ate more saturated fats on stressful days.…”