How would you feel about seeing the cow that you're going to eat before it is slaughtered?

I don’t think I’d particularly enjoy seeing the cow I’d be eating. I definitely wouldn’t like to see it being slaughtered for my meal. But would I still eat it if I just happened to see a picture of it? Sure.
Especially if it’s in the form of a nice, juicy burger with all the extras (except onions).

That complicates things. But not as much as was complicated for my childhood friend who was given an Easter peep she named Ralph and raising him and one day coming home to find he is dinner. I would not want to KNOW the animal. At a rural French restaurant, I once picked out my rabbit in the hutch, much like picking your lobster from the tank.

Better to eat an aquaintance than a stranger I suppose.

I helped kill a goat I ate. I was even told his name. I would be fine with that.

As long as it did not MOOOOOO, when I placed it on the grill.

I’ll still eat it. I’m a die hard carnivore, much to my own shame. If I don’t get meat with my meals, I don’t feel full and I start feeling very weak and shaky. I apparently don’t get enough whatever from soy and nut protein as I do from meat protein.

I don’t have a problem with it.

I wouldn’t feel guilty.
I would also be alright with seeing a photo of a broccoli seedling.;)

Hey, at least it can’t give you a pep-talk about eating it and how good it will taste.

I should add that I always say thank you.

Heck I have helped butcher some of the beef I have eaten. Not a problem at all. some of the most delicate cuts of meat need to be eaten fresh off the animal, they don’t freeze or store well.

As long as the poor cow didn’t pull out a violin & play a sad “woe is me” type tune whilst smoking it’s last cigarette….then hey, where’s the beef? XD

I wouldn’t feel bad at all. My husband works at a ranch and I see all the cows there that will be slaughtered. My daughter has even pet one. No big deal.

I’m about to get a couple of cows for my small farm. Mostly to keep the grass down, but also to fill the freezer eventually. I think it’s weirder to eat some pre-packaged supermarket steak, with no idea of who that animal was or how it lived.

Cow, lamb, calf, chicken, I’ve seen them all. It just makes me think of all the work to be done before we can actually eat the darn thing.

I would still enjoy its sweet cow flesh.

I’ve seen my live food before it gets to my plate many times, mostly as child so no, it doesn’t bother me but I’ve yet to be able to kill a larger animal myself and then eat it. My ex and family used to buy lambs several times a year and them have them bled out in the backyard and then butchered up. I could never allow him to use our house and it caused a kind of ruckus with our Rabbi when we bought a new house and they all wanted to bless it by killing our BBQ lamb in our yard. They ended up killing/bleeding it elsewhere and then butchering it at our place and sprinkling pre collected blood in the yard.

It wouldn’t bother me at all. I’ve helped gut a deer before taking it to the butcher to have it cut up into different cuts for us to eat before. No problem at all and it was delicious. :-)

This question reminds me of this scene from the TV series The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

It wouldn’t bother me. We had cows when I was a kid, and I didn’t mind eating them at all once they were butchered and processed. What did bother me was the pigs. I used to play in the pig pen with those pigs and loved them like they were pets. One in particular was really hard for me to deal with, plus when my mom would cook him, she would say “There’s old Lonesome frying in the pan”. I couldn’t eat any of the meat. I never could figure out why she did that because my mother isn’t a cruel person at all.

I won’t even pick my lobster out of the tank, nor do I want it set down facing me. It takes a whole lot of denial for me to remain a carnivore.

However, if I were forced to survive in much more primitive circumstances, the first thing to go would be my sentimentality about the personality of my dinner.

It would make me like it more.

Never having seen any animal I ate before it was killed, I guess I can’t say. But I’d probably be fine with it. Considering the whole guilt issue, I don’t actually see why I wouldn’t feel guilty eating an animal even if I didn’t see it, if I felt guilt for eating cow. So, I’d probably be fine with it.

I’ve killed a cow for meat before. Well… Help in the killing process. I’ve also killed my fair share of deer, squirrel and fish for some delicious dinners. It’s not a very big deal to me. Delicious meat is just part of the death cycle.

My husband and I were just talking about this. I am pretty much like @jeruba, but I have always used the word hypocrite rather than denial, but denial seems fitting as well. If I think about it, I feel horrible about taking another living creatures life for food. Cows seem so gentle, very upsetting if I really think about it. If I had to kill an animal myself for food, I would likely be vegetarian, or eat very limited meat.

I would feel very guilty and sad but would probably eat it still because I love beef. A buffalo, on the other hand, never. I refuse to eat buffalo. They have been one of my favorite animals since sixth grade and I just can’t do it. If I could apply the same concept to cows I’d probably be better off….but again it’s sssssssssssssssssoooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. That’s the real problem.

@deni if you would stop eating cows and start eating buffalo, you would likely live longer. At least that is what my cardiologist told me.

@WestRiverrat I know, I’ve heard time and time again that buffalo is one of the best red meats…..........................I just can’t though!

So long as I don’t actually see the killing, I probably wouldn’t have a problem with it. Saw a live pig that was slaughtered but didn’t see the actual slaughtering. Saw it hanging and the blood being drained. That was nasty. But hunger set in and I ate the food later. The only thing I couldn’t eat was the sausages they made using its intestines. Although I can normally eat sausage, I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t cleaned enough. Eww.

If its a big strong good looking steer they look yummy and make my mouth water. If it the skinny diseased shitty cheapest cows McDonalds and Taco Bell buy to use It makes me sick to see one then it a beef taco.

I feel better about seeing a clear eyed fresh fish then having it skinned and butchered before I eat it than wonder what the fuck is in fishsticks.

@buster
Absolutely. I have the horrifying feeling that fish sticks have some things in them that would be best to remain a secret.

@buster At least they’re not Gefilte fish. OMG or maybe they are. so scary

I think I would not eat there anymore because 1. That is weird that he is texting your mother. 2. that is a very odd and cruel thing to do. (Send a picture of the cow your about to eat). And 3. Why would you want to have to go through the guilt of eating something that you kind of think was cute or nice. That’s like eating one of your loved ones!

@stupidcomedycenter

Unless you’re under… The orange tree.

@jellyfish3232 You would think