I’m not vegan in anyway but a long time ago I learned that they understand fear more than other animals. I might be wrong but they’re so smart I feel awful eating them even if it’s an accident. I ate octopus once in cup ramen because I didn’t know it was an ingredient and it still haunts me. Am I being a baby about it?
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No, they should have tried harder in the evolutionary arms race.
Instead they grew too many arms.
It doesn’t haunt me, but I mostly avoid it now which isn’t very hard to do. They’re so smart that I feel bad eating them.
Yeah, I try and avoid it too, my parents had a trip to Spain and struggled with it being a common ingredient where they were.
I’m not vegan/vegetarian, but they’re definitely on my list of animals I won’t eat. Completely understandable.
I would not even THINK of eating such a smart creature
It’s everywhere where I live, I used to love it, but never order… walking by them on ice in the super market is far from easy….
No but I wouldn’t eat it anyway. Pigs are smart too but most people don’t have any hang ups about eating them
I do feel bad eating shark tho bc I love them 🙁 kinda sucks because I had it once and I did like it (rare for me bc I normally hate seafood) but I couldn’t eat more than 1 bite
Yeah you don’t do that. Grow a soul.
I love animals and there are some I won’t eat, like baby animals or wild animals, but I haven’t ever felt bad about eating seafood of any kind. I think what matters is that the animal is killed humanely, so never boiling alive or anything torturous.
I stopped when I basically figured out they were hyper capable and intelligent outer space aliens living our ocean and when they finally arrive, I haven’t been actively consuming their scouts.
Yeah, very guilty. I’m a scuba diver so I’ve seen them first hand in the wild. They are very cool, eating them seems wrong. However I understand the food chain and so I eat them anyways, I do feel better if they are sustainably sourced though.
I don’t eat them as a result.
No, but sometimes I feel a little guilty when chowing down on a dolphin burger.
Its one of the animals I won’t eat. I like them way too much.
Octopus are ridiculously intelligent and they were on my “do not eat” list long before I went fully vegan. I just can’t justify eating a creature that has 8 more brains than I do!
Completely with you.
I also avoid lobster or any other ‘fish’ that might be prepared in an inhumane way, since its a complete myth that they don’t feel pain just cause they’re unintelligent. Animals don’t need the capacity to emotionally reason to feel pain and fish do more than you’d think. Any time I see shellfish being boiled alive it gets to me a bit
I mostly avoid it. They’re very smart, but also over fished. Plus my sibling loves them and it feels weird eating their favorite animal.
On the rare occasion that I do I remind myself that they’re opportunistic cannibals, and if an octopus was there it would probably also eat the octopus.
i’m a ‘sometimes i’ll eat meat’ kinda guy and i do have a list of animals i’ll avoid eating entirely and octopus is on there yeah
Not a vegetarian but will not eat octopus. TBH I’m struggling more and more with beef, lamb, chicken and pork. But pork is just sooooo delicious. 🥓
No offense, but this makes no sense. Why would you feel bad about eating octopus but not other animals? How does intelligence matter at all? In my opinion, it is more about feeling. If a dog is dumb and considered “eatable”, we still wouldn’t want to give it some terrible life (like raised its whole life in a cage, like a chicken for example). At least, that’s how I see it.
i would not do that if i were anyone thinking about it or already doing it. that’s cruel. they are such sentient creatures, it’s horrific.
It’s weird to me that so many of you have been presented with octopus as an option to eat regularly enough that you’ve already considered your opinion on it.
I wouldn’t eat octopus because it grosses me out, but I do refuse to eat pork for that reason. I won’t eat anything that has intelligence approaching that of humans. It just feels abhorrent to me
Yeah, I had tiny fried octopi years ago and still think about it.
Won’t be doing it again knowing what I know now.
It’s called cognitive dissonance. You could easily argue that pigs are more even intelligent than octopus, but most people don’t shy away from iv injecting bacon into themselves. You can also easily argue that factory farming is far more harmful for the livestock, environment, and the people who live by them than the methods typically associated with octopus harvesting.
However, since eating octopus isn’t normal to you, but pork is. You only feel guilty about the octopus vs the pig who is more deserving of your sympathy. So you change and adjust your perceptions to more comfortably fit with your world view vs challenging yourself to accept the reality of the situation.
Never thought about it as it’s not a thing here in the UK but I am aware that they are considered very smart.
I don’t eat octopus or cows for this reason.
I eat pigs because pigs would eat me. I figure it’s fair.
Chickens and turkeys are too stupid to live, so I have no problem eating them. Ducks are mean SOBs and deserve to be eaten.
Rabbits are an invasive species, along with crawfish and wild boar. It’s my duty to eat them.
It’s ok to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings. Who am I to argue with Kurt Cobain?
In addition, they don’t taste very good. So it’s kind of easy not to eat them…
If not food why taste good.
That one episode of The Boys
You’re not being a baby about this. In fact, you should take it further and stop eating animals all together. As a psychologist who has a very good understanding of how consciousness works, I can tell you that even though octopuses are certainly more intelligent than many other animals, they aren’t the only “food animals” who feel fear and pain, or who want to stay alive.
Absolutely. I refuse to eat Octopus.
When I was getting my Divemaster quals, I had the fortunate experience to encounter countless octopus and each time was incredible.
I have a vivid memory of one coming up to me nearly face to face just staring at me before it got spooked and swam away. As it stared at me, I had the intense feeling that it was really analyzing me.
I also saw a documentary around that time where a man had developed a friendship with an Octopus in a kelp forest and that just deepened it for me.
I had Octopus one time when I was at a Family Mart and didn’t realize it at the time. I was a little upset about it, but I didn’t let it get to me. But, I do make it a point to check anytime I’m eating seafood.
Tbh these days I feel a little guilty eating meat in general. I will try someone else’s but as delicious as I find it, but octopus is off the menu as my own choice. I eat much less red meat and stick to poultry for just about every protein. Maybe 1-2 meals with beef or pork a month.
I am super stoked for lab grown or meat substitutes to get cheaper, they are already really good in certain applications, but if I’m spending 15$ at the grocery store for 4 fake beef patties, and 3 lbs of ground chuck is like 10$ it does make it hard to justify at the moment.
I do! I refused to eat them ever again after finding out that they like to collect things. 🤍
All animals are intelligent/aware in their own way. We as humans just like to anthropomorphize intelligence and act like it’s a spectrum where “similar to us” is at the far end. The octopus, the cow, the chicken, the dog, the horse, the cat, the dog, etc. are all equally aware and intelligent in the way that best suits each species.
No, because I don’t eat them. Nor do I eat sea urchin (mostly because it’s absolutely vile, lol).
Similar but different boat: I became a pescatarian because I felt bad eating animals I found cute (e.g. cows, rabbits, ducks).
Yes. The fact that they’re so goddamn chewy makes you really, really think about it.
Yeah stopped eating lemurs for this reason.
Yeah I can’t eat any cephlopod. They’re too intelligent. It feels wrong
After reading My Octopus Teacher I quit.
Im not vegan or vegetarian so ill eat whatever is on the menu. Im not too full of myself to believe that NOT eating them will change anything.
Octo-pussy?
I do eat meat but I don’t buy it for my house, I only have it when I am eating at other places and it’s offered. I try not to eat anything smarter than a chicken/fish. I don’t think eating meat itself is immoral, as we are animals and omnivores and it’s part of the natural order, but I think the meat industry itself is very unethical in its mistreatment of animals. People don’t need an animal to suffer its whole life before eating it, it’s just cheaper to do so.
You absolutely should
Nah, they’re delicious. Why would I feel guilty?
Baby octopus and prawns in a garlic butter sauce are amazing.
Nope, I will gladly eat my takoyaki in peace.
Yes!!! Especially since I read Remarkably Bright Creatures…
I love octopuses and I avoid eating them.
I worked at a restaurant that served it! A bunch of us in the kitchen didn’t like that we sold it, and in high volume, it was one of our signature dishes and very popular. We tried working with the owner to take it off the menu, but it sold too well. It’s a bummer, but it’s tasty. I don’t order it when I go out to eat but if we’re sharing small plates and it’s on the menu and some in my group wants it, I’ll try it.
Why does intelligence imply worthiness or unworthiness to be eaten?
Yes. I also refuse to eat cuttlefish, but I’m on the fence about squid. I won’t let calamari go to waste if someone orders it, but I refuse to pay money to eat a potentially sentient living thing.
I stopped a few years ago. Just can’t do it anymore.
Well. I feel poorly about every animal that suffers for my table. But I’m also a selfish, sadistic glutton and love dead animals as food.
It’s a constant struggle.
I do! They are so delicious though. But I don’t eat them anymore