Meat-free for 2.5 years and counting…

I’m a vegetarian and have been for about 2 or so years now. It was a pretty easy transition for me. For one thing, my mom is a vegetarian so whenever I’m at my parents, we eat vegetarian Indian food (which, in my opinion, is way more satisfying than Indian meat entrees anyway).  REB is also a vegetarian and has been for almost 9 or 10 years, and many of my friends are vegetarians. So it was easy to do this being surrounded by a lot of meat-free eaters. Not to mention I live in a yuppy, but hippy town, so finding things that are vegetarian or vegan is not hard at all.

What started out as a bet with a coworker, quickly turned into a lifestyle change I’m pretty happy with. When it first happened, it was kind of hard to give up the things I loved (crab legs, salmon, mmm!), but I found myself realizing a lot of things. When I did eat meat, I pretty much ate fish or chicken. I hardly ever ate red meat because it didn’t taste as good to me as the simple stuff. I also already loved tofu and beans, so the fact I got to eat more of it wasn’t a bad deal. As stated above, Indian food is usually all vegetarian and incredibly filling, and the meat dishes don’t do a whole lot for me, so that’s always a home, comfort food for me to eat.

I know it was hard for some people around me though. I was immediately put into the “special dietary needs” category with my friends, and was limited to where I could eat if I wanted to eat out with friends or coworkers. The “Well, is there a vegetarian option there for me?” question is always brought up, and I still feel like I’m inconveniencing a lot of people or frustrating them too much. But then, I snap out of it and realize it’s MY choice I did this and MY decision. No one else’s.  I know it isn’t easy to deal with, but I find that hearing the snide and smart ass remarks of  “Oh, we NEED to make a vegetarian dish because Aparna is coming over”, or “Oh, we can’t eat there because they don’t have vegetarian options” with slight annoyance in the tone is just plain rude and disrespectful. The worst is hearing the “I mean, I know I couldn’t give up eating a burger. How can you NOT want to eat a cheeseburger?” That’s easy. Because I don’t want to. I don’t go around telling my friends “Oh my GOD. Do you realize you’re eating a DEAD ANIMAL?” Why would I do that? It’s a personal choice if you want to eat meat or whatever it is you want. It shouldn’t be judged. I have friends who want to order veal and ask me if I’d be offended. The answer is no. Again, that’s a decision made by the person eating it. Why should it matter what any one else thinks?

I think the hardest thing is weddings. I love all my friends and am incredibly touched they’d invite me to their special day, but out of the 10 weddings I’ve been to in the past 2 1/2 years (yes, TEN), only two of them offered a vegetarian meal. I guess it doesn’t make sense to me why people wouldn’t want to cater to everyone’s needs. I know it’s not about the guests, and it’s about the bride and groom. I get that, believe me. And I don’t mean any disrespect if any of my friends are reading this. However, if you have a buffet, wouldn’t it be nice if your non-meat-eating friends could eat something other than roasted potatoes, salad and green beans as the entire meal? Side dishes are great, but they’re just what I said: side dishes. I know it costs a lot more to have more entrees, I get that, but I suppose if you’re going to have those types of people come to your wedding, it’d be nice if they had an option to eat something they’d enjoy, as well. Everyone else gets to choose what they want to eat, right?

I did recently put fish back into my diet. I realized I wasn’t getting enough protein, so once every 2 or 3 months, I’ll order a whitefish or salmon dish. But for the most part, I eat vegetarian dishes on a daily basis. It’d be hard to be a vegan (for me). My friend JP is one and I admire her so much for it. I don’t know if I could do that. It’d be hard to give up things like cake or cheese that aren’t made of soy. I do drink soy milk, but that’s only because it’s in our household and REB doesn’t drink regular milk, so I learned to adapt. It’s not bad, by the way…

Anyway, I didn’t mean to come off sounding whiny or rude. It wasn’t my intention. I just wish I could receive more respect for my dietary needs like other people have for theirs. As in, don’t talk about it or make it seem like it’s something I’m going out of my way to do to annoy you. It’s a thing, yes, but it’s my thing.