I don't care for the taste

By Arthur's family standards I am a picky eater. I don't eat cucumbers, which is a favorite ingredient in cucumber salad. I hate mayonnaise, which is a staple for every sandwich they make. I rarely drink sodas, which just tastes like carbonated sugar to me. I never drink milk, which is close to blasphemy since they are dairy farmers. And I really REALLY don't like red meat.

At the most recent barbecue I was served a thick, juicy steak that would make most peoples mouths water. I however, proceeded to pick it apart, piece by piece, and ask Arthur at every bite, "Are you sure this part is cooked? It looks kinda pink." To which he would always assure me that it was ok to eat while his family watched with a mixture of humor and disgust. I actually finished the whole steak, which was rare for me since usually at least two-thirds of it ends up on Arthur's plate by the end of the meal. That night however, I was so sick. I'll spare you the details but suffice it to say that I read just about every magazine I owned while I was stuck in the bathroom. For the next 2 days I couldn't eat anything but low-fat organic yogurt and bananas.

I've never had an affinity for red meat. My mother is an amazing cook who made usually made 2-3 homecooked meals a day for my family, which were all consumed together as a family with the tv off and no books at the table. Meat, however, was not her forte. Any meat I ever remember eating growing up was tough, dry, bland and overdone. Which is probably why I initially never cared for it. To make matters worse, 2 yrs ago I took a college biology class, taught by a vegetarian, who's thinly veiled mission in life was to disgust all his students into never eating meat. His method- showing slides of 20-ft bacteria and various microorganisms that were commonly found in meat that was undercooked or diseased and explaining, in great detail, what these "little critters" do to your system. I often left class sick to my stomach.

Thus began this trend for me to slowly, but unconsciously, cut most meat from my diet for the simple reason that it repulsed me. I don't know if getting sick from eating meat is a psychological thing for me now, or if the fact that I hardly ever do makes the meat a shock to my system. Either way consumption of meat is never a pleasurable experience for me...before or after the fact. The only meat I can stomach is chicken or turkey. Which isn't true vegeterianism. So how do I identify my diet?

Pesco/pollo vegetarianism: is a neologism coined to describe certain lifestyles of restricted diet. Most commonly, these include the practice of not eating certain types of meat (most commonly red meat such as beef, pork, lamb) while allowing other meats, such as seafood. There are usually no restrictions on non-flesh animal products such as dairy and eggs.

It may be more accurate to call myself a pollo-vegetarian, or a semi-vegetarian since I've never liked seafood either. "Although many die-hard vegetarians would criticize this terminology saying that it may lead to the public understanding of "vegetarian" becoming further distorted, and claim that vegetarian diners asking for vegetarian meals at many restaurants are actually offered dishes with "only seafood or chicken"... In the absence of a suitable (and well-known) alternative term to describe this dietary requirement many people simply use these terms in order to avoid having to give an unnecessarily long and detailed description of their eating habits every time they wish to avoid being served meat."

Its not an ethical or environmental thing for me. I believe the humans are by nature hunters. Its not really a health thing for me either. I could care less about fish toxins and such.

I simply just don't don't care for the taste.