I don’t do leather, either. Not clothes, not shoes, not car seats.
Hate the feel of it; hate the smell of it, and aside from the smell of the leather itself, more than other materials, it seems to pick up odors from users, so leather seats, whether on planes or in Ubers, smell more of previous occupiers than cloth seats-- or even fake leather.
Haha, my wife was a Buddhist vegetarian when I met her (she still is). I had to tell her where silk and pearls came from. For a Chinese girl young woman those were harder to give up than meat.
This.
I’ve known some pretty die-hard vegetarians who were that way for either ethical or religious reasons, and I’ve known some “vegetarians” who sort of just didn’t eat bird or land animal flesh. They’d happily consume stuff made with chicken broth, cheese/dairy products, and the like, but just weren’t going to sit down and devour a hunk of flesh, unless it was fish. The way it was explained to me was that they felt better digestively not eating meat, but the rest didn’t bother them. So not a moral/ethical/religious thing at all.
Most vegetarians fall somewhere in the middle- most aren’t vegans, but I think most don’t do chicken broth either.
When I first became a vegetarian, it was because I just didn’t like meat, so I didn’t worry about chicken broth or gelatin as an ingredient. Couldn’t taste it? Didn’t matter.
But the more time went on, the more two things happened. I started to get a little indigestion any time I accidentally ate meat, which meant chicken broth, although accidental gelatin didn’t bother me.
The idea, though, of the taint of meat in something, in the form of something like gelatin, bothered me. And rennet, even though Conservative Judaism considers cheese made with it kosher if it otherwise is, rennet is a big issue for me, and I buy cheese that either is kosher only with certain hekshers that are “no rennet,” or say very plainly that they are “rennet free.”
One thing I had to work on, which bothered me, and I had to learn to live with, for the sake of health, is that when medication has gelatin, and there is no alternative, I have to take it. It’s the way it is, and it’s Jewish. It also doesn’t make me sick to my stomach, probably because it’s tiny amounts.
I’m not Jewish, so I definitely didn’t grow up keeping kosher. I will eat a cheeseburger , grilled cheese with bacon, - but the thought of seafood or chicken with cheese sounds revolting. Of course, this is because I did not grow up eating sandwiches or anything else that involved chicken or seafood and cheese.
Yeah.
It is anecdotal but I have seen several episodes of the TV show The Amazing Race where a challenge was to eat something gross (and usually meat…things like a sheep’s head). Several contestants were vegan/vegetarian but they went ahead and ate the food to get past the challenge (I am sure they knew it was a possibility before going on the show so had already come to terms with making that choice before being faced with it).
Of course, I would be willing to bet there are some people who would refuse.
I am not Jewish but I had many Jewish friends while growing up. The ones I knew mostly kept kosher but they would cheat a bit on occasion. Especially bacon…I didn’t know any who didn’t eat bacon.
Tuna mac?
Filet-O-Fish sandwich?
Fish Florentine? (Cream cheese.)
Some people like cheese on their fish tacos. (I don’t.)
Nope, won’t eat any of those. Or chicken or shrimp parmigiana.
Fair enough. But they’re far from revolting.
To you and many other people- but they are to me.
Fair enough.
I normally don’t like seafood and cheese–but make an exception for a lemon-garlic-parsley seafood pasta with a bit of parmesan thrown in . You get the umami without much cheesy texture, and it’s fabulous.
I was vegetarian for many years, based on ethical beliefs. Eventually I started getting so thin that my health was suffering, and I started eating meat to help me bulk up. (It worked far too well, unfortunately).
I still have the ethical beliefs of a vegetarian, just not the willpower, and cook and eat meat regularly.
For me, it’s a dietary thing. I avoid carbohydrates. Unless I want to eat only lettuce, vegetarianism isn’t an option. I do understand the environmental aspects of vegetarianism (though, not veganism), and I tried a vegetarian diet for six weeks back in the '90s; but I have no ethical issues about eating dead animals (or live ones, for that matter).
A lot of cheeses are made with vegetable rennet these days.
https://www.wisconsincheese.com/about-cheese/vegetable-rennet
Traditional rennet cheeses are mostly made with tenet from a calf’s stomach, but most commercial/factory cheese made in America uses vegetable rennet. I assume it’s cheaper.
Vegetarians are not all alike. Some don’t like the flavor or texture of meat, others like it but have moral issues. For people with any dietary needs I usually ask “So what CAN you eat” rather than focusing on what they can’t eat. If they’re so strict that even saying the word “meat” can send them into a tailspin, I’d be careful about hosting them. Let them pick the venue and the menu. Avoid processed foods with long lists of ingredients.
Some non-obvious vegan avoidances. Some types of processed sugar is filtered thru charcoal animal bones. I can’t tell by looking at the package.
If you’re buying at the local ultra-green-values co-op, you’re probably ok.
As a host/cook, I consider it an enjoyable and loving challenge to prepare a meal that all of my guests can enjoy.
Sugar processed this way would not be kosher unless the animal was kosher, in which case it would be kosher-fleishig. If it is kosher-parve, then it is not bone-filtered.
At least, the hekshers on sugar I have seen. If I see a heksher (a trademarked symbol of a kosher-certifying agency) I do not recognize on something like sugar with a “hidden issue” like bone filtration, or candy that lists “confectioner’s glaze” as an ingredient, which might be a code word for something derived from an insect (or might not be), I don’t buy it. But hekshers I am familiar with, I have studied, and know they would reject those things. So I buy the products.
Anyway, that is one way to be sure of your sugar.
Lox with cream cheese (on a bagel)? I realize you are not Jewish, but that is one of the world’s culinary delights.
Ditto. I did give up when i was hosting a vegan during Passover, who kept passover strictly. The only food i had lying around that she could have eaten was the charoset, or fresh vegetables, and that just wasn’t going to be enough for a meal. So when she offered to bring her own entree i gratefully accepted.
But I’m generally quite happy to accommodate the dietary restrictions of my friends and family. Yes, i can cook delicious vegan food. Yes, i can heat this kosher item in a way that won’t contaminate it. Yes, i can make strictly gluten-free and cinnamon-free dishes.