"Do you eat meat?" "No, but I eat fish/chicken."
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Anonymous
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^ again
I see a lot of you guys feeling very judgy about what people call themselves. I feel like that's a very new vegetarian way to be. Once you've been at this for long enough, you really stop caring so much what other people call themselves. |
Anonymous
Most people do not believe that vegetarians are meat eaters. And most people who encounter a meat-eating "vegetarian" would not assume that other/all vegetarians would eat meat. |
Anonymous
I should have said, when people call themselves vegetarian and then eat FISH, not meat. I can tell you that as a vegetarian, many, many people think that I eat fish. Vegetarians don't eat fish. So if you eat fish, you are not a vegetarian. |
Anonymous
| It doesn't matter to me what you eat and why. The reasons why may be interesting and may provide some insight into you as a person (your moral values, your culture, your religion, etc). But what steams me are people who misidentify themselves as being vegetarian (or vegan or gluten free or what have you) and that leads you into making all sorts of changes to the meal you'll be serving ony to find out that they really aren't truly vegetarian. And then you find that they do eat fish or can tolerate chicken broth or will eat gluten if it is in a dessert, etc. etc. So please clarify! I want my guests to enjoy themselves and have suitable food, but I don't want my troubles to be in vain! |
Anonymous
If I am coming to your house, and you serve me no fish, I will be happier than if I have to eat fish. I will eat the fish if there is nothing else for me to eat. If you put chicken broth in your stew, I would rather you not. If I know there is chicken broth, I won't eat the stew. If I can pretend it's not in there, and I am hungry, than I might eat the stew. Honestly, it's not that complicated. If you have a friend who's vegetarian and coming over for dinner, just ask them: does that mean you eat eggs and cheese, does it mean you eat fish. Sorry that how I eat causes you this much consternation. I've lived a lot of places where I can't speak the language and have to do my best with what I can figure out; been to a lot of people's homes for dinner where the last thing I wanted to do was cause more trouble. I've developed a diet for myself that works for me. And I call myself a vegetarian, because I do not feel like explaining to every goddamn person I meet how I developed the precise diet I have, and if you feed me all vegetarian food I will be most happy. |
Anonymous
That is the one time I get upset as well. If you're not used to cooking vegetarian, it can be difficult to adjust to make sure everything served to that person is truly vegetarian. Saying that you also eat fish/chicken makes it infinitely easier. |
Anonymous
Just ask them. Really, it's not that hard. Or go out to eat, which is even easier. |
Anonymous
Good for describing yourself. Of course you know your rules don't apply to all vegetarians. |
Anonymous
I'm a vegetarian, and I hate going out to eat, unless it's to Woodlands. 
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Anonymous
Who said they did? This thread started off with someone asking, why do people call themselves vegetarian when they sometimes eat fish or whatever. I was explaining why I do that. Did I lay out any universal rules? Just one: if you're cooking for someone who is a veg, ask them what that means to them. You may like to think there's one meaning; but out in the world that's not how it is. |
Anonymous
Woodlands is great. I love that place. Speaking of, I put on 10 pounds when I spent a couple of months in India, the vegetarian food was SO AMAZING. It was a real revelation to be in a place where the default was veg. I was in heaven. |
Anonymous
| To me, meat means land based animals. FWIW I was also raised Catholic so perhaps that is the source of the distinction. |
Anonymous
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I eat chicken maybe once every 10 days and fish even less. Otherwise, I eat a vegetarian diet.
When people ask me if I am a vegetarian I might say one of these things - Well, 99% of the time I eat a vegetarian diet. I don't eat red meat or pork but on occasion I eat fish or chicken. Yeah, no, I eat fish and sometimes chicken. (I am a millennial, so I sometimes say things like "Yeah, no...") Yes (If I am talking to someone like my Italian aunt who I know will offer me lamb if I explain my situation appropriately). No (because I'm not). |
Anonymous
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Tibit here: for kosher purposes, fish is not considered meat at all. Neither are eggs. Chicken is but only rabbinically, not biblically.
It also depends on why someone is a vegetarian (or some form thereof). If they don't like industry farming practices, they aren't anti-eating meat - they are just anti-eating 95% of the meat available to them. But its a lot easier to say they are vegetarian than to explain that and have the person feel judged for eating their mass-produced meat. If you don't eat meat bc you don't like the way it tastes, but then you find a particular cut of beef/chicken/fish that is delicious, that's also easier to say you are a veg but your hosts food doesn't meet your taste standard. Words matter but it has no bearing on your life as to how someone else defines their diet, except if they force you to adopt it as well. |
Anonymous
Knowing how to truly cook vegetarian is a skill, just like anything else. It takes time to learn how to plan meals, how to use vegetables, how to use spices...just like in any other style of cooking. Trying to become vegetarian by just giving up meat but not making other changes makes the change very hard. Most people I see doing this end up eating a lot of fake meat, cheese, and portabello mushrooms.
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