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ElleTea's post made me wonder if perhaps many of you just happen to have had the (bad) luck of running into "chronic argue-ers". You know, the type of people who have an opinion about everything and just like to debate for the sake of debate?
I had an experience similar to ElleTea's...only it nothing to do with diet, but rather my choice of footwear (of all things ). A woman in an exercise class found out I had been a rather avid runner.
The first time she asked about my running shoe of choice I was flattered.
The third time, I was perplexed ("didn't we already have this conversation? ").
The tenth time, I was seriously annoyed. Especially when she started to "challenge" my choices ("Well I perhaps I shouldn't have run three marathons in that particular shoe...really if something else works for you, go with that..." ).
Like Elle, I eventually learned to avoid this person altogether.
Getting back to the topic of vegetarian food, I'm now in a position similar to missik999. I'm working with a group of people (we want to open a co-op grocery store) where being a veggie is not odd at all. In fact, I sit on a sub-committee of six, and four of us are vegetarian. The other two eat local/humanely raised meat.
I must say it's kind of refreshing to not be in the minority. Parties are GREAT; I know there will always be a complete veggie protein, "cheese cheese and more cheese" will not be the only veggie option, and the dishes that do contain meat product are often clearly labeled and set apart so they are easier to identify.
ElleTea's post made me wonder if perhaps many of you just happen to have had the (bad) luck of running into "chronic argue-ers". You know, the type of people who have an opinion about everything and just like to debate for the sake of debate?
I had an experience similar to ElleTea's...only it nothing to do with diet, but rather my choice of footwear (of all things ). A woman in an exercise class found out I had been a rather avid runner.
The first time she asked about my running shoe of choice I was flattered.
The third time, I was perplexed ("didn't we already have this conversation? ").
The tenth time, I was seriously annoyed. Especially when she started to "challenge" my choices ("Well I perhaps I shouldn't have run three marathons in that particular shoe...really if something else works for you, go with that..." ).
Like Elle, I eventually learned to avoid this person altogether.
Getting back to the topic of vegetarian food, I'm now in a position similar to missik999. I'm working with a group of people (we want to open a co-op grocery store) where being a veggie is not odd at all. In fact, I sit on a sub-committee of six, and four of us are vegetarian. The other two eat local/humanely raised meat.
I must say it's kind of refreshing to not be in the minority. Parties are GREAT; I know there will always be a complete veggie protein, "cheese cheese and more cheese" will not be the only veggie option, and the dishes that do contain meat product are often clearly labeled and set apart so they are easier to identify.
Part of my problem is I live in Iowa, a state where many consider it to be a sin to not eat beef or bacon. Kidding...mostly.
My experiences have gotten better over the last 10 years or so as it seems to be more common to be veggie. And with the surge in people with food allergies, gluten-free and the like, there are other diets more complicated than mine. I grew up in a small town and there wasn't much option there for veggie foods and people there were more judging about what I ate. Living in Des Moines it is MUCH easier and I think commerically known meat substitues like Morningstar Farms and the like help.
Elle, I think your experience with the co-worker is mostly an example of people thinking that a vegetarian is a novelty. An odd, unusual rare thing, that you can't help but wonder about.
Like living in Mexico and encountering your very first New Englander, ever.
Or having never met a gay person (that you knew of) until attending college in an urban setting.
Or living in a conservative town and coming across someone who was raised in a commune.
In some parts of the country, being a vegetarian is just not a common thing. And some people will be attracted to that rareness and sometimes they can get rude, without really meaning to, by asking about it. They really don't mean to obsess, but the notion of that rareness gets stuck in their heads, and they just can't break from it.
I am the same way. I live in the south and I'm a vegetarian. I just started a new job and someone had brought meat tacos and offered me one. I told them, "no thank you because I'm a vegetarian." In 10 minutes the whole building had known. I had people coming into my office asking if it were true. Asking if I ate fish, milk, eggs, cheese. I said I eat eggs and cheese. Then they commented, "that doesn't make you a vegetarian then." I think people in certain areas are just ignorant about the subject. That is usally how I can tell if they will be ok with that I am gay. It may sound strange, but usually if being a vegetarian is a shock then being a lesbian will knock them off their feet.
I envy you people who aren't treated like you have two heads for being vegetarian. Ali, I had a similar experience to you in my last work place, where it immediately circulated around the building that I was a vegetarian! And while I'm not a lesbian, I AM from up north....and the Southerners thought that made me just as "other."
My newest thing wasn't someone arguing with me, but someone acting like I was so different because I am a vegetarian. I said that I wouldn't be at the gym today because I am fasting (colonoscopy tomorrow) and that I didn't think it would be good to do heavy exercise. The reply: "Yes, especially with you being a vegetarian." ?????????? Wouldn't even a carnivore feel weak/
light headed, etc. from fasting? Especially since they are convinced taht they need animal protein every day?
Elle, I think your experience with the co-worker is mostly an example of people thinking that a vegetarian is a novelty. An odd, unusual rare thing, that you can't help but wonder about.
Like living in Mexico and encountering your very first New Englander, ever.
Or having never met a gay person (that you knew of) until attending college in an urban setting.
Or living in a conservative town and coming across someone who was raised in a commune.
In some parts of the country, being a vegetarian is just not a common thing. And some people will be attracted to that rareness and sometimes they can get rude, without really meaning to, by asking about it. They really don't mean to obsess, but the notion of that rareness gets stuck in their heads, and they just can't break from it.
Yeah, I agree. I don't think she really meant any harm, but it's still annoying.
I am the same way. I live in the south and I'm a vegetarian. I just started a new job and someone had brought meat tacos and offered me one. I told them, "no thank you because I'm a vegetarian." In 10 minutes the whole building had known. I had people coming into my office asking if it were true. Asking if I ate fish, milk, eggs, cheese. I said I eat eggs and cheese. Then they commented, "that doesn't make you a vegetarian then." I think people in certain areas are just ignorant about the subject. That is usally how I can tell if they will be ok with that I am gay. It may sound strange, but usually if being a vegetarian is a shock then being a lesbian will knock them off their feet.
I get that, too.
"Oh, you are a vegetarian? Do you eat chicken?" (chicken is meat) "Do you eat fish?" (also meat)
I am also childfree, that is a person who does not want kids, ever. So, like you, I have 2 "hurdles" to jump. My diet and my choice to not reproduce. I get interviewed about both all the time.
People choose vegetarianism for a variety of reasons: Religion, health, peer pressure, those big round sad eyes of baby animals, etc. Many, possibly most people who become vegetarians do so without thoroughly thinking through their motive for vegetarianism, and that naturally leaves them open to a kind of argumentation that calls on them to justify their decision.
In fact, these forums are living proof that most people make most of their decisions without thinking them through very thoroughly. And argumentation is not necessarily a bad thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElleTea
. . . and my choice to not reproduce. I get interviewed about both all the time.
Try Nietzsche's reply: "I did my children the favor of not having them".
I worked for about a year in a busy clinic where drug reps often brought lunch in to us. One of the doctors had an assistant who never failed to tell everyone that she was a vegan (she pronounced the word "Veggin" as is vegetable, I guess) and then would go on to explain, loudly, that a "veggin" was a type of vegetarian who occasionally ate fish.
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). A woman in an exercise class found out I had been a rather avid runner.
).
Kidding...mostly. 
