History Main / RealMenEatMeat

* Creator/FriedrichNietzsche believed that vegetarianism was bad for the human spirit (not just men), but his philosophy definitely emphasized manliness (although Nietzsche's definition of "manly" is much more cerebral/Apollonian than most people's); he specifically calls it a cause of "physiological inhibition" in ''On the Genealogy of Morals''.

In case you haven't guessed, real men eat meat. They are obsessed about meat, and the bigger, redder, bloodier the better. They will often brag about how rare they like it; "it should moo at me!" If the guy is eating poultry, you can bet it's a big greasy drumstick (perhaps invoking the famous image of [[http://www.debunkingmandelaeffects.com/painting-of-henry-viii-holding-a-turkey-leg/ Henry VIII]]). Fish barely qualifies for this trope in most instances, unless the character was already [[FatherNeptune nautical-themed ]] to begin with or if the fish in question is a huge and dangerous one (large sharks or tigerfish for instance). Bonus points are awarded if those items were [[DeepFriedWhatever deep-fried]] or smothered in [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce hot sauce]] ([[BreadEggsBreadedEggs or both]]). The other end of the spectrum goes up to [[BiggerIsBetter deer, bears, dinosaurs]] and anything bigger, depending on the setting. Bonus points if the meat is something [[ARealManIsAKiller he himself killed.]]

* The Burger Chef Rancher, basically a very large hamburger with no bun or condiments, with a side of "Texas toast" (regular toast sliced twice as thick as usual). The ads showed a big James Garner-looking guy coming in and going "I'LL HAVE A RANCHER."
* Speaking of James Garner, he used to voice-over those all-American "BEEF: IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER" ads brought to you by the National Livestock and Meat Board.
** Sam Elliot and Robert Mitchum were part of that campaign too. Just smell the testosterone!
* When Wendy's introduced a new line of salads, their commercials addressed this stigma: a guy is taunted by his buddies for ordering a salad, until they see how delicious it looks.

* ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'': Ryuuhei Sawamura likes meat. Really, ''really'' likes meat. In a twist of the trope, it's used to emphasize on his insane tendencies. Oh, if I say he likes meat, I mean he also likes the meat of his enemies, strongly resembling cannibalism.
* Inverted in ''Manga/LivingDead'' as Toriko, a female zombie, loves to eat meat and has great knowledge on different types of meat. In fact, if she doesn't eat enough meat, she'll revert to a mindless zombie until she eats some.

* Inverted in ''Manga/PandoraHearts'', where resident ActionGirl, Alice, is known for her love of eating meat, and is even distracted by it at times. Her and her kind though [[ImAHumanitarian usually eat humans]], hence her craving for meat.

* Takes up a large amount of stories in ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'', as mentioned above. Subverted, however, as the extremely muscular and though Toriko is shwon to enjoy ''all'' types of food, loving equally meat, vegetables, soups and desserts.

* Lance Blastoff (a politically incorrect parody character from Creator/FrankMiller) who converts a beautiful vegetarian to meat eating by the extremely manly act of killing and roasting a dinosaur.

* Parodied in a sketch from ''Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow'' where a king is hosting a massive banquet for the man of honor, but he doesn't really likes the food and so he says he'll just eat his couscous he's brought in a tupperware box. He gets called out on this and says he'll gorge on the very next dish: a large roasted wild boar with an apple in its mouth. He leans over, grabs the apple and takes a bite, then complains that it's a Granny Smith apple.

* ''Music/JimmyBuffet'' song 'Cheeseburger in Paradise' is about a man who tries to go vegetarian for health reasons, but keeps having "tremulous dreams" about cheeseburgers.

* In ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'', Irma's Diner offers the [[http://garfield.com/comic/1999-07-16 "He-Man hamburger"]], which is five-pound patty of ground beef on a bun.

* During Bang's gag reel in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma'', round four of the King of Men competition is an all-you-can-meat spectacular. Much to his misfortune, Jin is a vegetarian, and is eliminated in short order this round. Azrael mocks him for it, hence this trope.

* In the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' DLC ''The Citadel'', during the party Wrex can at one point be found advocating not only for an all-meat diet, but for an all-[[SandWorm Thresher Maw]] diet. Joker and Cortez are not impressed.

** Ryuji Sakamoto from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' absolutely loves meat, as shown during the Phantom Thieves victory meal at a high end hotel, where he tries to eat all the meat dishes on the menu. And in ''[[UpdatedRerelease The Royal]]'', him and Yusuke's team attack involves him stopping in the middle of the fight to eat a beef bowl.

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': Testing with SCP-458 (a magic pizza box that generates the favourite pizza of whoever opens it) has shown that SCP-076-2's favourite pizza is a large thick-crusted pizza topped with meatballs, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, sausage and hamburger meat. To wit, SCP-076-2 "Able" is basically [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]] with the psychosis and badassery ramped up. Manly man, manly pizza.
* Averted by [[http://www.thugkitchen.com/ Thug Kitchen]], a whole-foods vegan cooking blog which uses gangsta stereotypes and [[SophisticatedAsHell copious profanity]]. Real men don't ''need'' meat, or overly processed dairy products.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' when a boy claims eating the flesh of lesser animals is manly. His father agrees, but then is made to eat his vegetables by his wife.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "The Beast Within", Beast Boy devours Robin's entire breakfast of one whole ham plus eggs, claiming that real men don't eat tofu. [[OutOfCharacterAlert This is actually the first sign that something is wrong with Beast Boy, since he's a vegetarian-bordering-on-vegan]].

* Lemmy Kilmister of Music/{{Motorhead}}. [[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/12/lemmy-favourite-foods-interview By his own admission]], the only plant matter he'd even consider touching was potatoes and green beans, and otherwise lived on a diet of mostly meat, cheese, and Jack Daniel's. Amazingly, he was quite healthy for being in his late-60s (aside from the terminal cancer, obviously) and is well-known for his RatedMForManly music and for allegedly bedding over 2,000 women in his life.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': Testing with SCP-458 (a magic pizza box that generates the favourite pizza of whoever opens it) has shown that SCP-076-2's favourite pizza is a large thick-crusted pizza topped with meatballs, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, sausage and hamburger meat. To wit, SCP-076-2 "Able" is basically [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]] with the psychosis and badassery ramped up. Manly man, manly pizza.

* Vilhjalmur Stefansson experimented with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-carbohydrate_diet no-carbohydrate diet]] after observing that the Inuit diet consisted of mostly meat and fish, since there is very little vegetation in the Arctic circle. [[http://www.biblelife.org/stefansson1.htm Here is the article in question]].
* The book ''The Sexual Politics Of Meat'' is about this from a female perspective, making the case for vegetarianism from a feminist perspective.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xc5wIpUenQ Simply called TurBaconEpic]], it's a bird, in a bird, in a bird, in a bird, in a bird, in a pig with endless bacon strips and bacon stuffing, garnished with Baconators.
* Real Life inversion: [[http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/ Vegan bodybuilders]]
* Alternate inversion: [[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/national/26vegan.html Vegan firefighters]].
* Steppe Nomads were very carnivorous. And while many have said nasty things about them, no one has called them unmanly. [[ARealManIsAKiller For reasons you can guess]].

** This is possibly a reasonable stance for the time given that a ''poorly-managed'' meat-free diet can result in a lack of energy and other health problems. Of course, these days it is much easier to engage in vegetarianism or veganism and still receive one's required nutrients.
* A lot of evidence shows that the early Neanderthals had a mostly meat-based diet. Researchers also believed this carnivorous diet may have been partially responsible for their demise, as the end of the ice age meant there was no big game for them to catch and little knowledge on how to grow crops, unlike their rivals and human ancestors, the Cro-Magnon.
** [[ScienceMarchesOn Recent finds]] suggest that the end on the Ice Age did little harm to the biosphere, and actually ''increased'' the biomass and biodiversity of the early European lands, which became a home to what is now known as a European megafauna. The lack of big game that brought the demise of the Neanderthals is entirely their own fault: they simply [[ManlyMenCanHunt hunted and]] [[BigEater ate it all]]. Similar situations repeated many times when the early humans arrived at the pristine ecosystems, like the Clovis culture in early North America and ancestors of the Aborigines in Australia and New Guinea. Though recent discoveries have also showed that some populations of Neanderthals apparently managed to live quite well on diets that were largely vegetarian, so the idea that they ate themselves to death by killing off the largest Europe's megafauna is losing popularity.
* ''Homo sapiens'' and earlier hominids are natural meat eaters as well, as their male ancestors evolved to hunt game on the savannah, which further contributed to brain growth. When humans switched to a mostly grain-based diet with the invention of agriculture to sustain larger populations beyond small tribes, human health as a whole ''declined''. Human skeletons from before this dietary change were taller and had better teeth. This is still evident in our instinctual urges, seeking out food which is either sweet, fatty, or salty. Sweet because fruit contains sugar, and fatty and salty... because that's found in meat.
* Inverted: Creator/AlecBaldwin is a vegan animal rights activist... that pretty much settles it.
* Another inversion: Vegetarianism and veganism are very popular in the hyper masculine HeavyMetal and HardcorePunk scenes. Attila Csihar of Music/{{Mayhem}}, Gaahl of Music/{{Gorgoroth}}, Mark "Barney" Greenway of Music/NapalmDeath, Geezer Butler of Music/BlackSabbath and Ian [=Mac=]Kaye of Music/MinorThreat are examples.
** See also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeZlih4DDNg Vegan Black Metal Chef]].
* Subverted by the tenth-century warrior-saint Gerald of Aurillac. Although he would eat meat, especially venison, he preferred fish and vegetables. This did not make him [[ChurchMilitant any]] [[TechnicalPacifist less]] badass.
* Subversion: Former Hockey enforcer Georges Laraque [[RealMenWearPink is a vegan]] ''[[RealMenWearPink and]]'' [[RealMenWearPink an active member of the Canadian Green Party.]]
** See also vegetarian slugger Prince Fielder, of the Milwaukee Brewers (at least for the next month or so. After free agency, who knows where he'll be?)
* Several cultures, such as the Massai of Africa and the Mongols of Central Asia, subsist on diets that are almost entirely meat due to living in grasslands where there is little vegetation that humans are capable of digesting. Cattle, on the other hand, thrive on grasses.

* The Lewis and Clark expedition was so put off by the idea of subsisting on ''fish'', of all things, that they resorted to buying ''dogs'' from the Native tribes as they journeyed west. They ended up [[EatTheDog consuming]] about two hundred and fifty dogs in all, though by all accounts they'd resigned themselves to eating fish like the natives by the time they reached the coast.
* The reason the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beefsteak_banquet beefsteak banquet]] was once popular as a political fundraiser (and began to disappear due to women getting the vote). It's also the reason they haven't disappeared altogether.

* The "paleo" diet trend, which emphasizes eating only foods that would have been available to our caveman ancestors, is very popular among [[RatedMForManly male-heavy]] circles that usually eschew diet trends since the diet tends to be very meat-heavy.
* TruthInTelevision: building muscle mass requires a large amount of protein, usually gained from a combination of whey supplements and meat. While it is ''possible'' to get all the protein one needs to build muscle mass without eating meat, you have to really know what you're doing, especially since large amounts of soy (a popular non-meat source of protein) can cause an excess of estrogen. Turkish oil wrestlers ideally eat four kilos of meat a day along with half a kilo of honey for this reason.
** It's a similar deal for polar explorers, who typically burn 3 times as many calories than normal while pulling sleds in the extreme cold.
* With common chimps (''Pan troglodytes''), the males go off on hunting raids and enjoy the meat themselves. They ''might'' share the meat with females, [[AllMenArePerverts but usually only as a bargaining chip for sex]]. At least one population of chimps, however, has seen females learning to hunt for themselves instead of waiting for a male to notice them and share.
** Male baboons are also more predatory than females. Having gigantic fangs may have something to do with this preference, although their impressive canine teeth are primarily for defense.
* Inverted with mosquitoes, as only females are blood-drinkers, while males content themselves on plant juices and nectar from flowers.
* Averted (and how!) by the World Championship boxer Eder Jofre. A two weight division world champion at Bantamweight and Featherweight -- and a committed veggie. Still hale and hearty at the age of 83.
* Averted by Roman gladiators [[http://www.bbc.com/news/education-29723384 who seem to have had a mostly vegetarian diet]].
* The Japanese term "herbivore men" refers to men not interested in getting married or having a girlfriend (often being stereotyped as {{Otaku}} with PerverseSexualLust), with the use of "herbivore" implying [[AManIsAlwaysEager lack of manliness]].
* Similar to "herbivore men", Western right-wing online communities have taken to insulting any male they deem insufficiently manly (or insufficiently conservative) as "soyboys", due to a belief that consuming soy products can raise estrogen levels. As stated above, excessive soy consumption can result in unusually high amounts of estrogen in the body, but doing that usually requires taking in all that soy over an unnaturally short period of time; those who do consume soy-based milk/meat substitutes typically only take in a moderate amount at a time over widely-spaced intervals.
* Vegan and vegetarian diets are significantly more popular with women than with men in the West.
* Inverted with Colin Kaepernick who is a 6"4, 230 pound NFL Quarterback and a vegan since 2015.
* Inverted with dairy milk, another animal product that is literally made for babies.
* Subverted when it comes to testosterone production. While protein ''is'' needed for it, so are carbohydrates. Going on a high protein low-carbs diet will reduce testosterone production. The real key to maintaining "manliness" is, like with a lot of health matters, a ''balanced'' diet.
* Inverted by the state of Israel: by some estimates, it has the highest portion of vegans per capita in the world and the second-highest portion of vegetarians (after India), and Tel Aviv is considered one of the veganism capitals of the world. This does not seem to have impaired [[BadassIsraeli the Israelis' ability to become world-famous badass warriors.]]
* If you [[ARealManIsAKiller interpret "Real Men" as "aggressive and violent"]], this trope is actually averted throughout much of the animal kingdom. Predators, for the most part, are actually much more cautious when it comes to picking their fights. [[JustifiedTrope After all, for a predator to enter a fight under less than optimal conditions and end up injured]] is practically a FateWorseThanDeath: unable to chase and bring down any more prey, they'd be doomed to starve. Therefore, even extremely powerful predators will often prefer to attack only if they feel confidant of having an overwhelming advantage (e.g. from an ambush, once the prey has been thoroughly exhausted, with a pack behind them, etc.). Conversely, herbivores such as rams, cattle, hippos, and elks, who don't have to worry about the grass outrunning them, "have nothing to lose" from acting too aggressive and will absolutely attack if they're so much as looked at wrong. See HerbivoresAreFriendly for further details.

** In ''Literature/Ringworld'' humanity on the Ring has branched out to fill many environmental niches. The group from space captures the leader of one tribe who is infuriated by the Kzin suggesting he is a coward because he eats grass. The human member thinks it reveals that the Kzin has never met an angry bull.

* Used as a SpoofAesop in ''Series/RobocopTheSeries''; while in prison, the MadScientist Dr. Cray-Z, who [[EvilVegetarian happens to be a vegetarian]], watches an animated commercial where an atypical, muscular, [[LanternJawOfJustice square-jawed superhero]] tells kids about the benefits of eating meat. (Ironically, Robocop himself can't eat meat, or any solid food, at all.)

** Ron is also the inventor of the "Turf N'Turf": a 24oz T-bone steak "garnished" with a 16oz porterhouse steak. That's two and a half ''pounds''[[note]]or a little over 1.13 kilograms, for you metric-using Commies in not-America[[/note]] of meat in one sitting, folks.

* Arby's love advertising their products about how meat-filled they are, with the internet-friendly slogan, [[WereStillRelevantDammit "We've got the meats"]]. They are also not afraid to diss or make fun of [[GranolaGirl vegetarians]].

See also RealMenHateSugar, MeatVersusVeggies (men are more likely to be on the meat side), RealMenTakeItBlack, and RealMenCook (it's often, but not necessarily, meat being cooked). When EverythingsBetterWithBacon, it's often manly men singing its praises as well.

See also RealMenHateSugar, MeatVersusVeggies (men are more likely to be on the meat side), RealMenTakeItBlack, and RealMenCook (it's often, but not necessarily, meat being cooked).

* Arby's love advertising their products about how meat-filled they are, with the internet-friendly slogan, [[WeAreStillRelevantDammit "We've got the meats"]]. They are also not afraid to diss or make fun of [[GranolaGirl vegetarians]].

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' when a boy claims eating the flesh of lesser animals is manly. His father agrees, but then is made to eat his vegetables by his wife.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'': Ultimate Bruce Banner]] is a vegetarian ([[SeriesContinuityError except in his first appearance, when he orders the pot roast]]). Ultimate Hulk eats meat, [[ImAHumanitarian including bad guys]]. His girlfriend seemed a little turned on.

* ComicBook/{{Thor}} and other Asgardians love their epic feasts with entire roast pigs or cows as the main course.
* [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Bruce Banner]] is a vegetarian ([[SeriesContinuityError except in his first appearance, when he orders the pot roast]]). Ultimate Hulk eats meat, [[ImAHumanitarian including bad guys]]. His girlfriend seemed a little turned on.
** In the mainstream Marvel universe, Banner and Hulk both love meat.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Fittingly for a boisterous meathead, Bowser is shown to enjoy it a lot - [[CartoonMeat meat on the bone]] is even used as his answer to Mario and friends' mushrooms in both ''The Thousand-Year Door'''s Bowser levels and in the form of drumsticks as his healing items in ''Inside Story''. It comes up in conversation when he meets the Squiggler from the Wiggler Family Farm in the latter game, [[MeatVersusVeggies which reveals he's the veggie-hating kind]].

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* Taken UpToEleven by the griffins of Protocera in the ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum''. Not only do they eat as close to a pure-meat diet as they can get away with (they need a certain amount of fruit to give them quick sugars for flight), but they also strongly prefer meat taken from animals that can fight back (sharks, ostrich, etc, as well as many of the non-sapient species of monster).

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': Testing with SCP-458 (a magic pizza box that generates the favourite pizza of whoever opens it) has shown that SCP-076-2's favourite pizza is a large thick-crusted pizza topped with meatballs, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, sausage and hamburger meat. To wit, SCP-076-2 "Able" is basically [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]] with the psychosis and badassery ramped UpToEleven. Manly man, manly pizza.

* If you [[ARealManIsAKiller interpret "Real Men" as "aggressive and violent"]], this trope is actually averted throughout much of the animal kingdom. Predators, for the most part, are actually much more cautious when it comes to picking their fights. [[JustifiedTrope After all, for a predator to enter a fight under less than optimal conditions and end up injured]] is practically a FateWorseThanDeath: unable to chase and bring down any more prey, they'd be doomed to starve. Therefore, even extremely powerful predators will often prefer to attack only if they feel confidant of having an overwhelming advantage (e.g. from an ambush, once the prey has been thoroughly exhausted, with a pack behind them, etc.). Conversely, herbivores such as rams, bulls, hippos, boars and elks, who don't have to worry about the grass outrunning them, "have nothing to lose" from acting too aggressive and will absolutely attack if they're so much as looked at wrong. See HerbivoresAreFriendly for further details.

* In ''VideoGame/DontStarve'', Wigfrid is the tomboy variation of this trope. Even when she is starving, trying to feed her non-meat items will cause her to flail her arms and yell, "This fööd is nöt fit för a warriör!"

* If you [[ARealManIsAKiller interpret "Real Men" as "aggressive and violent"]], this trope is actually averted throughout much of the animal kingdom. Predators, for the most part, are actually much more cautious when it comes to picking their fights. [[JustifiedTrope After all, for a predator to enter a fight under less than optimal conditions and end up injured]] is practically a FateWorseThanDeath: unable to chase and bring down any more prey, they'd be doomed to starve. Therefore, even extremely powerful predators will often prefer to attack only if they feel confidant of having an overwhelming advantage (e.g. from an ambush, once the prey has been thoroughly exhausted, with a pack behind them, etc.). Conversely, herbivores such as rams, bulls, hippos, boars and elks, who don't have to worry about the grass outrunning them, "have nothing to lose" from acting too aggressive and will absolutely attack if they're so much as looked at wrong. See HerbivoresAreNice for further details.

* ''Homo sapiens'' and earlier hominids are natural meat eaters as well, as their male ancestors evolved to hunt game on the savannah, which further contributed to brain growth. When humans switched to a grain-based diet with the invention of agriculture to sustain larger populations beyond small tribes, human health as a whole ''declined''. Human skeletons from before this dietary change were taller and had better teeth. This is still evident in our instinctual urges, seeking out food which is either sweet, fatty, or salty. Sweet because fruit contains sugar, and fatty and salty... because that's found in meat.

* Inverted by the state of Israel: by some estimates, it has the highest portion of vegans per capita in the world and the second-highest portion of vegetarians (after India), and Tel Aviv is considered one of the veganism capitals of the world. This does not seem to have impaired [[BadassIsraelis the Israelis' ability to become world-famous badass warriors.]]

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It never occurs to them that meat is simply part of a complete meal involving salad, meat, vegetables, dairy products, fruit, and [[AdjacentToThisCompleteBreakfast this bowl of]] [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs]][[note]]Technically humans can survive on only meat, if you include the organs and everything, you'll get all the nutrients you need because the cow already ate your greens for you. You might be a bit blocked--meat is low on fiber--but as long as you stay hydrated, you'll still be pooping and you won't die.)[[/note]]. Also prevalent is a conviction that however much non-meat food a man eats, he'll still be hungry, for some reason.

* Luffy, the HotBlooded pirate captain of ''Manga/OnePiece'', has an obsession with meat.[[note]]Though he ''is'' enough of an equal-opportunity BigEater to also eat fruits and vegetables unprompted - in fact, that's how he got his powers to begin with.[[/note]] In the ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' Manga Crossover, it's revealed that his full course menu is meat. All of it. Including the Salad, Soup, and Drink categories.

* Hunny of ''[[Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub Ouran Host Club]]'' tries to follow this in as a part of building himself as a suitable heir for his family. It doesn't take and he goes back to eating sweets.

* The stage adaptation of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has an extra song with Ikkaku teaching Hanataro how to be manly. Eating RAW meat is one of the things a real man must do.
* In ''Manga/Eyeshield21'', [[BloodKnight Gaou]] will only eat meat. Considering he's modeled after a T-Rex, it's not at all surprising. Other characters love meat too, but they only consider it as a tasty treat or source of protein, in case of [[TheStoic Shin]].
* Takes up a large amount of stories in ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'', as mentioned above. Subverted, however, as the extremely muscular and though Toriko is shwon to enjoy ''all'' types of food, loving equally meat, vegetables, soups and desserts.

* Isana's father in ''Manga/DreamEaterMerry'' uses this to justify snatching up all the meat during dinner, [[HypocriticalHumor even while arguing that Yumeji doesn't eat enough vegetables]]. Yumeji counters by claiming tomatoes are a good enough (and manly enough) vegetable, and [[TrademarkFavoriteFood he eats plenty of those]].
* Subverted in ''Manga/SilverSpoon'': The biggest carnivore at a school full of large, burly manly men is Ikeda, a small, shy, timid girl. She was one of the biggest investors in both incarnations of the Pork Fund, and the mention of 100% beef hamburgers causes her to ''spontaneously materialize'' with a facial expression high school girls normally reserve for members of their favourite BoyBand.
* Inverted in ''Manga/PandoraHearts'', where resident ActionGirl, Alice, is known for her love of eating meat, and is even distracted by it at times. Her and her kind though [[ImAHumanitarian usually eat humans]], hence her craving for meat.

* ''Manga/{{Gamaran}} Shura'' has Bihoumaru: not only he's one of the largest and manliest fighters in the series, his EstablishingCharacterMoment has him sitting in a cavern, speaking to himself in a rather crude manner, with a gigantic axe next to him and a headless deer's carcass on the ground, and he's, of course, eating meat from the severed deer's leg, painting him as a brutal, virile savage of a man.

* ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and Obelix both really like their roast boar.

* Used subtly in ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'', when Bruce Wayne orders for himself and Lex Luthor at a business dinner. The chef is said to be Gotham's finest, but Bruce cuts his description of the night's dishes short and just orders two strip steaks. It's a form of macho posturing on Bruce's part, as he plays the role of the billionaire playboy.
* ComicBook/{{Thor}} and other Asgardians love their epic feasts with entire roast pigs or cows as the main course.

* The two RetiredBadass uncles of ''Film/SecondhandLions'' have a diet that consists of mostly meat. Walter insists they change this later on.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'' averts this. Eep, her mother, and her grandmother are happily carnivorous. [[spoiler:Watch just how fast the giant bird's leg disappears in Eep's care.]] Granted, they're all likely opportunistic omnivores, but jeez...!
* Subverted in ''Film/MyFavoriteWife:'' The very macho Stephen Burkett, played by the very macho Randolph Scott, is a vegetarian.
* ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': M'Baku, leader of the physically-powerful Jabari tribe, threatens to [[ImAHumanitarian feed Ross to his children]]. After a moment, [[{{Troll}} he bursts out laughing]] [[SubvertedTrope and says they're vegetarians]].
* ''Film/BuffaloSoldiers'': Defied by the head of the MP at the military base, who is a very manly ScaryBlackMan who abhors meat. The main character uses this to mess with him by only providing him with sausages during a drug cooking.

* Whenever a story has a scene where Literature/ConanTheBarbarian is having a meal, he's usually eating a "joint of beef" and washing it down with either ale or wine.
* Sam Vimes of Literature/{{Discworld}} prefers his BLT[[note]]Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato[[/note]] sandwiches with as little L and T as possible, and with all the more B. His wife has been getting on his and his subordinates' case to reduce the B on any given sandwich (especially the burnt crunchy variety). It rather ties into his ongoing internal conflict with the feeling he's getting old and gentrified, and maybe even a little emasculated.
* Jerry Spinelli's ''Fourth Grade Rats'' sees peer pressure for boys to pack no sandwiches that don't have meat in them.

* Alluded to in ''Literature/TheShiningOnes'', when Mirtai and Kring discover the picnic lunch Sarabian's servants packed for them is some sort of poultry.
-->'''Mirtai:''' We're both warriors, my betrothed. We're supposed to eat red meat.
* In ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' this is a problem for mostly manly man Ned Land since the Nautilus rarely goes even remotely close to shore. He does eventually get some pork... and promptly stops wailing about not having meat when they almost are murdered by natives. Amusingly enough, Nemo is also willing to risk his life helping Ned get the pork back to the Nautilus.
* Right in Chapter Three of ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'': "Save me some of that mutton. I'm starving for a bit of meat." Considering he'd just gotten back from the Eloi's fruitarian diet of 802701, his appetite is understandable.

* According to one episode of ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'', Dalton Humphrey only eats meat.
** The sketch in which they revealed that is something of a subversion of the trope. That's because Red was trying to get Dalton to guess the word 'vegetable'; after thirty seconds of false starts, Red got Dalton to (successfully) complete the sentence "Your father ate nothing but red meat for seventy years and now he's a....."
* ''Series/That70sShow'': After Red Forman has a heart attack, he's forced to go on a low-protein diet. When Kitty gives him a salad, he says "This isn't food, this is what food eats."
* Used as a SpoofAesop in ''Series/RobocopTheSeries''; while in prison, the MadScientist Dr. Cray-Z, who [[EvilVegetarian happens to be a vegetarian]], watches an animated commercial where an atypical, muscular, [[LanternJawOfJustice square-jawed superhero]] tells kids about the benefits of eating meat. (Ironically, Robocop himself can't eat meat, or any solid food, at all.)
* Earl was astounded when his son, Robbie, became a vegetarian. Since they are ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}''-- specifically, megalosauri, which are bipedal carnivores similar to the more familiar tyrannosaurus rex-- it is treated like a gay/fantastic drug sort of thing.

** Ron got on well with Andy after Andy recommended a burrito place for lunch - Ron cuts his suggestion short with "You had me at 'Meat Tornado'.

* Jim and his brother-in-law from ''Series/AccordingToJim'' proudly live by this trope, though said brother-in-law would try (or pretend to try) to have a vegetarian diet if his date does it herself.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Amy's Choice", one of the Dream Lord's insults implies this:
--> "[Y]ou're probably a vegetarian, you big flop-haired wuss."
** Crosses over with ContinuityNod: the Doctor became a vegetarian at the end of "The Two Doctors." It didn't stick, though: the Ninth Doctor enjoyed a steak dinner with Margaret Slitheen in "Boom Town."
* On several occasions the hosts of ''Series/TheManShow'' would crack jokes at the expense of vegetarians.
* Xander to Anya in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': "Yes. Men like sports. Men watch the ActionMovie. They eat of the beef and [[AllMenArePerverts enjoy to look at the bosoms]]. A thousand years of avenging our wrongs and that's all you've learnt?"

* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Kate brings some tofu-veggie wraps to the office during "Black Water", saying that she and Abby eat them for lunch all the time. The guys can't get through one bite before throwing the ones that were offered to them out.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rune}}''. Ragnar will pick up whole roast legs (not poultry, BIG legs, like lamb or venison probably) and strip them to the bone, or pluck giant lizards off walls and '''bite their head off''' in a single ravenous bite, then throw the bone/body over his shoulder. And wash that down with a flagon of mead, which you also casually toss aside to shatter on the floor. Oh, sure, there's sissy ''fruit'' growing on bushes occasionally. But aside from that, HealthFood has never been manlier than ''Rune''.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** Saxton Hale [[http://www.teamfortress.com/war/saxtonhale/03.htm seen here]].
** Also, one PowerUp for the Heavy is the Buffalo Steak Sandvich, which is not actually a sandwich, but just steak. ("Who needs bread?")
** Also, the Soldier, as "digesting ribs" is [[http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2663 on his list of four things men should be engaged in at all times]].
* Jack T. Ladd in ''Guilty'', even when hungry, turns down bread and potatoes. He needs his fats and proteins!
* A gender-flipped version comes from ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'', with Rozalin. During the beginning intro to chapter 7, as the team's getting ready to head to bed, she admits to wanting "a nice, bloody prime rib", and when Etna talks about the reason she ditched Laharl (him eating her pudding), Etna claims [[SweetTooth sweets are a girl's best friend]], to which Rozalin shoots her down with "I really don't like sweets. I'm more of a meat eater." The manga adaptation explores this a bit more, as when she got a cake as a child, it was WAY too sweet for her, which lead to her dislike of sweet things altogether.
** [[spoiler:Might be intended a clue that's she's actually Zenon, whose original gender is unknown and might be masculine, trapped in the body she's using since RealMenHateSugar in Japan.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' Ike's favorite food is (spicy) meat, along with him being a BigEater. This trait tends to be [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] in fan works to the point where readers might think all he ever did was eat and occasionally swing a sword.
-->'''Ike:''' I'll pass on the [[RealMenHateSugar desserts]]... But I'll take extra helpings of meat!

* During Bang's gag reel in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma'', round four of the King of Men competition is an all-you-can-meat spectacular. Much to his misfortune, Jin is a vegetarian, and is eliminated in short order this round. Azrael mocks him for it, hence this trope.
-->'''Jin''': Ugh... I cannot eat meat... how unfortunate... *collapses*\\
'''Azrael''': Fool. How can you call yourself a man if you cannot consume flesh?
* Mister Torgue of ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' doesn't seem to care if you don't eat meat or eat things other than meat (he has vending machines that only dispense cookies, averting RealMenHateSugar). However, he doesn't like people who eat ''fake'' meat, and one of the conditions for signing up for his tournament is that you must forfeit your legal right to eat tofu (as well as several other rights such as your right to watch {{Chick Flick}}s).
* In the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' DLC ''The Citadel'', during the party Wrex can at one point be found advocating not only for an all-meat diet, but for an all-[[SandWorm Thresher Maw]] diet. Joker and Cortez are not impressed.
* In ''VideoGame/DontStarve'', Wigfrid is the tomboy variation of this trope. Even when she is starving, trying to feed her non-meat items will cause her to flail her arms and yell, "This fööd is nöt fit för a warriör!"
* ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'': Adonis eats a lot of meat and often encourages other characters to do so in order to grow big and strong like he did. Likewise, his fellow UNDEAD teammate Kouga is a hot-blooded and competitive self-proclaimed lone wolf who loves eating raw meat.
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'': Parodied- the farmers in the Turnipseed Farm area will have thoughts about how much they love eating steak when you read their minds, but just as often will think about how they're tired of eating beef all the time and would like a salad or some tofu.

* James Lileks' [[http://lileks.com/institute/gallery/meat/index.html skewering of a meat cookbook]].

* A recurring theme on ''Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse''.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': Testing with SCP-458 (a magic pizza box that generates the favourite pizza of whoever opens it) has shown that SCP-076-2's favourite pizza is a large thick-crusted pizza topped with meatballs, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, sausage and hamburger meat. To wit, SCP-076-2 "Able" is basically [[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]] with the psychosis and badassery ramped UpToEleven. Manly man, manly pizza.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' when a boy claims eating the flesh of lesser animals is manly. His father agrees, but then is made to eat his vegetables by his wife.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Fun with Veal", Stan refuses to eat meat after saving some baby calves from a meat plant, which causes him to break out in sores that turn out to be miniature vaginas. This is apparently an actual disease called "vaginaitis", and if not stopped (by eating meat naturally enough) will progress until the infected "becomes one big pussy".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "The Beast Within", Beast Boy devours Robin's entire breakfast of one whole ham plus eggs, claiming that real men don't eat tofu. [[OutOfCharacterAlert This is actually the first sign that something is wrong with Beast Boy, since he's a vegetarian-bordering-on-vegan]].

* Yam Roll of ''WesternAnimation/YamRoll'' becomes quite offended at a restaurant when the waitress tells him that they don't serve short ribs and [[RealMenHateSugar offers him strawberry shortcake instead]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BountyHamster'' episode "Fashion Victim", though she's not a man, Cassie claims "Vegetarianism's for wimps!" which her partner Marion, himself a vegetarian, takes offense to.

* Averted (and how!) by the World Championship boxer Eder Jofre. A two weight division world champion at Bantamweight and Featherweight - and a committed veggie. Still hale and hearty at the age of 83.