Steak tastes good because of its social power?

All you meat-heads are raving about grain-fed beef; this is the kind that cost more to raise, takes food from people and inflates prices. If you have to eat tough, lean, range fed beef like they get in Central America, you might not be so quick to rave.

Umm no steak actually tastes good because IT IS A STEAK! Meat is tasty, sorry peoples. People like to eat different foods than you so quit being so damn preachy

A million fails to anyone who brings up the soya bean destroying the rainforest argument.

1. Most of that Soy feeds cattle.

2. Most vegetarians don't eat very much soy.

3. Cattle for beef also consumes a huge amount of feed compared to the amount of food they produce. It's also terrible for the environment because of methane and land clearance.

There is no good reason to eat beef.

+1 to people with the self control to make a decision based on something a bit more substantial than 'But I like the taaste!'.

Steak tasts better because it is made of meat, at least the one I had last night was. God obviously intended forman to eat animals which is why he made them out of meat.
Enjoy your dinner everyone.

The study linked in the article doesn't bring anything new to the table. The comparison between a veggie sausage to a normal one, and Pepsi to a store brand cola doesn't translate to proper meat, since there will be a discernable taste and texture difference.

For the sausage, the only difference is the meat content, both could have contained the same spices, quantity of water (and maybe a bit of toilet paper). Same goes for the cola, the ingredients list for the store brand and Pepsi are hardly that different, one probably has more sugar than the other or something.

Try comparing a Nando's whole chicken to a veggie equivalent, or a nice Angus steak to a tofu equivalent and try coming back with the same results.

Its like saying people like wearning designer brands because they are designer and not because the Nike polo shirt has a better weave than the Primark one, (they were probably manufactured in the same bloody factory by the same people). We know.

Wow, this is really interesting.... This cultural preference for meat is so strong now people don't even think about it, they just defend it madly!

Meat is and has been valued by cultures in many parts of the world for most all (modern) human existence because its a sign of wealth. If you can't afford to eat meat, you're lower class, poor.

The truth is, meat is a handy protein--its convenient. Its a lot of nutrients in one slick package. There are tons of other protein sources, they're just broken down and have to be combined and consumed in larger proportions.

However, meat consumption requires animals, and when we domesticated animals in certain parts of the world, we were creating many interesting situations for ourselves--1st is the disease factor. Living in such close conditions with livestock created many diseases that killed a lot of people (and when they evolved resistance but then moved on to other parts of the world, those diseases wiped out a LOT more people who didn't have resistance).

2nd, when we moved out and colonized other parts of the world, those domestic animals actually meant the death of some people, because the ecosystems couldn't support them (Polynesians/pigs, Greenlanders/cows, etc...)

The cultural value placed on meat of higher esteem (ranking systems like cows are better than sheep for example) had people clinging to animals in ecosystems that couldn't support them, until the land was so degraded, the people starved to death. Only cultures that saw what was happening and got rid of the livestock that was damaging survive.

Today, we keep 100,000's of domesticated animals in feedlots for the sole purpose of convenience. We now feed grain that could feed people (yes you have to eat more, but those grains provide adequate protein as well) and feed it to cows, who we then have to pump full of drugs to keep their stomachs from exploding because they weren't meant to eat corn.

We eat meat in every meal, we don't even think of something as a meal if it doesn't have meat in it. Truth be told, we don't need that much protein. We just think we do, which is what this article is pointing out. Whatever you were raised to believe is palatable, is. I don't eat much meat, mostly what's locally raised humanely, but even I don't like tofu. I grew up on Mickey D's and hots dogs and Kraft mac n cheese. It's only now, as an adult with some education, that I am challenging myself to rationally consider what is a sustainable, healthy diet.

Beef makes me sick.

Yeah, uhm...I'm trying to go vegetarian, cutting all of that antibiotic, prion and hormone infected beef, pork and poultry out of my diet (I want to live a long, cancer and CJD-free life), but uh...no matter how viciously cruel the meat industry is http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1282796533661048967, and how unhealthy it is to consume that nasty agricorp meat....steak tastes good. It tastes really, really, really good. You can psyche yourself out of it by thinking it's an animal corpse or whatever, but your backbrain will always insist "This tastes good!"

People are essentially big kids.

social values be damned! nice grilled steak with some mushrooms and beer would taste nice to me! I think I'll head to a steakhouse tonight. I think this article had the absolutely opposite impact it was meant to have. GL anyway for making me hungry and being food for thought.

I think it's funny. Everyone is trying to justify their culinary preferences like it's a really importent matter. Some people like meat. And some like veggies. The two groups just need to accept each other and move on.
btw, I'm in the carnivore category.

A good medium rare steak makes my brain quiver with sticky ecstasy.
Takes me back to the days of running down megafauna on the ancient African savannah.

I will admit that, when ordering a veggie burger [with sauteed mushrooms or not at all], I will do it quietly, as not to draw attention to my ovarian testes. It's on the cusp of consciousness, as I do notice it, but am unable to stop myself...

Sociologists have known this for a while. I think it was Peter Berger who said that your socio-economic class guides your taste. It's also basic conformity theory.

I've had some pretty convincing textured vegetable protine and it tastes damn good. Can't really tell the difference other than the label. I am neither a vegetarian nor a vegan, but I do appreciate meat substitute when done right. When I lived in Japan there was this place called Moss Burger, all the burgers were made of mushroom but it tasted the same as a beef burger. I enjoyed it as much as when I eat a Red Robbin. The point is that it is psychological and that we are conditioned.

This is bullshit! Fuck Cows! Its really sick, when people care more about the well-being of of other animals than they do about their own species. Fuck animal rights groups. We need more human rights groups. Screw PETA, How about PETP. Also, How about not setting up organizations to get fucking catz off the streetz. We need more organizations helping people get off the streetz. When no ones homeless, then, and only then, should we help animals.

this post makes me hungry.

No, steak tastes good because we have evolved with meat as our protein source. We are not herbivores, we have canines because we have lived through our long history as relying on meat for sustenance. Any other opinion is ridiculous, if you wanna be a vegetarian, that's your choice, but you will need to find another protein source that is not the natural source of protein for humans, plain and simple.

I always thought it was a textural difference. Veggie alternatives are always like gritty sponges. Nothing ruins a meatless dish more than sneaking tofu into it.

mmmmm steak! Cant talk anymore, must go buy steak!

Another win for vegetarians!

Who cares why it tastes good? I would post a longer answer, but I suddenly feel the urge to go to Outback...

I'm eating a steak right now. Ummm Good!!

i love meat. period. its delicious. vegetarian alternatives have come a long ways however. in the last few years some of the things they are making taste pretty good but there's no substitute for a prime piece of red meat cooking on the bbq

Firstly, to everyone who says "Steaks taste good because they are delicious" you're falling into a begging the question fallacy. Your claim then is useless, except it helps show people what the phrase "begs the question" means, as opposed to the common misuse where it the user wants to say leads to the question. (Sorry, pet peeve)

Secondly, the article doesn't claim that steak doesn't taste good or even equivalent. In fact, it says steak tastes better because we are socially programmed to believe so. Much of what we do is socially programmed and there's nothing wrong with that.

I find omnivores defensiveness about eating meat amusing. They cling to meat like a smoker to cigarettes, often using similar arguments to justify their continued use. I wonder if that is because they understand the opposing arguments and understand they have no moral or nutritional counterpoint. Thou doth protest too much, Methinks.

I think this is just crap... Steak is Steak! :) Whatever your sense gets, is something else! :)

From what I can tell this study really did have anything to do with steak. The products testing were cola’s and sausage rolls. I can understand how a veggie roll could be confused with an actual beef roll in some instances. However it’s still a joke to assume that that a good beef sausage tastes anything like a veggie roll.

It’s even funnier when someone assumes the results of this test would transfer over to a comparison of beef and veggie steaks. I’m sorry but you cannot recreate the taste of a well seasoned medium rare steak with soy or any other vegetable. So yeah you might be able to fool me with ground beef, but definitely not with a steak.

Im sorry to all you vegans, but there is no way that a veggie burger tastes better than a regular burger! Not because of social power. It just tastes better!! I've had both, and i would never trade a veggie for a steak burger. I never understood veggie burgers anyways. I mean it's not that it tastes horrible, cuz it tastes alright. Its just that if they hate meat so much, why would you eat something that emulates a slab of meat so that it gets you thinking of it while you take a bite?

Steaks taste of animal corpses.

I think it should cost at least 40 bucks if you want a steak and at least 10 bucks if you want a burger. According to this article expensive meat would make it extremely delicious! Plus we could dramatically reduce the number of cattle grazing and clean up the air for this planet....and grow food on the land for the starving...and stop being fat....and stop having heart attacks at early ages and.........sorry, just keep eating steak cause you like the taste.

Steak is delicious.

That being said, humans are very open to suggestion. While I bet people could tell a new york strip steak from a slab of tofu, who really knows what's in processed meat products like chicken nuggets and burgers? We only have the package labels to prove what we're eating anyway.

I heart steak!

maybe the idea of eating a veggie "burger" just turns people off. nothing wrong with that. aren't our senses connected anyway?

I think that's why humans eat meat in the first place...dominance. Once you get over the need to be powerful and demonstrate your hunting prowess (by eating various parts of an animal that was killed and cooked by someone else), it's easy to like veggie burgers and tofu hot dogs. Besides, they're better for your health and for the environment. So what if they don't taste precisely like the real thing? I wouldn't want them to anyway, since I think meat tastes like rotting flesh. Oh wait...IT IS.

Been vegan 9 years & have heard this is especially true for men. Who enjoy shooting the shit around roasted dead flesh.

I also think it depends what the V.B. is made with, my fiance and I make some pretty bad ass Portabella mushroom burgers.

Obviously the veggie burgers in question were not from Millennium, mmm.

i'm pretty much a veg, but i'll admit that steaks taste a lot better than the soy alternative, at least for the most part.

I don't care what happens, you're not stopping me from eating meat. Especially steak.

"Tofu - it's what's for dinner" just doesn't sound right.

Steaks taste good because they are delicious........I could be living in a hut in the middle of nowhere and I would still eat steak