Vegetarian
Oct. 14th, 2014 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistThis is, for Buzzfeed, a surprisingly good representation of my experience as a vegetarian. And very topical: just the other day I was saying how my father-in-law, whenever he sees me eating anything, says "That looks like it'd be nice...if it had some bacon with it!" (cf. #19( And I was in a french restaurant which has utterly amazing food but only one vegetarian main a day so on Saturday I had to order something with courgettes (zucchini) in it, which I really don't like, and as the waitress took away my half-empty plate she said "Did you not enjoy your fritatta?" Bah; don't judge me, lady. Anyway, I'd filled up on the red cabbage my dining companions had generously given me, from the communal plate of vegetables in the middle of the table.
#1 (When everyone with you at a restaurant is trying to help you figure out what to order) I actually don't mind at all. It's never been as necessary as in aforementioned French restaurant, where I literally cannot read the menu because it's written in such a strange font, but often people --![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
diffrentcolours is particularly good at this, and so is magister will check the menu posted outside a restaurant and read out a few things to me, to make sure I'm okay with my options before we even go in the place, even though I almost always am (and on the day of the courgette-only dinner, James even asked if I wanted to go somewhere else, which was sweet but I knew he particularly liked the place and we'd already reserved a table and everything so I didn't mind staying but I thought it was a nice gesture. I don't mind having the veggie options on the menu read out to me, but I suspect that's largely because I'm a) slightly blind and b) lazy.
#3
The only thing missing from his pie chart is "I don't eat a lot of meat myself, actually." I've had that bizarrely often. I wonder if this is a defense mechanism against self-righteous vegetarians or some kind of guilty-conscience thing about how vegetarianism is more "healthy." I don't get it, but anyway I desperately hope I am not seen as a judgmental vegetarian -- I do find the smell of cooking meat increasingly unpalateable, but certainly don't feel sorry for cows or anything, because I've met cows, and my impetus for stopping eating meat was entirely practical originally, though I'm glad to not be dependent on a source of food that's as expensive to me and to the planet as meat is.
#6 (Family members who don't get it.) Obviously I think my family is a bit extreme (though my mom is getting better; I think how long I spent in the bathroom before we could start playing a board game, and how miserable I looked when I finally emerged, and Andrew having explained in the meantime how sick I get when I eat meat, has made an impression on her: she now buys cheese pizzas when I'm coming to visit).
#10 You’re constantly torn between not wanting to derail everyone’s fast-food desires and knowing you’re just not going to be able to eat anything. Oh hell yes. Luckily it's a bit better in Britain than in the U.S., because here most takeaways have a veggie option (unfortuantely, that option is very often chips, which...if someone told me there was a chip shortage and I could never eat chips or french fries again for my whole life, I wouldn't be even remotely sad about this). My friends are awfully nice about this, but I do feel bad anyway because I was raised to never be an inconvenience to anybody.
#14 (When the token vegetarian entree is just a pile of roasted veggies, and you have to pay $18 for it anyway.) On their last night in London, my parents chose an expensive chain steakhouse. They paid for my dinner and I still felt horrible eating vegetables that cost sixteen quid.
#17 Actually, that's the face I reserve for the fish market in the Arndale centre. Even walking past outside it makes me a bit queasy. I never liked fish that much, though, even when I ate meat; a childhood of having it forced upon me on Fridays sucked any joy from the experience.
#1 (When everyone with you at a restaurant is trying to help you figure out what to order) I actually don't mind at all. It's never been as necessary as in aforementioned French restaurant, where I literally cannot read the menu because it's written in such a strange font, but often people --
diffrentcolours is particularly good at this, and so is magister will check the menu posted outside a restaurant and read out a few things to me, to make sure I'm okay with my options before we even go in the place, even though I almost always am (and on the day of the courgette-only dinner, James even asked if I wanted to go somewhere else, which was sweet but I knew he particularly liked the place and we'd already reserved a table and everything so I didn't mind staying but I thought it was a nice gesture. I don't mind having the veggie options on the menu read out to me, but I suspect that's largely because I'm a) slightly blind and b) lazy.#3
The only thing missing from his pie chart is "I don't eat a lot of meat myself, actually." I've had that bizarrely often. I wonder if this is a defense mechanism against self-righteous vegetarians or some kind of guilty-conscience thing about how vegetarianism is more "healthy." I don't get it, but anyway I desperately hope I am not seen as a judgmental vegetarian -- I do find the smell of cooking meat increasingly unpalateable, but certainly don't feel sorry for cows or anything, because I've met cows, and my impetus for stopping eating meat was entirely practical originally, though I'm glad to not be dependent on a source of food that's as expensive to me and to the planet as meat is.#6 (Family members who don't get it.) Obviously I think my family is a bit extreme (though my mom is getting better; I think how long I spent in the bathroom before we could start playing a board game, and how miserable I looked when I finally emerged, and Andrew having explained in the meantime how sick I get when I eat meat, has made an impression on her: she now buys cheese pizzas when I'm coming to visit).
#10 You’re constantly torn between not wanting to derail everyone’s fast-food desires and knowing you’re just not going to be able to eat anything. Oh hell yes. Luckily it's a bit better in Britain than in the U.S., because here most takeaways have a veggie option (unfortuantely, that option is very often chips, which...if someone told me there was a chip shortage and I could never eat chips or french fries again for my whole life, I wouldn't be even remotely sad about this). My friends are awfully nice about this, but I do feel bad anyway because I was raised to never be an inconvenience to anybody.
#14 (When the token vegetarian entree is just a pile of roasted veggies, and you have to pay $18 for it anyway.) On their last night in London, my parents chose an expensive chain steakhouse. They paid for my dinner and I still felt horrible eating vegetables that cost sixteen quid.
#17 Actually, that's the face I reserve for the fish market in the Arndale centre. Even walking past outside it makes me a bit queasy. I never liked fish that much, though, even when I ate meat; a childhood of having it forced upon me on Fridays sucked any joy from the experience.
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 10:21 am (UTC)With regard to takeaways, I'm firmly of the opinion that if it doesn't provide a choice for vegetarians, then it's a bad takeaway and deserves to lose custom.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 10:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 12:49 pm (UTC)Not listed: the salad bar where even the potato salad has meat in it. Bah, humbug.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 02:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-14 07:09 pm (UTC)The one that always used to bug me is when someone was eating meat and would say "oh, I bet this really bothers you, does it bother you that this used to be a cute little calf and it died!?" And I'd internally roll my eyes, not sure what to say.
Because firstly, I'm actually not very sentimental at all. So my reaction is something like, "why would I care, it's in YOUR mouth" -- I might or might not approve of someone eating meat at all, but it doesn't happen to bother me more if they do it where I can see.
And secondly, if some people ARE sensitive about it, it just seems ridiculously boorish to throw it in their face. Most people recognise that going up to someone who donated money to Cancer Research UK and saying "oh, I bet you really hate it when people die of cancer, I bet someone you love died of cancer, how would you feel if someone died of cancer in front of you right now" would be really sociopathic! But it seems more acceptable to play the "oh, you're vegetarian, it can't possibly be because of a moral principle, it must be because you're overly emotional and your pet died, look at me, I'm eating bambi" card and hope someone cries :(