What do bacon and feces have in common? They can create the same sense of disgust

What connects the crunchy bacon, juicy beef steak, human body and feces? Everyone triggers the same powerful reaction with vegetarians – disgust.

According to up-to-date research for vegetarians, meat is found in the same psychological category as some of the most disgusting substances that you can imagine.

IN Our last studyWe studied how vegetarians and omnivorous react emotionally to various types of food. We asked vegetarians to see photos of commonly consumed meats – baked chicken, beef and bacon – along with the choice of unpopular vegetables, such as raw onions, eggplant, olives and Brussels sprouts.

In the case of omnivores, we changed known meat for extreme examples: meat made of a human body or dog – and feces.

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Participants answered a series of questions about how eating every food would feel, focusing especially on food, which they claimed, refuse. We collected 896 such “food rejection” from over 300 people in Great Britain, and we could delve into psychology, why people reject some foods.

Here’s what we found.

The offensive vegetables were usually rejected because of reluctance – a reaction based on sensory experience: taste, smell or consistency. This concerned both vegetarians and omnivores. Regardless of whether it is the bitterness of Brussels or a raw eggplant toast, reluctance has boiled down to taste or consistency.

However, the meat was a different story. For vegetarians, this is not a taste of meat that made it unpleasant, but the idea itself. Their reactions were driven by disgust – the reaction not to how something tastes like, but to what it is.

Those who rejected the meat felt discomfort because of the idea of ​​meat in their body or by touching other foods. This type of deep, intuitive rejection reflects how omnivorous in our study reacted to images of human meat, dogs for dogs or feces – things we avoid because of how they taste, but because of what they represent.

To feel this distinction yourself, try this psychological exercise. Imagine your favorite soup. Now imagine a diminutive amount of vegetable that you don’t like – let’s say beetroot – they blend in with it. You can’t see it, taste or smell. Would you still eat soup?

If so, you experience reluctance to beetroot. His reluctance only begins when your senses are elected. Taste without a problem.

Now try the same scenario, but instead of beetroot, imagine that the soup contains a diminutive amount of dog meat. Still unseen, undetectable – but you know it is there. Would you eat it?

Most people in Western countries would not – not because of taste, but because of almost primary aversion. This is disgust.

This distinction has been known in psychology for decades. Previous research He showed that animal products such as blood, bush and feces are usually rejected because they cause disgust, while plant food does not like reluctance. But until now it was not clear, as strictly reluctance of vegetarians to the daily meat mirror, reactions to the most disgusting substances that you can imagine. This excludes justified, non-emotional choices, such as avoiding meat for environmental reasons or peanuts due to allergies.

Resentment and disgust have evolved to protect us from various threats. Plants often defend themselves with bitter or acidic toxins, causing reluctance to react divided into many species. The threat in meat comes from pathogens and parasites, which usually cannot be detected by taste, so reluctance is useless here. The revival gives us a way to respond to the idea of ​​pollution, which makes us reject not only from food itself, but from everything that affects.

Drying towards meat is more common than you might think. Around 74% vegetarians and even 15% Flexitarians Report solid disgust when it comes to meat. And a lot of everything, he experiences it – especially in confrontation unknown meat. Think about the renowned “Bushtucker attempts” in the reality show I am a celebrity … Take me from here. Few of us could endure insects, animal brains or offal – even if they say they are protected and nutritious.

This emotional reaction is not only a quirks. It can assist us generally reduce meat consumption. Recent studies show that during challenges such as vegan, when people walk a month without meat, they often become more disgusted with meat. This makes it easier to reduce their consumption.

This can bring benefits not only for Personal health and animal welfare, but also for the environmentBecause farm breeding is the main factor contributing to climate change.