Spring Break
How to Treat Vegetarians
Writer shares view on the plight of the veggie eater
Sam Smith
Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: ViewPoint
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There are those of us who are not Mac enough; who have not had our Tyson today; and those of us who will be bombarded with judgment every Thanksgiving for not at least trying a sliver of the turkey over which mom slaved for three days.
We are vegetarians.
Problematically, most people do eat meat; the great majority of the nation's diet is largely meat-driven. Billboards, commercials and societal structures combine to produce a country centered on killing animals for food.
Being an ethical minority - or at the basest level, a dietary minority - the vegetarian is shunned by a culture entranced with the notion that meat is essential to the human being.
Much more often than not, I am treated with disdain in the company of meat-eaters, some of whom consider themselves genuine animal lovers.
This article is an attempt to explain the complexities of a vegetarian lifestyle amidst a non-vegetarian civilization. It is more specifically a guide for those who eat meat to help understand the vegetarian lifestyle.
When people hear I don't eat meat, a frequent reaction is, "You're not one of those snobby vegetarians, are you?"
This response belies a sense of ironic vulnerability in the meat-eater. The ordinary vegetarian may be accused of being a snob, but understand that meat is everywhere disrupting that ordinary vegetarian's day.
Most vegetarians have the mentality that animals have an equal right to live. They don't see an enticing menu: the steak is the cow, the pork is the pig, the chicken is the … you get the point.
This "snobby" exterior non-vegetarians see is in actuality a frustrated disposition with the ubiquity and popularity of meat. No one takes it more personally than a Southerner either when food, be it the bloodiest of burgers, is turned down when offered.
Imagine living in a country of a religion that is the polar opposite of your own: seeing verses you disagree with on billboards every day; witnessing the unnerving customs being exercised around you; and being among a very small percentage that feels deeply about an issue that goes opposed if not ignored.
These are the conditions with which a vegetarian is faced.
"But you need protein!"
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Arno from Holland
posted 10/10/08 @ 12:54 PM CST
I have never eaten fear in my life. I'm 53 years now. My parents started to be a vegetarian in 1930.
Claire
posted 10/26/08 @ 7:35 AM CST
I am a teenager and I recently became vegetarian about a year ago. Sometimes it is difficult, but I never give in, and I am sick of how everyone questions why, and waving their ham sandwiches beneath my nose in what they think is an "enticing" or insulting way, or poking fun at me just because I don't eat corpse :)
It is a bit annoying to have to take iron pills to stop myself from falling asleep at school but I put up with it knowing that no animals are dying on my behalf. (Continued…)
Jason Murray
posted 10/28/08 @ 10:12 AM CST
If you supplement your diet with spinach, kale, broccoli and other "green leafies", you will find your need for iron tablets to be greatly diminished, if not removed completely. (Continued…)
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