What are you really eating?

Gelatin—Rhymes with "skeleton." Coincidence? I think not. Gelatin is a protein made by boiling cows' and pigs' skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Jell-O? Hell, no!

Lard—Lard is such a gross word, it almost makes you wonder why they just don't call it what it is: "Fat from hog abdomens."

Pepsin—If the thought of eating lard turns your stomach, stay away from pepsin, a clotting agent from pigs' stomachs, used in some cheeses and vitamins.

Rennet—Certain words just make you cringe, like coagulate, congeal, clot—which is what rennet, an enzyme taken from baby calves' stomachs, is used for in cheese production.

Stearic Acid—It may sound less gross than "lard," but stearic acid, which often rears its ugly head in chocolate and vitamins, comes from a fatty substance taken from slaughtered pigs' stomachs—or from cows, sheep, or dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters. Still want to chew on that piece of Fido?

Cetyl Palmitate—Check your head if you're using margarine that contains cetyl palmitate, the fancy term for the waxy oil derived from sperm whales' heads or from dolphins. "I can't believe it's not ... oh, wait. It is? Whale head wax?"

Urea—Urea comes from piss and other "bodily fluids." It's used to "brown" baked goods, like pretzels. Um, yeah. And the oven is for ...?

thanks to Peta2.org