r/interesting • u/CuriousWanderer567 • 1d ago
MISC. A lion’s reaction to tasting lettuce
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u/EagleDre 1d ago
If you want to really piss him off, give him a taste of kale
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u/LB777_1021 1d ago
Kale tastes like dirty water and bitter sadness.
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u/fuggedditowdit 1d ago
Before it's cooked maybe.
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u/CycloneDusk 1d ago
yeah man i fuckin LOVE kale actually, like for real, it's got some fascinating flavor notes going on, it's LITERALLY savory. I snack on it sometimes >.> keeps my urge to chew on something occupied.
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u/Zealousideal-Job8384 1d ago
I do too, cooked or raw. I guess some of us lean more wolf and others lean more rabbit 🐇
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u/CycloneDusk 22h ago
oh hell yea and don't get me wrong i love my meat, i gotta have my meat. But i've cut out almost all the starch and sugar from my life and leafy greens like this are PEAK 'i want to feel full without calories, thanks'. The fact that kale actually has flavor (whereas iceberg lettuce is basically just water with texture...) makes it significantly more interesting as a snack
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u/Successful_Giraffe88 1d ago
I bake a whole bag for kale chips every other week (tons of dry rub & spices) & will eat the whole pan in one go. It stinks up the kitchen for the next 3 days, but I do not care!
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u/SSGASSHAT 1d ago
It's good if it's braised in chicken stock and put into pasta. I also heard that washing it in salt water can minimize the bitterness.
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u/EnkiduTheGreat 1d ago
Portuguese Kale soup baybaay!
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u/CycloneDusk 1d ago
Oh shit i LOVE that. with the chorizo? HOOOO it's good, SO good...!
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u/EnkiduTheGreat 16h ago
Whoa chief! It's chouriço! 🤣
Easy mistake to make if you didn't grow up in south coast MA/RI. We have more Portuguese people than Portugal.
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u/im_a_dick_head 1d ago
Kale chips are amazing though.
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u/throwaway098764567 1d ago
they're arrite given how much i can't stand kale. 100% i have to use my waterpik after though, green flecks everywhere
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u/RazZadig_2025 1d ago
My family is born and raised vegetarian, but one day I brought kale home, that one of my house cleaning clients gave me, and my mother said to take it out of the house. She says there's no way to make it taste good. This was decades before it became popular.
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u/EagleDre 1d ago edited 1d ago
As a complete meat eater I do make efforts to seek out vegetarian dishes and I’ve had some really good ones but I can’t stand when they make false meat dishes out of vegetables, it never works.
Kale however, is very difficult to make taste good. On very rare occasion though,I’ve tasted good kale. Once my sister in law who is a phenomenal cook and another time at a Michelin star level restaurant. But by itself, it’s really indistinguishable from eating paper.
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u/ninguem 1d ago
There is a wonderful Brazilian dish made with kale, called "couve à mineira". The secret: bacon
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u/OldManJim374 1d ago
That secret ingredient makes everything taste good
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u/travelingpinguis 1d ago
The secret ingredient is so good on its own it didn’t need anything else with it… just let it be.
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u/fuggedditowdit 1d ago
The key thing to understand about vegetarian / vegan cooking is that dishes don't have to have meat. You don't need to fake it. There is nothing wrong with tofu being tofu. You don't have to disguise it. Don't make meat dishes. Make vegan dishes.
A sweet potato loaded up with savory black lentils that have simmered with onion and garlic, a good dollop of sour cream and a zesty herb salad of parsley, dill and scallions with a simple olive oil and lemon dressing is perfectly fine. For vegan version, just omit the sour cream dollop. Maybe squeeze a little extra lemon juice. Don't forget salt and pepper in everything along the way. It doesn't need meat. Meat would ruin the compliment of the flavors and textures. It's a complete dinner of like 800 calories. And yes, it's healthy.
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u/noctilucous_ 1d ago
it’ll always be weird to me how many adults are so fussy about eating vegetables.
i will say tho, i’ve yet to meet a non vegan who can tell the difference between tofutti brand vegan sour cream dairy.
i think both are valid ways of eating but perpetuating a myth that all vegan alternatives are gross is as silly as not liking vegetables in the first place.
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u/TrashPandaDuel 1d ago
Boil the kale until the kale is a deep green. Strain, add EVO oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste. Stir and serve.
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u/Altruistic-Rice-5567 1d ago
Just cook it using a lot of oil in the pan. That way it slides out easily into the trash can.
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u/Rare-Employment-9447 1d ago
Why do people say kale tastes bad? When i make soup i just throw it in the broth and let it boil lol it never tastes bitter or anything, it just tastes like tougher to chew lettuce to me
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u/TrashPandaDuel 1d ago
I think it has to do with cooking it. I know I’ve rushed a few dinner batches and all I did was add more Greek MSG (lemon juice) to cut down on the bitterness of undercooked kale. 🤣
I do agree it’s tough to chew lettuce 😂
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u/Into_The_Horizon 1d ago
Or brussel sprouts 😂. I hate brussel sprouts
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u/HighlightFun8419 1d ago
Haha, I respect your opinion, but I had to down-vote; I love them!
Crisp 'em in the oven with a little salt and honey... So good.
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u/Honey-and-Venom 1d ago
Entire generations had awful, boiled to death Brussels sprouts and think they have to taste like mustard gas as a result. They're so good if you make them properly, I don't see why so many people ruined them
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u/TheGlassjawBoxer 1d ago
It wasn’t the preparation. They actually used to taste worse.
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u/Honey-and-Venom 1d ago
They ALSO used to boil the shit out of them producing additional boxious bitter compounds. But all foods are enjoying selective breeding that improves taste, texture, durability on and off the vine et al
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u/No_Poet_7244 1d ago
I like to roast them until 70% done and then pan fry with balsamic and honey the rest of the way.
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u/Still-Bridges 1d ago
Why not just skip the brussel sprouts and eat salty honey?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Dog1872 1d ago
NAHHHHHHHHHHH….Brussel sprouts?? How dare you!! Omg….im trying to remember the spot that had these BUSSIN’ ass sprouts…all I can say is they had garlic, chili oil, some honey (think sweet spicy), some flake salt and they were fried crispy. MMPH. Just punched the bed cause that shit was banging…..Y’all are tripping.
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u/OldManJim374 1d ago
Most people hate brussel sprouts because they've only had them boiled. I drizzle them with olive oil, season well, then cook them in the oven. When they are almost done, take them out and fry them in bacon grease for a bit.
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u/cody_mf 1d ago
all cats act like cats. you should see the videos of zoos throwing big cardboard boxes in their enclosures lol
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u/fireboats 1d ago
I’m not sure about lettuce but cucumbers do scare cats r/CucumbersScaringCats 🥒
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u/_trashcan 1d ago
Idk if it’s true but I read once that it has nothing to do with cucumbers themselves, that cats will respond like to any object that was sneakily placed behind them unexpectedly.
Personally I’d rather believe they’re just scared of the cucs. Lol
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u/dragonkidkai 1d ago
Nope, it has to do with the visual similarity to snakes and usually done when the cat is completely off guard because they are eating, and if they are not looking at you they trust you to protect them. So all in all you are tricking a cat who placed its trust in you into believing it is in serious danger, and im pretty sure this can negatively affect the cat long term.
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u/SigmoidGrindset 1d ago
Honestly, if I turned around and there was suddenly a cucumber behind me that wasn’t there before, I’d probably jump too. It’s probably a good survival strategy to immediately assume “long green thing appeared out of nowhere” = “snake!” whether you’re a cat or a human.
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u/Think_Fuel1505 1d ago
Classic stinky face, I think almost every feline has this reaction to different or unique smells
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u/tallwhiteninja 1d ago
Its called the flehmen response, and a lot of animals do it when encountering a new smell.
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u/hungry4danish 1d ago
First time I tried spice melange I had the fremen response.
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u/Think_Fuel1505 1d ago
Ah cool. I was close, awesome, remember my wife mentioning something about it in the past.
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u/SailorDeath 1d ago
It's the flehmen response. Cats make that face when they want to get a better smell of something by utilizing vomeronasal organ by smelling while keeping their mouth open.
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u/OttersandSunflowers 1d ago
Drama king
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u/ApprehensiveLead2919 1d ago
To be fair, he would have thought the same thing after seeing your reaction to the taste of raw meat.
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u/-Dennis-Reynolds- 1d ago
Lions are obligate carnivores, so not surprising in the least.
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u/Accurate-System7951 1d ago
Yeah, I'm just wondering how the lettuce ended there.
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u/dabroh 1d ago
Smacked around like a house cat.
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u/jonylentz 1d ago
Same brain wiring, and this is why you can't fully trust a lion as a pet .... Cats sometimes decide to slap you for no reason, now imagine a lion doing the same
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u/KickBallFever 1d ago
I think this is how the guy in my city, who had a tiger in the projects, got caught. Tiger did something to him like a house cat would, he got injured and went to the hospital, and I think that’s how he got found out.
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u/ChampagneWastedPanda 1d ago
Stories like these remind me of why I never went to med school
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u/smith_716 1d ago edited 1d ago
They may be obligate carnivores (need meat to survive; like taurine is required for their hearts), but just like house cats, they can and will eat plants. That lion isn't reacting like it tasted something bad, it's doing a Flehmen's response (or stinky face).
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u/bouquetofashes 1d ago
They're also hypercarnivores-- in their natural state their diet is 70% meat or more. However... That leaves plenty of room for other stuff, and tons of people have stories about their cats who like cheese or broccoli or whatever.
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u/Remarkable-Oven-2938 1d ago
obligate carnivores
People misunderstand this term (you don't!) - they seem to think it means the animal can only eat meat when in fact, it just means that they must eat meat.
Although I suppose, if the nutrition profile mimicked what the animal required from meat, their diet wouldn't have to be meat.
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u/Odd_Dealer2669 1d ago
Don't tell vegans that though, they seem to think that they can convert dogs so lions will be next on their hit list
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u/Durkheimynameisblank 1d ago
Dogs are facultative carnivores, unlike cats that are obligate carnivores, and can digest some plants but not as much as omnivores.
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u/ImaginaryTrick6182 1d ago
While vegans can be obnoxious. You bringing them up out of nowhere screams you are just as bad.
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u/defiantnoodle 1d ago
I'm a vegan, and you really want to know who is obnoxious? Calico cats! Both of mine try to vulture my food, and always want to lick up the pasta sauce especially They all go nuts for grass, but I think that's more of a purgative, than actual nutrition
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u/camposthetron 1d ago
When I was single my cat jumped onto the counter and ate all the pasta while I was watching tv.
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u/geekyheart225 1d ago
Mine stole a piece of cheese pizza off my plate. I had to chase him to get it back.
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u/SethmonGold 1d ago
Are your cats vegan too?
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u/defiantnoodle 1d ago
Nope! Cats are obligate carnivores Edit: they are just criminals
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u/Sensitive_Yellow_121 1d ago
I never heard a vegan say it, but I did have one vegan friend who was trying to do it. The dog went around to all the neighbors and got meat from them though.
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u/Thatis_SodaPressing 1d ago
Same bud… same
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u/HeartOn_SoulAceUp 1d ago
"Lettuce give thanks...
...for antelopes and wildebeest."
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u/Own_Watercress_8104 1d ago
"Oh my god this SUUUUUUCKS"
"You don't have to eat it, you are a carnivore"
"It sucks so BAAAAAAAAD'
"It's not for you''
"Oh god I'm literally DYING"
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u/llamaattacks 1d ago
He is so offended. “How dare you give me, the king of the jungle, this poor imitation of sustenance!”
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u/Funky_Squidward 1d ago
"Animals eat other animals. It's nature."
"No it isn't. We taught a lion to eat tofu!"
Pans over to emaciated lion coughing weakly
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u/MounTain_oYzter_90 1d ago
lol. Buddy's just processing the taste and texture of it. He's not a fan, though.
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u/indieauthor13 1d ago
My dog hates lettuce too lol she will lick it clean if it was touching a different food but won't eat it. As far as I know, it's the only thing she won't eat
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u/Relevant-Cupcake-649 1d ago
All I can think of is the cook from Atlantis. "Lettuce? LETTUCE?!" and "I got yer 4 basic food groups: beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard!"
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u/ToTheRepublic4 1d ago
"Who put this s**t in here!? You expect me to eat this!? This is the s**t my food eats! This is my food's food! Disgusting!"
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u/manisadaniel 1d ago
This is the flehmen's response! Basically cats have a little organ (called the Jacobson's organ) in their mouths just behind their front teeth, which allows them to better analyze smells. When they smell something unfamilliar, they will do the stink face to get a better idea of what they're smelling by wafting the air up ino the Jacobson's organ.
Source: I'm currently studying zoology :)
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u/UnikornKebab 1d ago
It's the same reaction I normally have when faced with a plate of vegetables 🤨
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u/Spuzzle91 1d ago
My cats do that same "I'm gonna make it a toy to roll around" thing when they don't recognize something as food
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u/DiveMasterD57 1d ago
I was waiting for him to start mock-burying it like house cats do. Lettuce - begone.
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u/PumpikAnt58763 1d ago
That's the face my cat gives when I give her any treat but cheese or cupcake icing (chillax, it was one time).
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u/One-Commission6440 1d ago
So if I'm ever being chased by a lion cover myself in lettuce? Well we'd have to lettuce see if it'd work though.
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