Well I actually have to agree with the vegans there. Meat is totally unpalatable to me without cooking. It took me years to even be able to eat a "medium" steak, and I cannot touch hamburger if it has even the least trace of visible pink.

In HS I can remember visiting a friend whose mom was making hamburgers, mixing the meat in a large bowl with spices, and my friend would reach into the bowl and grab hunks of the raw meat to eat. I nearly ran into the bathroom to barf! It was the same friend who taught me to like yogurt however so I'm grateful for that.

OTOH this friend's mom also made homemade bread weekly and we would hang around the kitchen and grab a loaf fresh from the oven, tear it apart, and eat it warm, slathered with butter.

Interestingly this friend's mom was a real "make everything from scratch" sort of cook, unlike my own mom. However while my friend was slender her mom, dad, sister and brother were all seriously obese, quite amazing as you so rarely saw such heavy people back in the 60's.

But maybe the home cooking was protective in some way, as my "TV dinners" sort of mom passed away from Alzheimer's complications 11 years ago and my friend's mom, still seriously obese, is still alive, well and has all her marbles at age 90.

Anyway though I agree with the vegans about meat I could never *be* a vegan, and I try not to touch soy either, though do like an occasional splash of tamari sauce in stirfries.