Vegetarian Hate

[anriana]

I hate how annoying people are about vegetarians, and the stupid excuses they use to justify their hatred. "PETA is obnoxious so I'm obnoxious to vegetarians!" I find Focus on the Family obnoxious, that doesn't mean I walk up to everyone with a cross/Bible/etc and start telling them everything I dislike about their personal beliefs! I am just so tired of all of the lame jokes and all of the dbag comments. This is one of my most deeply held religious beliefs. I don't advertise it, I don't comment on what other people eat, yet because I eat soy products over my lunch break and can only eat certain things at restaurants I have to deal with people commenting on it all the time. I just want to smack the next person who interrupts my reading to ask "OMG what are you eating?" or who makes any of the following comments/"jokes:" "I totally couldn't do that!" "I just love my steak/etc too much!" "Do you eat animal crackers?" "Don't you know God gave us dominion over animals?" "I'm in PETA too! People for Eating Tasty Animals!" "I'm going to eat three just for you!" "Why do you hate vegetables?" "You're not changing anything" "Don't you know you can't get enough protein/B12/etc that way?"


I understand/tolerate this sort of teasing coming from friends, but from random people and coworkers, it is totally inappropriate and rude. It's not funny, no one commenting on my food has a perfect diet, and I am seriously considering going to HR and reporting religious harassment if it continues. It's not acceptable to make fun of people who follow kosher or halal guidelines, why do people think it is okay to make fun of mine? Yes, there are people who follow it for secular reasons, but it originated in and is largely practiced for religious reasons.

[Boozy]

I've always been baffled that people would take another person's dietary choices so personally.

Why does anyone care if someone else chooses not to eat meat? In fact, if the entire world ate as much meat as most North Americans, we'd be choking to death on methane gas right now.

Vegetarian is one of the most unobtrusive things you can be. It has almost no effect on others, so there's no reason for others not to mind their own business.

[Greenday]

I never understood how people could just survive on vegetables, but that's their own thing. It's their health, not mine. I worry about what I eat and that's it.

[Boozy]

I never understood how people could just survive on vegetables, but that's their own thing.

Vegetarians eat more than vegetables. They also eat fruits, grains, nuts, and beans. And most vegetarians aren't vegans, so they also eat animal by-products like eggs, milk, yogurt, and cheese.

I'm not vegetarian myself, but I only eat meat once a week. I don't need to if I don't want; my diet is completely healthy and balanced without it. My weekly hamburger or steak is a luxury I could do without.

[MystyGlyttyr]

See, Catherine and I talk all the time, and she's a vegetarian and I am a self-professed carnivore...I eat very few vegetables or fruits, most of my vegetable or fruit nutrients come from juices. And...neither of us really care. We don't even care enough to tease each other. We're far too busy making Canadian/American jokes. :D

But then again, I think so many meat-eaters get the same sort of flack, from "Meat is murder" and "That settles in your intestines" and "That's the sort of thing that killed Elvis" (I actually heard that one!) I guess some of the meat-eaters think it's their way of "getting back" at vegetarians. Personally, I don't give a shit, if somebody starts harassing me over my grilled chicken, I'll just start chewing with my mouth open. That chases off 90% of them. The worst I'll do is ask if a person is vegetarian and leave it at that.

(No offense meant, but "Do you eat animal crackers?" cracked me up. I've never heard that one myself, though, which is why I suppose the novelty hasn't worn off.)

[Pedersen]

who makes any of the following comments/"jokes:" "I totally couldn't do that!" "I just love my steak/etc too much!"

I might be about to upset you, but I do hope you'll read the whole thing before you choose to blast me.

I know I couldn't be a vegetarian. I do love meat too much. And I have a great deal of respect for people who have the self-control to be able to stay away from meat. I don't. Thank you for giving me a model to look up to. Whether or not I ever become a vegetarian, I do hope to gain your level of self-control someday.

The only other thing I'll say on it is this: If I'm around someone who I know has specific restrictions on their diet, I'll ask if my eating something around them will bother them, and then try to avoid it if it does. I've known vegetarians who didn't mind if I ate meat, and ones who did. I try to respect their sensibilities.

[DesignFox]

I don't mind people who choose to be vegan or vegetarian. That's their choice. I only dislike the people who try to cram that belief down other's throats.

I have friends who are or were veggie or vegan. We would go to restaurants with vegetarian options. That way, I could have my chicken or burger or whatever, and they could have their veggies or fruits...not a big deal.

[the_std]

I think that people who make those comments to strangers are actually trying to justify themselves to themselves, and no one else. My sister chose to be a vegetarian at a very young age (11 or 12) and all she got was shit about it from everyone except her immediate family. But when I was around her, hearing these stupid comments, it seemed to me that the main reasons people do these things is because they feel guilty about their own eating habits, for whatever reason, and are embarrassed that someone is doing "better" than them. Therefore, it is necessary to point out all the flaws in their choice.

I'm not saying that's the only reason, but that was a big one that I saw.

[Norton]

I don't mind people who choose to be vegan or vegetarian. That's their choice. I only dislike the people who try to cram that belief down other's throats.

I quite agree. I know a few vegetarians. When we have a party, my boyfriend and I make sure to provide vegetarian food for them. They in turn are thankful, and don't complain that the main portion of the menu is meat (the bf and I are raging carnivores). We respect them, they respect us - all is well.

Contrary, a few years ago my former roommate decided to become vegan. The holier-than-thou attitude she began to carry, along with the anti-meat preaching she constantly spouted really irked me. She seemed to believe that I was less enlightened because I chose to eat meat, instead of realizing that I had my own valid reasons for not being a vegan - it was as if my morals were less developed than hers.

The hate goes both ways, as does the respect. I'll respect the choice of a vegetarian as long as they don't show disrespect for my choice of eating meat.

[BlaqueKatt]

I'll try to explain this as best as I can from what I've seen and experienced: some people cannot accept that someone would make a choice different than theirs, and they see that as a threat-or that their decision might be seen as "inferior"-so to make themselves feel better, and to reinforce that their decision is "right" they will attack others over over it. When this happens it tells me the person is rather insecure about their decisions-and feels they have to defend them(to complete strangers no less), lest their insecurity be revealed. And they also cannot fathom that someone's circumstances may be different than their own making both decisions "right" for the individuals involved.

some examples(I am not debating any of these points-just giving examples)

Stay-at home parent vs work outside the home parent
one religion vs another religion
breastfeeding vs bottlefeeding
Smoking vs non-smoking
gun owners vs gun control
cloth vs disposable diapers
pro-death penalty vs anti-death penalty

I could think of tons more really.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I don't mind people who choose to be vegan or vegetarian. That's their choice. I only dislike the people who try to cram that belief down other's throats.

I agree. The same goes for tee-totallers, born again Christians or nonsmokers. You've made a lifestyle choice; great, good on you. Just please don't try to force it on to me, or make nasty remarks about my choice of food or drugs. To my mind, someone who remarks, "Do you know that's a dead cow you're eating?" deserves a smack in the teeth. And yes, I have had someone, a complete stranger, come up to me in Burger King and tell me that. I replied, "Yes, his name is George and he's yummy!" XD

My uncle, aunt and little cousin are all veggie and I have no problems with them at all, cuz they never really mention it. When my family and I go round theirs, they serve up veggie food, but don't make a big deal of it.

[Rapscallion]

To give this some perspective, I used to be a butcher. I currently work for a company that sells only vegetarian or vegan produce. Many of my colleagues are vegetarian. A few are vegans. Even the vegetarians think that vegans need a little ribbing from time to time when their backs are turned.

Generally speaking, if a vegetarian makes no comment about what I eat, I don't worry about them. I go to a chum's house most weeks, and he's a vegetarian. When I'm under his roof, I don't eat meat. If we were both under my roof, I wouldn't hold back, but I wouldn't rub it in his face.

It's a matter of respect.

Rapscallion

[anriana]

"That's the sort of thing that killed Elvis" (I actually heard that one!)

Haha, that is awesomely stupid. I think I might use that if people ever ask me if I'm a militant veggie. I don't know if I could keep a straight face though.

(No offense meant, but "Do you eat animal crackers?" cracked me up. I've never heard that one myself, though, which is why I suppose the novelty hasn't worn off.)

Oh yeah, it was really funny the first five or so times.

I might be about to upset you, but I do hope you'll read the whole thing before you choose to blast me.

I know I couldn't be a vegetarian. I do love meat too much. And I have a great deal of respect for people who have the self-control to be able to stay away from meat. I don't. Thank you for giving me a model to look up to. Whether or not I ever become a vegetarian, I do hope to gain your level of self-control someday.

It would only irritate me if I didn't know you in real life and walked up to me eating tofu and said that. You are of course free to hold whatever beliefs you want, I just don't want them shared with me at random times. =)

It's not really self-control for me. I went veggie out a young age so I've never had steak or anything other than chicken fingers and other cheap meats. I tried going back to meat once (I craved ranch drumsticks for what seemed like years) and it tasted horrible to me. I don't know if it's because I always ate highly processed meat and had lost my taste for the chemicals, or what, but I haven't wanted meat in years. Going vegan and ditching chocolate would be self control.


The hate goes both ways, as does the respect. I'll respect the choice of a vegetarian as long as they don't show disrespect for my choice of eating meat.

And that's all I want. I have my own views on it but I'm certainly not going to walk up to someone eating meat and share them.

[lordlundar]

I don't mind people who choose to be vegan or vegetarian. That's their choice. I only dislike the people who try to cram that belief down other's throats.

I concur. Whenever a vegetarian or vegan comes up to me and starts ranting about my eating habits, I take a big bite out of my meat and go "Mmmmm!" and really try to make them vomit.:D (and the best part is they can't complain about me, as they were harassing me first)

Or I just point out that at least I'm doing the humane thing and killing the animal before I eat it. They're eating a living, breathing creature.:D

I am an omnivore, I eat flora and fauna. If you don't, that's your choice. If you try to cram your belief down my throat, I will happily shove it up your ass.

[Slytovhand]

You know what really shits me about the 'carnivore/veggie' thing...

I'm an omni, and it shits me when I get asked if I eat vegetarian food! WFT???

If it tastes good and isn't likely to do me harm, I'll eat it! What's it matter if it's a meat product or non-meat product? (how often is meat used as a flavouring, rather than as a base??)


(OT.. btw.. BK - while I agree with the general thought of what you said, some of the examples you use aren't just about personal preferences... some are about serious issues that have to be decided in the law for the benefits of society as a whole, for the safety and security as a whole... but we've got those threads under way :D

Although... we could always mandate to have meat products banned for the good of our intestines and economics... cows are far too expensive to breed and damage the environment a lot more than veggies! :p)

Slyt

[BlaqueKatt]

OT.. btw.. BK - while I agree with the general thought of what you said, some of the examples you use aren't just about personal preferences... some are about serious issues that have to be decided in the law for the benefits of society as a whole, for the safety and security as a whole... but we've got those threads under way


They're just issues off the top of my head that I personally have had the same type of thing happen(most of them)-someone coming up and spouting off to me that my choice is somehow "inferior" to their choice, or coming up to me and telling why they couldn't do what I did-WTF? I don't know you why do I care about the decisions you made in your life? If you want to start a discussion, ad get information fine but don't attack me for my choices.

for example-I did have people ask me about how I could stand using cloth diapers(my son was allergic to something in disposables-and cloth was easier and cheaper for me)-I didn't stand around telling people-I was a better parent for using them-personally I don't care-you want to use huggies fine, you want information on how to purchase, wash and use cloth I have no problem with that. But just like the OP I had complete strangers coming up to me and bitching at me for it. Usually they got kinda sheepish when I informed them my son was allergic to disposables-maybe the OP could use that-say you can't properly digest meat-at this point you probably would have issues with it as your body is no longer used to it-and cooked meat is more difficult for the body to digest-you're not lying, and maybe they'll leave you alone.

[the_std]

say you can't properly digest meat

I dated a guy for a while that had a disease where his body couldn't digest protein. But this wasn't just meat, it was milk products and beans and stuff too. He lived solely on carbohydrates and some few vegetables, with a supplement shake he had to drink every day.

Yet when he asked at restaurants if the food was vegetarian (easier than saying, "does this dish have any protein in it?") he'd get snarky comments from random strangers about how being a vegetarian wasn't natural, he was ruining his life, etcetera. He had a great way of dealing with it, though. He perfected the deadpan stare and said, "I have [such and such disease]. If I consume the flesh you're eating now, I will die. Happy?"

He got so many terrified looks. It was awesome.

[Stormraven]

Count me in with the folks who don't care. Where I used to work, two of my co-workers were vegetarian. One for cultural reasons, one not. Neither had a problem with the omnivores and carnivores they worked with, and none of us had a problem with them. The most I'm likely to say if someone tells me they're vegetarian out of the blue is 'Great. More meat for me, then!'

[GothicSmurf]

I'm a vegetarian as well. I don't make a big deal of it, but next week, we're going out to dinner with co-workers as part of my new job.

If I can, I always look at the menu before I go. One place that was suggested had NO vegetarian meals at all. Nothing to even be altered.

The other one had one single salad.

So I did a quick search online to see what was in the area and I found one place. The girl who suggested the two resturants threw a fit and said that I should be more cultured and that the other place had a salad I could eat.

Yeah, gee thanks, I love eating salads for every single fucking meal. I wonder how she'd feel going into that resturant and only having one choice of a meal to eat... Hell into almost any given resturant and being able to find one meal.

I hate people like that...

[Slytovhand]

I'm a vegetarian as well. I don't make a big deal of it, but next week, we're going out to dinner with co-workers as part of my new job.

If I can, I always look at the menu before I go. One place that was suggested had NO vegetarian meals at all. Nothing to even be altered.

The other one had one single salad.

So I did a quick search online to see what was in the area and I found one place. The girl who suggested the two resturants threw a fit and said that I should be more cultured and that the other place had a salad I could eat.

Yeah, gee thanks, I love eating salads for every single fucking meal. I wonder how she'd feel going into that resturant and only having one choice of a meal to eat... Hell into almost any given resturant and being able to find one meal.

I hate people like that...

OMFG!!!! That's just.... OH!


I was going to post about a mate who is veg, and I was having my 30th in a chinese restaurant. I asked them what they had that was veg only and I got the standard - "well, there's the mixed vegetables, steamed rice ... or he can just pick out the meat"...

I hate that line (even though I'm omni..).

You're a frigging restaurant... you cater for it! Why not Mongolian Beancurd???

Bastards!


maybe the OP could use that-say you can't properly digest meat-at this point you probably would have issues with it as your body is no longer used to it-and cooked meat is more difficult for the body to digest-you're not lying, and maybe they'll leave you alone.

Or.. how about "Because I've made an informed conscientious choice, rather than been a sheep" :D (fight nark with nark :P)


Slyt

[Boozy]

I prefer "Mind your own business". :D

And that line works for both sides of the equation.

[BlaqueKatt]

Or.. how about "Because I've made an informed conscientious choice, rather than been a sheep"


because that will give them the reaction they're looking for-and validate their beliefs of "all vegitatians hate meat eaters and want to make it illegals-ZOMG!!"

Also it's stooping to their level

[Lace Neil Singer]

Also, sheep are vegetarian... so wouldn't you rather be a sheep? XD

[lordlundar]

I prefer "Mind your own business". :D

Meh, where's the fun in that? If they're not running to the bathroom to puke, then they didn't get their just desserts for bothering me.:D

[Lace Neil Singer]

Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow got a chance it'd eat you and everyone you care about.

XD

[BlaqueKatt]

Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow got a chance it'd eat you and everyone you care about.

And they do in the movie "dead meat"-chock full* of zombie cow goodness :D
And in "The Mad" starring Billy Zane-the hamburger patties and even a steak attack people(great movie actually-quite funny)

*OK so it's only a couple scenes-but it's totally worth it-plus it's filmed in Ireland so pretty scenery.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Vegetarian is one of the most unobtrusive things you can be. It has almost no effect on others, so there's no reason for others not to mind their own business.

It has no effect on others as long as I don't have to listen to how bloody, murderous, and barbaric I am because I eat dead things. ;) Which I have had to listen to, with alarming frequency.

I don't have a problem with vegetarians at all. I have friends and family members who are vegetarians, and I am happy to cook special for them when they come over. In fact, there was a time when I considered it myself. I just have a problem with militant people of any stripe getting in my face because of MY dietary choices (or religion, or child-rearing, or what have you).