I love you, but you love meat

That’s the headline of a N.Y. Times story about couples with divergent dietary preferences and how they ever manage to live together.

The story says that no-holds-barred carnivores, for example, may share the view of Anthony Bourdain, who wrote in his book “Kitchen Confidential” that “vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans … are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.”

Ben Abdalla, 42, a real estate agent in Boca Raton, Fla., said he preferred to date fellow vegetarians because meat eaters smell bad and have low energy.

June Deadrick, 40, a lobbyist in Houston, said she would have a hard time loving a man who did not share her fondness for multicourse meals including wild game and artisanal cheeses. “And I’m talking cheese from a cow, not that awful soy stuff."

Kathryn Zerbe, a psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, said food has a strong subconscious link to love, and "that is why refusing a partner’s food can feel like rejection."

Amy and I never had that problem.

On our first dinner-and-a-movie at her place back in 2005, we fretted for 30 minutes about various takeout options, before she finally suggested going to the local supermarket and grabbing a couple of steaks to grill.

Love bloomed.

And then I taught her how to use a thermometer.

Wow.

Happy Valentine’s.

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time