In 15 years of being a vegetarian, I've had one big rule. If I want people to respect my choice, I have to respect their choice. So yes, I married a meat-eating man. Yes, I hired a babysitter who hasn't met a piece of bacon she didn't like.
I've been trying not to become one of those vegetarians. You know, the type you avoid at all costs? So it's true, when I saw the survey that claims meat eaters are more judgmental than vegetarians, I felt ever so slightly vindicated. Those of us on the veg side may have work to do to be more accepting, but all you carnivorous types could make it a lot easier if you'd just stop saying ANY of the following to the vegetarian folks in your lives:
1. Have you ever actually TRIED meat? Yes, I know you think that if I would only try it, I would magically be transported to carnivorous bliss. Alas, I haven't "just" tried it. I ate it for 15 years, and yet I still chose to go vegetarian.
2. You're a vegetarian? You have an awful lot of meat on your bones for a vegetarian. Most ones I know are very bony people. So, I'm not just weird, but I'm ... fat?
3. Oh, but this isn't meat, it's seafood. That's nice, but I still don't eat it.
More from The Stir: Are Meat Eaters Really More Judgy Than Vegetarians?
4. Are you really going to eat that [insert name of vegetable here]? Yes, I am! Now, are you really going to masticate that mass of bovine muscle? Let's chow down together!
5. Do you eat chicken? Hmm, let's think about this one, shall we?
6. Anything that involves picking something off a tree and presenting it with the word, "Hungry?" Unless of course you'd like me to grab a random fly out of a spider web and do the same to you?
7. How can you live without bacon? About as well as you live without cauliflower!
8. You know you could die if you don't get enough protein. And on that pleasant note ...
9. Can't you just pick the sausage out of the sausage and peppers? Here's an idea. Think of a food you can't stand. Now let me serve it to you, and YOU try to pick it out of your food and stomach the flavor of it all over the other stuff. Good luck!
Come on vegetarians, throw your two cents in. What are some of the most annoying things you've heard people say?
Image via becca.peterson26/Flickr
Ashley Is a Widow Who Stays Strong...
This Hot Dad Wants to Vacuum Your Rug
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
Comments 86
lol it's ok. Most of the girls I work with didn't know that. We actually had a conversation about eggs a few days ago. I compared it to a women's rag. lol. I don't eat meat but I do use eggs to cook with, along with other dairy products. Even though I do find it interesting that we are the only species that consumes milk past infancy and another animals milk at that. Yes I do know that other animals milk has been used to feed other animals babies, but I think you get my point. And sorry I wasnt trying to sound rude in my last post.
i went through some of those questions. i was a veggie off and on for a few years, and still don't eat any red meat. my bf, a beef eating mexican, loves him some meat. his family was all beefeaters, too, until his mom stopped being able to digest it well. i introduced her to soyrizo, and now they don't eat meat chorizo. i also got her to switch from a pork to a chicken breakfast sausage. it's made it a bit easier. i hated those questions, and i hated even more when people would eat meat in front of me and be all like "MMMMMMMM". i wasn't a PETA vegitarian, i just think it's icky. i still don't like the fact that i'm eating dead stuff, but i was never able to be a healthy veggie.
My vegetarian horror story? I worked at a camp and a vegetarian family sent their two tween, slender children (a boy and a girl) to the camp for a week. The family was well known to the permanent staff (that stay for the whole summer and run the general camp) but not to the volunteer camp staff (changing from week to week depending on the age group). In their file, it specified their diet (they were raised vegetarians). While the camp executive was out on a shopping trip, that week's camp director noticed that the girl was only eating salad. Suspecting an EATING DISORDER, she grabbed the girl and a camp counselor and made her eat a hamburger. She cried the whole time. After eating a small portion of the hamburger, she became sick and vomitous. Well, that just made her a bulimic. When the executive director returned, they shared their suspicions and wanted to call her parents. You could hear the executive yelling all over camp! There WAS a call placed to the parents but not for the original reasons. They were lucky they didn't get sued! Why? Because the parents were so understanding about the ignorance of otheres. The camp director was not asked to return again next year and I don't think she's been back since. But NOBODY said anything about the brother!
#1,2,3,5 and 9 is what I get asked the most, including "Where do you get your proteins from?". I don't push my meatless lifestyle on folks, so why and try to make me feel as if I'm really missing out on a good thing. Guess what, I'm not missing none of that.
I was vegetarian for 17 years and vegan for 4 of those years. It wasn't until my second set of children at age 34 that I even wanted meat again. I couldn't control myself. I was craving meat so much that I dreamed about it. During my pregnancy at 34, I ate lamb at least 2X a week. I didn't really understand why, but I figured I was pregnant and went with it since the alternative was to always be hungry. It continued through nursing, and into my pregnancy at age 37 when I started craving lobster. I know, expensive meats, huh? Anyway, at the end of that pregnancy, I had lost a lot of blood, and my anemia from my youth had returned to the point where I needed three blood transfusions, and 6 months of intravenous iron treatments (iron pills don't work for me). My anemia hasn't returned, but I have low salt issues, high cholesterol, and other problems. I really want to go back to being vegetarian, but I need to take a long look at my diet and my specific needs. I don't think being vegetarian caused my problems, but it is important to make sure you are satisfying your body's needs. What I hate right now are the questions about why I stopped being a vegetarian, and the insinuations that being vegetarian caused my problems. We still only drink soymilk, we still limit our meat intake to very little, and my children are still healthy. No, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to being vegan, but I will always eat differently than those around me.
And then there is "oh you're a vegetarian do you eat eggs and cheese?" Yes I am NOT A VEGAN. LEARN WHAT A VEGAN IS AND WHAT A VEGETARIAN IS.
LOL! I agree with this. I am also a vegetarian who married a meat-eater, have two children who are meat-eaters, and have very little problem with other people eating meat. However, I don't want to eat it. Oh, and I'm the "fat" kind, too. Ha! Ha! This was hilarious.
I hate when I go to a family gathering and people ask if I want a slice of chicken or a big steak... like I am missing out on the best thing in the world. Thanks, but NO!