The vast divide between Republicans and Democrats over fast food

I want to live in a world where people can eat beyond rice and dried beans within their budget.

It's 2024. Eating a thin mash of bulk grains like you're a medieval peasant isn't a plucky story of resilience. It's the story of a failed economic policy.

There was like a 20 year period where they had things like a dollar menu to get people in and it really could be cheap to eat fast food. Those days are gone.

Same. My mom only took us out to eat fast food either when she was super stretched for time or when she got a little extra money. This was in the ‘80s.

I don’t need toxic masculinity (or Jesus, guns, or American flags - don’t have any of those in my life) to know steak and bacon and hamburgers are freaking delicious and I want to eat them a lot. I enjoy lots of other things, too. It’s a rare meal I don’t have some kind of meat, but I love crab and fish and chicken as much as red meat.

I was talking more about the people that consider their food part of their very identity. The types that toss around silly things like "soy boy" and think that consuming massive quantities of meat and dairy is part of being a "real" man [1] and so on. I've seen people do this even when they tell me their doctor tells them they have got to stop eating red meat (at least) altogether or drastically cut it down. They think eating fresh fruits and vegetables is going to emasculate them. They'd rather continue on this performative path of SAD eating that is literally killing them rather than giving the appearance of being liberal or - gasp - caring about animal welfare.

If you are eating these kinds of things because you find them tasty - hey, have at it. I'm talking about people that feel that they must consume meat/dairy in order to sustain some notion of themselves because of the culture they have chosen to steep themselves in. LOL, then there are the types that want to argue with me and tell me that if I don't eat meat, I'm going to die...I have no idea where to even start w/ these people.

[1] I've seen women just as susceptible to this, by the way. There is a lot of toxic masculinity that runs very deep when it comes to nutrition and health...

You'd be suprised at what you can find out there that are better than you'd think

Like for example, I've had many oat milk skeptics turn into oat milk enthusiasts

Or if you like cooking, there's so many great things out there. Ethiopian cuisine for instance has a bunch of traditionally vegan dishes

Just a handful of examples but there's so much more out there

And I’ve never known a vegan who wasn’t driven solely by cruelty to animals.

There are a lot of reasons that people go vegan. My ex went vegan for environmental reasons. Some people do it primarily for their own health. Some just plain aren't fans of meat and animal products, through either taste or texture or both.

But you're probably right about the correlation with a lack of empathy. When it's considered "masculine" to not care about hurting others, a lot of folks who only know about the "animal cruelty" aspect probably won't consider any deeper reasons. They and their ilk stick to surface-level appearances, making it not only important that they keep eating meat, but that they make a big deal about it whenever around someone who doesn't eat meat.

I wish I could claim it as something I came up with. I probably saw it on lemmy somewhere....

I thought the archive was down