Meat eaters smell bad and have low energy

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:08am

"I went out with one guy who said I seemed really great, but he liked bread too much to date me," said James, 41, a writer in Seattle who cannot eat gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

Sharing meals has always been an important courtship ritual and a metaphor for love. But in an age when many people define themselves by what they will eat and what they won't, dietary differences can put a strain on a romantic relationship. The culinary camps have become so balkanized that some factions consider interdietary dating taboo.

Lisa Romano, 31, a vegan and school psychologist in Belleville, N.Y., said she recently ended a relationship with a man who enjoyed back-yard grilling. He had no problem searing her vegan burgers alongside his beef patties, but she found the practice unenlightened and disturbing.

Ben Abdalla, 42, a real estate agent in Boca Raton, Fla., said he preferred to date fellow vegetarians because meat eaters smell bad and have low energy.


I KNOW some of you must have some stories....
Chicago Tribune

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:12am

My off-again on-again ex used to sit on my bed, watch porn and eat spaghetti-os.

That precludes me from ever interjecting any of my dietary standards into the people I date.

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:24am

There was a similar article in the Times food section a few weeks ago...I had an ex who would never try anything new at all--which was a huge problem for a foodie like me.

He's gone now, free to eat all the steamed cardboard and Diet Coke he'd like.

[D2]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:29am

J2 and I have (or should I say had) friends whose child supposedly has an allergy to gluten. The mother's fanatic reaction drove us away - she was like a food Nazi, and it became an intolerable burden on any kind of get-together. I still remember her in OUR dining room, screaming at J2 when he brought in some bread for the rest of us: YOU CAN'T SERVE THAT!!! CROSS CONTAMINATION!!! CROSS CONTAMINATION!!! GET THAT OUT OF HERE!!! NOW!!!

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:29am

There are apparently a lot of people out there who only eat buttered noodles and chicken breasts.

I have a friend who dated a guy who could only got to a handful of restaurants because all he would eat was grilled chicken sandwiches on a certain type of bun.

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:35am

The gluten people are NUTS...

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:36am

Let's hear it for bad smells and low energy!

[wexy]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:36am

I went out with a woman who ate her scrambled eggs with her mouth wide open and talking at the same time and eggs were flying over the table. It was the first date and I figured that she might be nervous and I told her to slow down. "This is how I eat," she said as a bit of egg flew past my ear.
True story and the last date as well.

Updated On: 3/19/08 at 11:36 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 11:44am

I've been a vegetarian (which I did for quite a long time), a vegan (which I did for not so long a time) and a raw foodist (which was about six weeks of living hell), but I've never been fantacial (except in jest) to the point where I wouldn't eat at the same table as someone else. I always understood that it was I whose food restrictions veered from the norm, so I figured it was my problem and no one else's. I've got plenty of dealbreakers, but thankfully, diet has never been one of mine.

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:00pm

I think vegan MIGHT be a deal breaker for me...hope I never have to find out.

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:02pm

I just remembered- the people I've known who were strict vegetarians always had their own distinctive smell and I never liked it.

I once went to a now very famous nutritionist, Oz Garcia, for nutritional counseling and boy did he have that strong odor!

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:06pm

Looks like he's a dr. now, I googled him. Nutritionist to the stars, etc. Pee-yoo!

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:07pm

Oh wexy, how funny is that story....I am laughing my ass off!!

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:21pm

There's nothing worse than a tofu fart.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:23pm

Jane, are they weren't just dirty hippies?

Maybe that hyper low calorie diet is the way to go. It's supposed to make you live 30% longer. Too bad you look like a wrinkly skeleton. I can't find any pictures of those people, but if you've ever seen one on tv, you know what I'm talking about.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:27pm

D2, my brother and his wife have a similar thing with their child, an alleged allergy to gluten that supposedly has something to do with some rare form of autism.

I went to a Christmas party at their place, and a guest brought out a dessert that she proudly announced contained no flour, sugar, gluten, and so on. Someone did in fact ask "Well what the hell's in it, then?"

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:31pm

See, I have lots of food allergies, which limits where I can eat out. Itallian places are automatically out (Deathly allergic to any form of mushroom). So I am one of those who has no option a lot of the time...but I figure if the place has salad, I can at least order that.

[tazber]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:38pm

True. Everywhere has a salad. I think there has only been one restaurant that didn't have something I could eat, and it was a steak house (duh!). They're tossed salad was wilted and nasty.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:50pm

In my experience, it always seems like the vegan, legume eating, organic crowd are the funkiest, gasiest, burpiest, fartiest, smelliest, hairiest lot. I would rather hook up with a hottie that eats Burger King.

I dont buy into the "all natural smells from the body are fine." Please invest in a real deodorant that works (not those crystal chunks) and some decent soap.

Ok, I feel better now.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:51pm

D2, my brother and his wife have a similar thing with their child, an alleged allergy to gluten that supposedly has something to do with some rare form of autism.

Are you sure it was an actual allergy, or were they just saying it was an allergy so you would be more hyper about avoiding it? There have been studies to suggest that a gluten-free diet helps children with autism, but I've never heard of an actual allergy linked to autism.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 12:57pm

Yeah, they're saying that their child has a rare form of autism that is caused by that allergy to gluten, or something, nobody really buys it except them and the doctor who finally announced that it might be an allergy to gluten or something instead of their lousy parenting that was making the kid a trainwreck in diapers.

[nygrl23]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 1:00pm

Wexy, LOL! Was your date re-enacting the egg salad scene from The Heartbreak Kid? :)

I'm having to go more alkaline in my diet, giving up stuff I like. If there's nothing on the menu to order, I go for soup and salad, sometimes an appetizer if there's something like hummus available.

Desserts are out, meat's out. It does force one to eat better, but the tempting foods make up 99% of what's available out there.

[wexy]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 1:08pm

I remember now that I went out with her one other time because I'd gotten tickets for "Medea" She told me that she couldn't make dinner and I thought to myself 'Thank God'.

It's funny about how almost every vegetarian that I know is a smoker.

Updated On: 3/19/08 at 01:08 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/19/08 at 1:56pm

Yes, there actually is a gluten allergy linked to autism...asperger's I believe--when i was cooking at camp last summer, we had a couple of kids who fell into this category.

There's all kinds of flour now Roscoe--soy, rice, any type of nut...it was likely one of those.

Posted: 3/19/08 at 1:57pm

Phyllis will vegans swallow?

It is an animal product, after all.