Guilt At Coral Reef

[calypso*a*go-go]

But back on topic, there are sharks and other carnivorous sea life in the Coral Reef tank. If you find them staring at your food, perhaps they're jealous!

Maybe they're not staring at our food...maybe they're staring at us!

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

Am I the only person that feels guilty at the thought of eating seafood at Coral Reef while staring at a huge aquarium full of fish? Also, I love lobster, but could never pick out a live one first (I'm definitely a believer of "what I don't know won't hurt me"). Any other restaurants at WDW you won't/can't eat at because of some strange reason?

I totally agree with you ...I know Coral Reef would have good food but have subconsiously kept away from it, I think for the reason you posted. I would just feel so weird eating fish while staring at it swimming infront of me. It's just like anything else isnt it? I wont go into detail with that, but I do agree with you. Try the Flying Fish Cafe if you want good seafood without staring at it alive! I dont eat at Crystal Palace cuz i dont care for the Pooh characters, but I dont think that's too weird.

 

[Magickndm]

What about Boma? Ever wonder where they got that ox tail for their soup from?

 

[erikthewise]

Anyone see that Monty Python film where they are the fish in the tank?

"'Ere, look! 'Arold's bein' eaten!"

I guess I missed that one. but I DO remember the scene in the BBC version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005YUNJ/qid=1152825536/ )

where they are eating at the "restaurant at the end of the universe" and get to "meet the meat", an intelligent cow-like creature who "wants to be eaten, and is capable of saying so, clearly and distinctly". Poor Arthur Dent is too squeamish for this and tries to order a salad, which results in a rebuke to the effect that vegetables don't care to be eaten either. He ends up with a glass of water.

For the record, I can't condemn a lobster to death either. Things that are already dead anyway are fair game, but not lobster. (I know it's not logical.)

 

[MastaMind]

Well, thanks to our civilization and advancement of agriculture, we humans in the First World don't need fish or any other meat to sustain ourselves, so your analogy doesn't quite fit. But hey, if it doesn't bother you, then have at it at Coral Reef.

I REALLY don't want to pester meat-eaters about their diets (my DH also eats meat without guilt, and I don't bother him about it), I just wanted to put in my two cents' worth. I always thought it was weird to eat fish in front of fish, even before I went veggie.

The analogy is valid, there’s just a difference in perspective

Like Lady Danger said, my stepsister attempted to go full vegetarian and her health suffered negative repercussions for doing so. This was only rectified when she went back to eating some meat.

Back on topic, depending on what type of fish you are eating, our little aquarium friends might want a bite.

 

[elastigirl]

Fish eat Fish too!!!!

 

[TDC Nala]

I dont eat at Crystal Palace cuz i dont care for the Pooh characters, but I dont think that's too weird.

But could you eat bacon and sausage while Piglet was watching you?

 

[deany]

My son just got home from India where he met many little piglets going to the market. He is now off pork. Bacon will never be the same to him....

 

[tinker&belle]

I feel the same way, I can't eat at any lobster place because it makes me so sad. I ate at a steak place and thought it was strange there was a piece of artwork of a cow by our table...

 

[Amy&Dan]

Wow I never even thought of that when I have eaten at Coral Reef! I guess I should have, just shows you what a heartless wench I am. But then I think I had steak the first time and chicken the next. I love seafood but for some reason there isn't much that appeals to me as far as seafood at Coral Reef. Except for the lobster bisque which is a butter thing for me, not a seafood thing (tell that to the lobster in the bisque you might say ).

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

But could you eat bacon and sausage while Piglet was watching you?

..I dont really know if you're being serious but to answer the question, yes I could. However if A piglet was watching me then ofcourse not, but I already made that point in my last post.

 

[sameyeyam]

Doesn't bother me, but then again I'm not a City Girl. From a young age I've watched grandma's cows being slaughtered, helped my mother cut the heads off chickens, helped cut up venison when my father shot a deer, gutted fish and other such wonderful things that are part of growing up in the country.

I feel no more guilty eating fish in front of a fish tank then I do eating mixed green salad in front of my lawn!

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

We don't have a problem with it. Although once in Coral Reef, a foreign tourist at a table behind me pointed to the fish tank and said I want that fish. The server had a hard time explaining that you don't get to pick your fish out of the tank.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Personally I am a cruel and heartless person and have no problem eating fish in front of fish. Of course I also won't have a problem pointing at a cow and saying "I'd like a flank from that one please." so I may not be quite normal .

Hubby on the other hand won't eat anything he can see the eyes of. Which means he will eat lobster, but his has to be removed from the shell first, etc. (well only for seafood he can't eat meat).

I understand the feelings of how mean to eat fish in front of a fish, it just doesn't bother me. I don't hold up pieces of fish and wave it at the fish and go "look I'm eating your brother." though I will admit there is a sick and twisted part of my brain that occationally thinks about doing so .

You guys are killing me.........

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Fish eat Fish too!!!!

This is what I was thinking. The fish are just thinking......."oh, look, she got hers with BUTTER sauce! That's no fair!!"

Ok. I gotta get off this thread so late at night. I am really giddy.

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

This is what I was thinking. The fish are just thinking......."oh, look, she got hers with BUTTER sauce! That's no fair!!"


I love that! I think when we go, if we sit next to the tank, I'm gonna make the fish have conversations with us about eating there. DDs will laugh, and so will I. DH will be like this ---->

Hee hee... (this is what happens when most of your 24/7 is spent exclusively with children under the age of 5!)

 

[NMW]

For about a year after my son (age 4 at the time) saw Finding Nemo he would not eat any fish. He kept saying "Fish are freinds, not food." He actually had tears in his eyes when my mother ordered Sea Bass at a restaurant one night. He had no problem polishing off hamburgers, chicken, or hot dogs though.

 

[Sarnia]

Anthony Bourdain's book, A Cook's Tour, is interesting on this subject. Even as a Chef, the meat he cooked turned up packaged. In the book he helps with the slaughter of animals for food, and while he finds it disturbing he also appreciates that it's something he should see.

At the end of the day, if you eat meat or fish, you have contributed to or caused a death. Of course in the case of farm animals, poultry or farmed fish, it would also never have been born without the consumer demand.

I have no problem with the fact. I have hunted in the past, and there is something very satisfying about having got the food that you are eating yourself.

If I ever had the space and time, i'd be quite happy to keep my own animals, such as pigs, and raise them for food. At least I'd know what they have eaten, and what kind of life they had had.

In nature animals eat each other to survive, fish eat each other to survive. Death and killing is just part of nature, some are the hunters and some are the prey. Some are both. It's just that humans have become so disassociated with the process and often chose to pretend it doesn't happen.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) OK, here's the scoop
2) Eating at the Reef while fish are watching . . .
. . . fish eat sushi, too
. . . eat discretely
. . . don't wave a piece of fish on your spoon high in the air

 

[FlyingBelle]

Along the same lines...

My sister's in-laws are bi-lingual. Her FIL keeps chickens, lambs, etc on his property and prepares them for dinner at appropriate times. His granddaughter knows the chickens as "chicken", but when it comes to eating them, she knows it as "carne" (meat).

At my sister's once, I unknowingly called the chicken on the grill "chicken", and we had a mighty upset young girl on our hands!