is it rude to eat meat in front of a vegetarian?

[Dereknocue67]

It isn’t rude unless, while you chew, you make growling noises.

[Der_Trihs]

@Doctor_Jackson

Just what do vegetarian zombies eat, anyway?

This.

[Broomstick]

@astorian

2. If you invite a vegetarian relative to join you at a restaurant, it would be VERY rude to pick a restaurant that doesn’t provide a decent choice of vegetarian dishes. Don’t take a vegetarian to a steakhouse or barbecue joint where you KNOW that every entree is beef, and then act as if he/she is is being whiny and petulant for resenting that. You might also want to pick a place you know has a good salad bar.

I used to think steakhouses were off limits, but a vegetarian I worked with clued me in that some of them were actually pretty good choices - she could get baked potato and several other side dishes, and quite a few of them do have salad bars, or at least salad options, these days. Of course, everyone’s mileage varies, she wasn’t the sort who freaked out because others were eating meat, it didn’t bother her to watch table companions eat bloody steak.

I think we’re back to “it’s best to ask”. Just like I would ask guests if they had an objection to a whole fish including head on the table, or bone-in meat, I’d ask a vegetarian guest about their vegetarianism and how they feel about sharing a table with carnivores. If I was taking such a person out to a restaurant along with others I’d probably poll everyone regarding their preferred sorts of restaurants.

[TBG]

@Ambivalid

For any Michigan Dopers, the Ann Arbor area has some fabulous veggie restaurants that any meat eater would be satisfied eating at.

Not me! If it doesn’t have meat, there I will not eat.

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

I’m not vegetarian. But I think there’s a particular rationale for vegetarianism that’s worth considering: folks who are vegetarian for moral/ethical reasons aren’t just making a lifestyle choice, they believe they’re avoiding cruelty and violence. If you want to get in their heads, you don’t want to imagine whether an orthodox Jew would object to your eating ham, you want to imagine whether you’d object to your dinner companion slapping his child in the face while you ate.

Chances are, if that happened, you wouldn’t just chalk it up to different parenting styles and consider it rude to say anything. You’d consider the dinner companion’s choice to be unethical and deeply problematic, and you’d appreciate it if your dinner companion would stop.

And if that happened in a country in which slapping children were a socially acceptable form of child discipline, then you’d appreciate the conflicting emotions that an ethical/moral vegetarian feels when watching you eat meat.

Pfft, corporal punishment is called for sometimes. And I’ve never known a Jew to complain about non-Jews eating ham. Sorry, but if you (you in general not you the poster personally) don’t eat meat, for whatever reason, yes, it’s a lifestyle choice, and one I don’t have to honor because you’re a sensitive snowflake.

[Lasciel]

@Ferret_Herder

Graaiiiins.

golf clap

Well-played.

[enipla]

@Antinor01

The only way I could see it as rude is if the smell of cooked meat makes her physically ill. I know there’s certain foods that the smell of makes me want to be sick.

I’m a bit this way with seafood. If it’s a restaurant that specializes in it, it can put me off. But I tolorate it OK.

My best friend is a ‘nothing with feet’ type veggi. She will eat seafood. I asked her once if it would bother her if I had a steak, and it was no problem at all. Not too long ago, we shared a pizza, and told me to get whatever I want on my half. So she doesn’t mind at all.

When we get together, we usually just split a couple of appetizers and a pitcher or two. Since there are plenty of choices for good vegi apps (IMHO) we usually just do that. I think it’s more fun to share.

So I guess I do defer to her, but thinking about it, I really don’t have too.

[Annie-Xmas]

I’m a vegetarian. I consider anyone who makes any comments about it to be just plain rude and uncouth.

And I extend the same courtesy to anyone else on any type of diet. Unless you give me hell on not eating meat or try to shove your weiner into my mouth, I could not care less about anyone’s diet.

[drewtwo99]

Absolutely, unequivocally not rude to consume meat in front of a vegan or vegetarian. If the smell or sight of meat sets someone off, the onus is on them to plug their noses and wear blindfolds to dinner.

I hate oysters and the thought of eating them makes me want to gag. The smell alone is pretty bad for me. I would never, NEVER in a billion years think anyone was even a tiny bit rude for ordering and eating oysters in front of me, even if they knew how much I hate them and how I can’t tolerate the site or smell of them.

[Odesio]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

I’m not vegetarian. But I think there’s a particular rationale for vegetarianism that’s worth considering: folks who are vegetarian for moral/ethical reasons aren’t just making a lifestyle choice, they believe they’re avoiding cruelty and violence. If you want to get in their heads, you don’t want to imagine whether an orthodox Jew would object to your eating ham, you want to imagine whether you’d object to your dinner companion slapping his child in the face while you ate.

I’m sure there’s some vegetarians that have this attitude but it’s one that I’ve only observed among vegans. I knew a vegan who refused to eat dinner with his parents because they served meat. They didn’t try to make him eat the meat but he refused to sit at the table with them. He honestly couldn’t understand why is father refused to come to his house to eat dinner on the grounds that “eating vegetables isn’t offensive to him.” As far as the vegetarian in the zombie OP, no. If she’s willing to eat in a restaurant that serves meat then she doesn’t have grounds to complain when someone orders any meat that’s available on the menu.

[Johanna]

never mind–I just noticed that I’d restated what I’d already posted in this thread 11 years ago.