Sizzling steaks, burgers on the grill, bratwurst with a dollop of spicy mustard—what’s not to like?
But to vegetarians, these dead-animal-flesh products can be truly frightening. Especially when they haunt the subconscious at night, a traumatic phenomenon called a “meatmare.” According to Grist, a webzine that obsesses over environmental justice, sustainability, clean energy, and the like, right-thinking people who wouldn’t dream of eating meat actually dream of eating meat.
Here’s how Grist’s Kate Yoder (or is it Stephen King?) describes her torment: “One night, it came to me in my dreams, dripping juice and melted cheddar, the crisp lettuce a mere afterthought. I held it in my hands and took a bite. Instant horror: I stared at the burger like it was an alien object as the realization that I’m a vegetarian stopped me cold.”
Yoder grills food studies professors, cultural anthropologists, and social psychologists to try to “shed light on what meatmares might tell us about social anxiety, guilt, and our culture’s preoccupation with meat.”
Harvard’s Steven Pinker suggested to Grist that a case of the meatmares could be a “dreamtime version” of an obsessive-compulsive affliction called “horrific temptations,” which, Pinker explains in his book, “The Stuff of Thought,” may have something to do with one’s basal ganglia being on the blink. Maybe. Or maybe the afflicted just want a hamburger.
The disorder is not as medium-rare as you might think: Yoder says she found other vegetarians who also suffer from what we might call the meat sweats. They wake “feeling guilty, appalled, and ashamed, occasionally even crying or screaming.”
The author finds that these tartare terrors “could have roots in a preoccupation with food as a moral choice.” You think? Here’s The Scrapbook’s advice: Eat what you like, but do try to cut the excess nagging-of-others out of your diet—scolding seems to come with a side of psychological baggage. Using food to strike a moralistic pose can come back to haunt you.
