Grocery shopping day- yay. EvilRoomie and I get in the car and head out to Giant. She buys her foods, I buy mine- at which point I realize that while she has her hamsteaks and her deli meat and her beefy frozen meals, I have no meat in my order. None. It’s all veggies and soy and whole-grain stuff. I then realize that, with the exception of one sushi roll two weeks age and DoktorFluff’s chili at the Dopefest, I haven’t eaten meat/fish since the first week of May.
Apparently, left to my own home-cooking choices, I’m a vegetarian. It’s been nagging at me for a while, but then I realized I really had eaten no meat except on those two occasions. So… I’m a vegetarian most of the time and had no idea.
Cool. Vegetarians and their mostly-companions unite!
Never liked the texture of leg meat, and there weren’t really great sales today (unless you count the 3 pound bags of frozen veggies for about 2 dollars each). In all honesty, vegetable/soy protein is better for my budget anyway.
It was pretty easy for me to give up meat. I don’t miss it really except orange chicken (Asian chicken) and coxinas (Brazilian chicken cone things). I also love meat ravioli. Sigh, but thinking of those gross animals in factory farms kills my appetite. I’ve been considering finding a local family farmer that is humane and buying meat there but I’m still not sure if I feel ok with that.
Why? If he/she was stood on your doorstep screaming “MEAT IS MURDER”, fair enough, but whats to hate about someone choosing to be vegetarian, and not even a conscious choice at that. No skin off your nose.
I’m in a similar boat as the OP as is my new friend Melts_Crayons.
I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for years (until I was dating the carnivorous Sniffs_Markers) largely because, left to my own devices, I just really don’t eat meat. It just doesn’t end up in my fridge.
And strangely the more I work out, the less meat I consume (aside from seafood – lately working out a lot makes me crave sushi). Dunno why.
No politically motivated choice or anything, just… an apathetic disinterest in meat. It doesn’t really ocur to me to buy it.
If someone gave me a perfectly cooked juicy steak, I’d eat it happily enough, I guess, but meat is not something I actively seek out to eat.
Since Sniffs_Markers dumped me, I’ve been practically right back to my vegetarian ways because I’m preparing food just for me.
Before I “took the plunge” and decided to become a vegetarian, I just wasn’t that interested in meat. Didn’t really need it. I ate meat because it was simply something that was “expected,” but most of the time, I found something unappealing about the meat placed in front of me—too chewy, too raw, too icky, too something. And I’m not usually a picky person when it comes to food (my ample figure is proof of that). But I was getting pickier and pickier when it came to meat.
One of my friends had been a vegan for some years and ate the most awesome tasty things, so I knew that vegetarianism didn’t mean “bland boring food.” Then one day I realized that if I became vegetarian, I would never, ever have to be put on the spot and expected to eat something too chewy, too raw, or too icky, just because it was “expected” of me. (I had recently visited a friend who was obviously going to be offended if I didn’t eat a whole mass of gross chewy meat, so I choked it down.)
Anyway, I decided that the trade-off was worth it. Sure, occasionally I might miss out on a dish that I liked (that had small amounts of meat in it), but most of the time I’d be gloriously off the hook—never having to eat something gross and chewy and gristly again. I had the perfect reason for refusing: “Sorry, I’m a vegetarian.” Wonderful freedom! It was a perfect solution for me.
That was over a decade ago, and I’ve never regretted it. Never.
For many years, I, too was on the Low Budget Vegetarian Diet simply because all I could afford were Ramen noodles, salad stuff and Kraft mac n cheese.
Then, about 10 years ago, my doc drew blood and informed me that my cholesterol was 330. :eek: I was told to eliminate fat from my diet. Now, I had a perfect excuse to never have to clean a chicken (eyew) ever again! I do still eat fish and seafood, since the fat content is much lower than with land animals.
Then, I started to do some research and discovered how meat is processed in this country. Suffice it to say that things haven’t changed much since “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair was written.
So congratulations! Enjoy veggiehood. I think the best part about being a veggie inadvertantly, is that it won’t be any big deal if you “cheat” and get a craving for some meat product. Until you lose the ability to digest animal fats,after which, you will only indulge that craving once. Spend one evening in the bathroom in writhing pain, and you’ll never “cheat” again!
While I am by no means a vegitarian, I’ve noticed I hardly ever cook meat. Tacos every so often. Honestly it’s because raw meat is naaaasty. I can’t stand touching raw chicken. I’ll do it sometimes because I really want to eat it, but all other things being equal I’d rather have other people touch the nasty raw things.
Good raw fish and high quality raw steaks are okay, though, but expensive and restaurants do them better than I. So I guess I’m an inadvertant grocery store vegitarian. How distressing!
Hmm, 27th, maybe you’ll make up for my recent transgressions…I’ve been a vegetarian for the last two years but last week I started eating meat again. I decided that I really have to put some weight on, so I decided to drop all my diet restrictions until I gain ten pounds, at which time I will re-evaluate. I still feel guilty eating it!
Anyway, welcome to the “weirdo” club.
That’s totally the reason I became a veg too! It was a big control issue for me. I hated being forced to eat stuff I didn’t like. (it’s a wonder with all my food issues that I didn’t have a major eating disorder) And then, like Dogzilla, I read more about how meat is produced in this country and got really grossed out by it. Not to mention disturbed by how poorly we treat the animals raised for meat. (I dont’ have any ethical compunctions against eating animals, I just don’t want them raised in filth and misery before slaughter.)
I did just start eating tuna again 'cause I’m pretty low in protein and it’s so convenient for lunch. And I do sneak over to Arby’s once a month for the ham melt…
I am onstensibly on a low-fat diet, and I usually prefer a vegetarian option to a “lo-fat” meat entre. Plus, I like vegetarian food.
If it weren’t for my husband, I don’t think I’d ever cook meat at home. Gotta make sure not to let the packaging touch anything, scrub the knife and cutting board right away, cook all the way through, but don’t overcook, etc., etc., etc. It’s a a lot of finicky work for something that doesn’t taste a whole lot better than tofu or beans, and is usually not as healthy.
The town we live in is very vege-friendly, so when we go out to eat I can usually get tofu in my Chinese and Thai dishes, and something delicious (and sans pork and lard) in the rice-and-beans genre when we go Mexican. Lots of the sandwich places have veggie burgers now, which I like, too.
On the other hand, I don’t think I’d make a very happy vegetarian. If we go to a good sit-down restaurant, I can rarely pass up the salmon, and, heaven help me, I do love a good rare steak from time to time. Oh, and the occassional cheeseburger from MacDonalds. Weak, I know, but I have one every three months or so. And sometimes there just isn’t a good vegetarian option at a restaurant, so it’s nice to just order something meaty without guilt.
I’m an omnivore, but I’ll go a week at a time and then remember I haven’t had much meat in my diet. Maybe fish. Maybe not. Sometimes eggs, cheese, beans, tofu etc have filled the niche for a week or longer at a time.
I like meat, I’m not planning on giving it up. But in the meat eater vs. vegetarian world, I always feel a little odd as it seems so many meat eaters feel the need to make it a centerpiece of nearly every meal - and I certainly can’t claim vegetarianism. And I doubt I’d buy it at all if I lived alone - although I’m fairly certain I’d continue to order it out.
Vegetarians and their mostly-companions unite!