Gelatin

A coworker offered me some candy yesterday. He is a very strict vegetarian, so when he offered it to me I simply checked for the dairy products which I don't eat. He said he thought it should be fine. As I was chewing it I pondered out loud how they made it so chewy. He mentioned that it's a Japanese candy, and they have this sea-plant extract they use in replacement. I asked to see the label again, and right there in plain English was the dreaded word, "gelatin". I pointed it out to him, and he promptly said, "Spit it out! Spit it out!"

I did, though I wasn't sure why I should. I mean, by that point I was already committed, the thing was in my mouth being chewed up. He answered my question, "well, at least you didn't ingest it."

I've been thinking about that off and on for the past day or so, why does it matter if I ingested it or not? How does that impact anything? The answer is simple: say someone hands me a beverage and I take a sip before realizing it contains alcohol. The point where it's in my mouth requires a choice: I can spit it out, or I can swallow. I know I wouldn't want that in my body, so I suppose the same goes for gelatin. By the same token, when I accidentally find meat in my supposedly vegetarian food I always spit it out.

I guess gelatin is just so divorced from meeeaaattt that it doesn't seem like animal. And yet, it's one of the grosser parts.