I can honestly say that's never a statement that has ever crossed my mind, haha.
> Is my date allergic to anything I am cooking, or they a vegan, vegetarian?
This is incredibly frustrating. It seems like every single young woman has bizarre food taboos that are based on no rational basis. The gluten-phobia thing has gotten out of hand, but in general there is just so much food woo going around.
I'll ignore the blatant sexism.
As a young woman, although admittedly not single, who happens to be vegan I really don't understand the point you are trying to make here.
I am vegan because I would rather not have had a sentient animal purposely killed for my meal - and it is a decision I came to after years of thought and consideration.
And yes, there is a growing trend of people caring what they put in their bodies - whether it is noticing that caffeine after 2pm disturbs their sleep, or that as they age they need to consider an increase in b12 or vitamin D - the majority of these choices are very rational ones - I have yet to meet a person whose diet choices fall out of the range of rationality - except, perhaps, the excuses people give me for not cutting down the amount of <insert foot they acknowledge they eat too much of> in their diet.
Stating a fact or observation is not sexist by itself. The anecdotal data around me shows that the people with food intolerance and I won't eat X because someone in the newspaper misinterpreted a study have a even number of X chromosomes. To make sure there is balance - there is a lot of bronutrition in the opposite direction.
> I have yet to meet a person whose diet choices fall out of the range of rationality
Any person that observes religious restrictions - that is not rational. Also any person that refuses to eat X based on pseudo, improperly conducted or improperly understood science.
> I am vegan because I would rather not have had a sentient animal purposely killed for my meal - and it is a decision I came to after years of thought and consideration.
That will push you only to vegetarian. To go vegan you need more reasons.
> That will push you only to vegetarian. To go vegan you need more reasons.
There are no animal products which do not involve the killing of sentient creatures (if you doubt this I would suggest learning about the process by which milk or eggs are farmed).
I spend the summers on a (nonindustrial) farm, have taken eggs directly from under the hen, milked a cow, drank honey directly from the centrifuge and slaughtered some chickens (funny) and pigs (meh). I am well accustomed to the process.
Your vegan foodstuff also require the killing of sentient creatures - to grow food we have displaced a lot of animals from their habitats. Sometimes quite forcefully. So yeah - you probably have fewer animals on your conscience , but you have some.
Edit:spelling
"My doctor has told me I should not take in as much potassium as I have been so I am reducing my consumption of legumes" and "I have an ethical objection to killing sentient creatures so I restrict my diet in ways that minimize such killing"
Are both sound, rational judgements which do not require a peer reviewed paper.
>You(sic) vegan foodstuff also require the killing of sentient creatures - to grow food we have displaced a lot of animals from their habitats. Sometimes quite forcefully. So yeah - you probably have fewer animals on your conscience , but you have some.
I agree with you, completely - it is an uphill battle. It is very difficult to not directly compensate the killing of creatures in a world that considers it moral to kill 50+ billion animals every year (not including marine life) - but my ethics require that I at least try.
That is rational, also requires peered review paper somewhere in the chain. The doctor read it and formulated advice based on it. Or at least that is the way medicine works. I hope.
But is having ethical objection to killing rational itself? We become what we are as being the better killers. Anytime, anywhere?
Well, I don't date men, so my sample size is composed entirely of the women I've dated (the gp quoted was talking about cooking for a date).
I would argue that worrying that much about what you eat is a very privileged problem to have. Nevertheless, it doesn't make much difference to me what somebody else chooses to eat, so long as it doesn't impinge on my freedom to eat what I want. Which is sort of the rub here. I've never been so foolish as to date a vegetarian or a vegan, but here is a list of things that have been unilaterally banned (briefly...) from my refrigerator:
American cheese Mushrooms, Fish, Spam, Deer meat, non-multigrain bread, Bologna, Hot dogs, Broccoli, Milk