I don’t eat meat because I think a vegetarian diet is healthier. For ME. I don’t have any ethical objection to meat, and I don’t care if you eat it. I choose not to. That’s all. I don’t care if my food is cooked in the same pan as meat. I don’t care if the same spoon is used to stir veg and non-veg dishes. I’ll throw my tofu-burger on the barbeque right along side your T-bone. I don’t care if they touch. I will even pick the meat out of something like a stir fry and eat the remaining vegetables and rice. I have explained this to all of you, repeatedly. So please, please, PLEASE stop announcing, with a roll of your eyes, that so and so made such and such a dish “special” because “Sam there is a vegetarian”. You don’t approve of my choice. I get it. But it’s going to take more than eye rolling, snide comments, and passive aggressive bullshit to convince me a pound of beef at one sitting is a good idea.
—Sam the Vegetarian
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.
Mmm…beef.
But, yeah, I get what the OP is going after. Many people seem to think that just the existence of a vegetarian is a personal affront to them and their choices. I’m not sure why the need to be so defensive.
All this talk about meat is making me hungry!
Here’s what you do Sam: Have a party with all your vegetarian friends and invite a couple of the worst offenders (eye rollers) in your family and do the exact same thing to them. Make a special announcement at your party about how you had to prepare a special meal for them.
They’ll get the message.
I love vegetarians like sam. I’ll eat your meat anytime.
It’s comforting to know that I am not alone…. I even cook meat for my non-veg bf.
Yep me too Jig.
I agree 100% with the OP.
OP if you were to take Eddie Murphy’s advice you’d stay the fuck away from cook-outs.
Or you can be like Lisa Simpson and take a big bowl of ice-cold tomato soup!
Gazpacho
At least they bothered to prepare a special dish for you. For years my inlaws served me only a baked potato for dinner whenever I ate there. No salad, no other vegetables, just a lonely dry baked potato in the middle of a plate.
I am exactly the same “type” of veg as the OP, yet I also have to deal with this bullshit from time to time. My favourite is when someone (looking for confrontation!) asks you why you are veg. They are not really interested in the answer, only an argument. But long story short, agree with the OP 100% and don’t let the BS bring ya down.
Why do vegetarians go to cook outs when salad isn’t served grilled or baked or fried?
Why not request, next time you’re invited to a family gathering, that someone get a pack of veggie burgers or hot dogs or whatever and throw some on the grill for you. Or bring your own. I’m not a vegetarian, but I really enjoy some of the vegetarian options out there (there’s a really great pack of soy pizza meat yves makes that I really like on my pizza. My dad even likes it and he’s all “IT’S NOT A MEAL WITHOUT MEAT!”) so other members of your family might enjoy them too.
Also, STFU, NGF. You’d scarf a veggie burger or two down if they were on da grill. It *is* food after all and….your name says it all *CHOMP* LOL.
Eh, I make more friends with regular ground beef.
Considering your thighs are 10 times bigger than mine, I’d say so.
pfft, they’re sexier too! *pulls his short shorts down more…*
Grilled portobellos FTW. Even my carnivore SO likes them.
Its almost as bad as when some eco-veggie type finds out I hunt deer and they go on some fucking monologue. The best ones are the ones that are ‘just against it’ but still fill their grocery carts up with cellophane wrapped mass produced meat products. I just ignore them, what else can you do? Besides avoid them.
Deer is mighty good, healthy and can feed a family for a year or more (easily). Its a very healthy meat and quite delicious honestly. So is caribou.
Three – those sound great! Any particular sauces or seasonings to use with them?
Cranky, at least you have to actually work to get the deer rather than buying some factory farmed piece of beef or pork. Shoot the shit out of the mother fuckers and eat ’em up…it’s much more sustainable since everyone else is too lazy or hippie to follow suit.
Miles, I agree, if I had to kill my own animals I would be a vegetarian.
I eat a lot of vegetarian options, especially the hot dogs. And you can grill a lot of vegetables, BBQ’d broccoli is actually my favorite way to prepare it. Same with zuchinni and peppers.
What else do they call a family reunion in Alabama?
ORGY!!!!
NGF-> Deer really>
ick!
When I grow up, I’m going to Bovine University!
Janer – deer? really! Moose and caribou also 😀
OP is the type of vegetarian I can relate to.
My family has always hunted deer in the winter and it is better tasting than any other meat I’ve tried, and I’ve eaten a lot of meat, never caribou though…
Eating an animal that you’ve seen die isn’t that bad PAS. Back in they day before supermarkets and preservatives it was perfectly normal to kill your own chicken. People weren’t as squeamish about things dying back then. They would kill animals themselves to eat, their relatives would die at home instead of hospitals, there was no back room at the vet for the family dog to die etc etc. A lot of people these days live their entire life without ever actually seeing a person or animal die. It’s not natural when you think about it…
A fuck, I went off on a tangent.
Sorry
i used to eat raw eel as a toddler. my hunter family members were also into fishing and would bring back trout, perch, eels and even salmon when it was in season (although not a salmon fan).
i get a kick out of my eel-cravings as a child since its such a trend to eat sushi now and everybody who does thinks they’re diverse and upper class.
I work in a hospital, so I’ve seen people die. But I’ve also watched a fish die on the docks, and I would never want to see that again. It’s less about seeing dead things, and more about physically killing them for my own enjoyment.
I hate spiders, and will kill them, but even then I can’t stand doing it.
ICK i will stick to my bacon and chicken 🙂
I don’t really equate “killing for food” with “killing for enjoyment”. At least not in the time period I described earlier. I realize that there are more options now a days so you don’t have to kill for food. But the people who “kill for enjoyment” typically don’t eat what they kill, they stuff it or mount it.
I’m with PAS.
You pretty much summed up my thoughts on the matter.
Like the OP, I have encountered omnivores who cannot comprehend a vegetarian’s lifestyle as a valid and equal choice. As a vegetarian, I don’t judge their choice of diet and they don’t need to judge mine. I forgive them their misguided ‘rabbit food/salad only’ preconceptions about vegetarianism. I don’t care if they get it or not. We are all entitled to our personal choices and our miscoceptions.
I just feel that another creature does not have to suffer and die so that I, personally might eat and live when there are so many delicious alternatives with which to nourish oneself. I choose this because it feels right for me. I never seek to impose my values upon others. Everyone’s dietary choices are their own personal business. Live and let live…
What I don’t get are people that make a point of telling you that they don’t own a TV or those that have Darwin-Lizards on their cars. What up with dat?
NGF: Olive oil is my preference as the portobello has a great flavour of its own – marinade 20-30 minutes prior. Add grilled red onions, a slice of tomato, some greens, and your choice of sauce. My personal fav is dijon mustard.
Melted goat cheese or feta are also very tasty, but the burger can get a little messy at that point so grab an extra napkin.
Mmmm, I’m with you there, Three, although I like to throw a little balsamic in with the olive oil marinade. Delicious!
I agree with OP. I eat meat, but there is alot of stuff I wont eat, simply because I had to eat what my mother made while i was growing up. So if a new dish was prepared and my father liked it, fuck, we would end up having it 4 nights a week for months. So I refuse to eat alot of crap. Thanks for ruining my appetite Mom!
I totally hear ya OP. I haven’t eaten red meat in years, and my parents didn’t stop ragging me for it until I brought my vegetarian boyfriend home. She wants to feed him, so suddenly there are more vegetarian options when I go to visit. But before that, I just made sure I had some veggie dogs on hand before I went to a bbq, and since I love to cook, I would make both meaty and vegetarian spaghetti/stir fry/soup etc.
Now if only my mother could remember that I’m lactose intolerant…
ou all know that cows & deer & moose & pigs & caribou all eat plants aka vegetation. So by eating them , I am really just helping the great circle of life and in effect eating vegetation. Any of you want a good deal on Home grown well packaged fresh or frozen meat (beef) go to the Esso Station across from the Enfeil Fire hall on any Sunday afternoon from about 3 to 6 pm. Organic locally raised beef, very tastey & no I’m not related to or involved in any way except as a satisfied customer for over 5 years .
I’ll have my steak medium please & pass the potato’s & sour cream !
Three why did you put that post about the Portobello mushroom…OMG I am so hungry now!!!