Vegetarian

When you find out that I'm vegetarian, please don't automatically act like an argument is taking place about the merits of various diets. If I want to debate, I'll debate. But 99% of the time, I just want to eat and don't actually care to discuss the issue. I did not give up meat to enter into some sort of adversarial relationship with meat-eaters.

Years ago I decided I would never again change my diet for a girl. But things have changed since then, a tiny bit. I hadn't met you. And, more importantly, I hadn't lost my sense of physical identity. It's funny because I was vegetarian at the time, and I was actually resisting pressure to eat meat again. I'd go vegan if you wanted me to. And I'd shave off my beard. I'd dye my hair and dread it, I'd learn to play the accordion, I'd cut off my own leg if you needed it. If it made you happy.

i think there was beef stock in my soup at dinner tonight. ugh, my stomach feels quite disagreeable now. i've only had french onion soup once before and it was vegetarian, but looking online almost every french onion recipe has beef stock or chicken shit in it. it's probably partly my fault, i should have checked with the waiter, but...part of me really wants to blame the menu. it was a menu made by the devil, i'm sure of it. it was listed under the "soup, salad, and vegetarian" section. it's logical to believe that food in that section would be vegetarian unless the description said otherwise...and it didn't. (those bastards!)

eh, i'm pretty sure there was beef stock in it...i haven't had diarrhea since almost a year and a half ago (i went to an mc chris show on my birthday and we went to Taco Bell afterwards). i've been a vegetarian for almost 9.5 years (another birthday event, been one since my b-day in 4th grade).

sigh atleast it was reasonably priced.

my boyfriend thinks I'm a vegetarian... he's been thinking this since told him I don't eat meat. I usually don't except for certain kinds of chicken... but since I told him that - i thought this was going to be a summer fling, but it's turned into more - I guess I really will become a vegi... I kinda always have wanted to go all the way.

This one time he was unhappy because waiter brought me pasta with chicken in it... and I usually don't like pasta with chicken, but I could've eaten it... then the waiter picked the chicken out... instead of making a new one... and yeah... he was not happy because it was like suppose to be chickenless and chicken was added... and instead of making a new one... yeah... now I'm rambling but a shitty tip ensued.

this is weird, reading this debate. i don't like meat, so i don't eat it. i like fish, so i eat it. there's really no ethical reason behind this.

it seems like certain people pay attention to the stories of vegetarians being attacked by non vegetarians, and certain people pay attention to the stories of non-veg being attacked by vegetarians. we all have horror stories. i personally have been attacked for eating fish (!) and for not having ethical reasons behind not eating meat (!!). that doesn't mean all vegetarians are going to attack me. conversely, i've known many non-veg who get along just fine with vegetarians.

the point being, maybe we're all just attacking each other? so why don't we get out of our little "it's not us, it's them" corner and realize it's THEIR CHOICE and not something worth arguing or judging over. what someone chooses to eat, a good portion of the time, doesn't reflect on the kind of person they are. and when they are defensive/violent/pushy about it, why should we group them in with the silent, accepting majority?

Oh yeah, this. I've never eaten a lot of meat. Especially red meat. It's.. ugh. I eat chicken on occasion. Less than I used to. I've never considered myself a vegetarian though. I've been eyeballing it. I'm afraid to try anything, really. Also, I'm lazy, and I hate change. So yeah. That and if I'm going to do something, I'd like to do it correctly, and I'm not sure how to avoid things that aren't food but still have animal bits in them, stuff like that. I'm to the point where any meat, and certain other random things, tear my stomach up. Ate a chicken sandwich? Surprise! There was a volcano inside and you're gonna feel it for two days. Meh. My boyfriend's dad, a traditionalist dick if there ever was one, noticed I always skipped his pulled pork or WTFever for the sides. Through some amount of twisted logic this made him decide to buy a side of beef, and have a little dinner party, and invite everyone to cut their own chunk of cow off. It was disgusting. I'm not good around dead animals that have all of their bits with the skin wrapped all around it. I walked into his house, thought I smelled blood, went into the kitchen, and between the sight and smell (motherfucker had left it sitting out for a little while, I guess) I ran right back outside and threw up. I know it was some sort of 'let's see what (purple) will do in this situation! She's one of them thar goils, so it'll be a knee-slapper!' thing, because his dad is like that. Anyway, I went to the kitchen window and apologized for ralphing in a planter. Hosed it out, figured everything was fine. Drug a lawn chair to the kitchen window and chatted with everyone while Tracy (Owen's dad) sliced up cow and rolled it in seasoning. He's not dense. I don't have a habit of just... throwing up with no warning. He's very intelligent in a lot of ways, just... old and stubborn. Motherfucker plops the side of beef on the table, which is up against the window, and asks which bit I want, and then sort of... THWACKs it with the knife. I made it over behind a tree before ralphing again. Owen came out with a glass of water, apologizing. I said it was fine, but I'm not going in the kitchen until there aren't any bloody bits of flesh laying around, and would he tell his dad that? I go straight in the house and lay on the couch because I feel just frigging fantastic at this point. Tracy's girlfriend comes in and apologizes for him, and I say it's not a big deal. Her kids come in and ask why I don't want steak. I tell them I've never had it (truth, when you have stomach issues they tell you not to eat steak, because it just sort of hangs out in your intestines, I think. Something like that.) They can't believe I've never had the awesomeness of steak, and get on my ass about at least trying it, and fuck if Tracy didn't come in and encourage them. Finally..."What are you, some sort of vegetarian?" I eat chicken sometimes. So no. Leave me alone. Thinking, shut up and go char your cow. I don't say things like that, or usually even think like that, but I was annoyed. If I'd known he was gonna push it, I would have said it. I didn't cause it's a good way to start shit. I say, I don't feel good, my insides can't handle that crap, are you making break or a salad or anything? No. Do you mind if I do? No, whatever. Kim volunteers to do it for me. I thank her and tell her to just pick whatever. She heated up canned corn and made instant mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls. So we're at the table, and I'm trying to ignore the little tearing sounds cooked steak makes, and also the fact that Tracy's is still red in the middle. He cuts of a chunk, rolls it in A1, and offers it to me. Uhm, no thanks. (Especially not off of your fork) He pushes it and I decline. He loses it. Tells me how rude it is to come over and not eat the expensive meat he bought, and says something about how universally ultra healthy red meat is, and threatens to kick me out. His girlfriend, Kim, is trying to shut him up. She goes "She said she's always had stomach trouble, lay off" Only nicer because she's... nicer. He says something like "That's a bullshit excuse. She's being snooty. She thinks she's better than us!" What the fuck. Yeah, you're in your fifties running two businesses that are both in the black, never have financial troubles, you're crazy self confident, but this shy self destructive college dropout living just above technical poverty thinks she's better than you because she doesn't eat much meat. I stood up, scraped my plate into the trash can, rinsed it, asked Kim if she'd bring Owen home later. She said yeah. I asked her where the tupperware was, so I could store the stuff she'd made for me, and she said she'd get it. Owen looked upset, and Tracy glared the whole time, while wolfing down his steak. I walked out, came home, and felt like shit. I didn't go over there for a while, and when I finally did, it was because I work for him, and he had coin-related tasks for me. He didn't apologize, and I didn't bring it up. This is the same guy who told Owen and I about some family member's big birthday thing, describing all the people that would be there, the live band, the dancing, the good food, and in the next breath said "(Purp), you can watch the kids while Owen and Kim and I go.

I'm tired of being picked on because of my choice in foods. Meat makes me sick so I am a vegetarian....but people don't want to hear that. They want to hear that I'm a PETA activist and that I'm going to try and convert them. Sorry to disappoint but I don't give a fuck what you do or what you put into your tummy. It only bothers me when people are trying to shove it into my food or mouth as the case may be. That's just rude.

I don't like meat anymore.

I don't crave it.

I don't mind you eating it so why do you mind me not eating it?

I just get so tired of people trying to decide what's in my best interests with my diet. I find that I've been eating more healthily and I've felt better about myself since I stopped eating meat. At the same time I cut out almost all of the junk food in my diet. Now I just have the occasional little bit.

I'm sorry if I'd rather have an apple and some corn with sautéed green beans cooked in a lovely herb over a hamburger. But, really, I'm not sorry. I'm sorry that you can't accept that I don't eat the same things you eat but what are you going to do about it? I likes me some vegges... let me be?

The only lasting relationships that I have had with anyone have been with vegetarians. The very few relationships that I've had with non-vegetarians haven't gone anywhere, generally because there was a divide in the level of intellectual engagement I generally demand out of close friends. I mean, if we're going to be together, I'd hope that we'd have something of some depth to talk about. And that has resulted in having a circle of wonderful close friends and lovers that are always talking at high levels about relevant, important things and translating that talk into useful action. You know, let's get shit done and change the world. I think non-vegetarians are sexually unattractive too, in the way that smokers and people who eat a lot of junk food are. Or at least it deducts a lot of sexy points from them. The vast majority of my social time is spent with vegetarians, and it's unusual for me to find myself hanging out with someone that's eating something animal-based. Not because of deliberate choice, that's just how things work out. It's unusual for me to find myself in any situation where it's unusual to be vegetarian. For me, it mostly seems to come down to this. I can only relate to people that live their life with a certain level of mindfulness. I don't have nearly as much of a problem with someone thinking and coming to a different conclusion as me as I do with someone who just doesn't bother to think, or educate themselves about various issues affecting the world. My favorite hypocrisy is people who are all about saving endangered animals and the rainforests, but financially support companies that demolish 200 square feet of rainforest for every pound of cow-meat that they produce. And don't even get me started on CAFOs. But I don't have ethical debates, because I don't believe in ethics. I just recognize the majority of non-vegetarians as people that I'll probably not be able to relate to, although I'm eager to let people demonstrate that that's wrong, and that they actually like thinking and discussing philosophy, politics, and world issues. I don't even care if they agree with me. Hell, I keep some friends around specifically because we have opposite political views. Things are hardly black-and-white in my world. Even the Dalai Lama eats meat for health reasons.

The visceral reaction of non-vegetarians towards vegetarians is, in my opinion, brought about by deep-seated feelings of guilt in the hostile non-vegetarian. When people react loudly for no intellectual reason, you can usually chalk it up to a submerged and misdirected conflict in themselves.

I, personally, am a bit sick of vegetarians and the whole vegetarianism thing.

I have been a vegetarian for 7 years. So can someone please explain to me why my family still hasn't truly accepted it.