My family recently found out about my veganism, and the first question my mother asked was:
“You eat fish, right?”
What the fuzzy?!? How is it that fish is a vegetable? I’m not under the impression that meat not only clogs one’s colon, it also clogs the arteries leading to the brain, thereby causing immense stupidity. What is it with omnivores? Did they all fail Biology in high school? Now, this is not the first dumb question asked of me, but this is certainly the dumbest question asked of me by an omnivore regarding my eating habits.
I mean, I was omnivorous in the year that I took Biology, yet I understood fully that fish, with their lack of cell walls, their ability to move at will, and their inability to photosynthesize, were animals, all the while fully able to see that cell walls and chloroplasts make a living thing a PLANT. So I guess eating meat does not dumb one down, but still…
I’d like to hear your ‘dumb omnivore’ stories. I need a good laugh right about now…
I think the problem is that most people don’t understand the difference between vegans and vegetarians. Some vegetarians eat fish (always wondeed about that myself).
And if we so feel, could we tell ‘dumb vegan’ stories? Like the teenager who told me she was going vegetarian because “animals don’t eat other animals in nature” or my vegetarian cousin who ate 10 pounds of crab legs while she was pregnant “for the good of the baby”?
Oh now, come on… I’d say that the majority of people out there have no clue as to the differences between vegetarianism, veganism, ovo-lacto vegetarians, etc etc etc. The minute you start to slam omnivores for not knowing what/how you eat is when you start being an annoying better-than-thou I’m-so-healthy-I-can-eat-my-own-shit vegan. Why not look at it as an opportunity to educate your family? How should your mother know that you’ve decided that (as an example): fish is bad, but wearing leather is OK, and you’ll eat honey?
Living in Boulder, CO has given me opportunity to meet lots and lots o’ people who won’t eat one thing or another, and quite frankly, I’m sick of them slamming ME for not remembering that Daisy is a hemp-wearing Vegan who makes exceptions for yogurt, River will eat free-range poultry but no other animal products but does wear leather, and Marcos is allergic to salt, avoids wheat, and will eat beef if it’s prepared with pyramid-shaped crystals nearby. Damn it all to hell! Eat whatever you want, but don’t expect me to play menu calculus!
So two cows are out chewing cud in a field. One says to the other “Hey, what do you think about all this Mad Cow Disease?”
The other one looks up and says “Why are you asking me? I’m a tractor.”
How many vegetarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
I don’t know, but where do you get your protein?
How many meat eaters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
None. They don’t want to see where their meat comes from.
How many vegetarians does it take to eat a cow?
One if nobody’s looking.
Oh, and a comment. It sounds to me (and I could be completely wrong) that you went off to college, discovered the wide wide world of veganism, and did a complete 180 on your thinking. Now you come home and you’re surprised that someone is actually asking you a question about the radical shift in your aura? What the fuck did you think would happen? That you could keep reinventing yourself and everyone around you would just accept the new you, no questions asked?
Learn from the board. We fight ignorance by teaching to them, not scorning them.
You said it, Brainego–after all, if I was a vegan for a whole THREE WEEKS, I’d also think that was more than enough time for everybody to stop being insensitive and adjust to my groovy new lifestyle! :rolleyes:
Maybe your shining brilliance is rubbing off on people.
Well, there was this one “dumb omnivore” who once pointed to the sharp teeth - called “canines” - in his mouth and said, “See? We’re designed to eat meat!” Golly, wasn’t he stupid?
Brainlego, get used to it. Sometimes it may be geniune stupidity, more often it’s confusion over the term (especially “vegan” as opposed to “vegetarian”). If you continue as one, you’ll find a whole lot of different reactions, ranging from the angry and defensive “what the hell is wrong with you, you liberal tree-hugger? You some sort of weirdo?” to my mom’s standard “oh are you still doing that? Does that mean you don’t eat turkey?”(this is after over 10 years of being a vegetarian, mind you) to “okay, whatever”. Be cool, don’t preach, don’t worry about what other people are eating, and remember that ignorance can be corrected and stupidity should be ignored.
You want some real fun sometime, come out to Iowa (the Pork capital of the US) and be a vegetarian. The amount of time I spend biting my tongue, I could almost be considered an omnivore again.
Agreeing with Athena this would definitely be a good opening to chat with your family about your eating habits and reasons for choosing them (the habits, not the family). Your mother is not immensely stupid just because she asked you if you eat fish. She’s probably trying to think of what she can serve you when you eat there. My dad kept forgetting and offering me meatballs for at least a year after I went veg-- he’s not stupid, he just wanted to make sure I was eating!
Being vegetarian should not be a source of conflict. The only time I get pissed at omnivores is when they start in on me for no reason (which does happen, though thankfully not that often). I don’t care what other people eat, and I don’t try to force my food choices into anyone else’s life. Trust me, you aren’t going to win any support by getting defensive. Like Ender said, teach, don’t scorn.
That said, many people think of vegetarianism as not eating meat, period. Fish is not always (if ever) considered meat. Roman Catholics, for example, might choose not to eat meat on Fridays. Guess what, it’s fish night! My best friend eats fish, but no meat, and used to call herself vegetarian; she usually doesn’t these days because people understand it to mean more than that.
The thing to remember is that while your diet is something you deal with and think about everyday, no one else particularly cares. Even your family. I’m lactose intolerant. I have been for four or five years. My mom STILL asks me if I want ice cream. She’s not stupid, or insensitive, its just that my diet isn’t that big a concern to her. Hey, at least your mom asked, which indicates she wants to serve you a meal you’ll actually eat, instead of just plopping a cheeseburger down in front of you and expecting you to tuck in.
I’ll agree with many others here and tell you to be grateful that she asked about what you could eat, rather than give you a hard time. And trust me, there will be times when “these omnivores” will give you a hard time! But this wasn’t one of those times.
Don’t blame your mom for not knowing that vegetarians don’t eat fish. It’s not her fault that she’s not really sure. The fault lies with the veggie “wannabes” who want to be considered “vegetarian”, while still eating fish and/or chicken. They cloud the definition, and confuse people with incorrect information about vegetarians. They pretend to represent vegetarians, which is something the rest of us “real” vegetarians don’t appreciate, since it causes the exact kind of confusion your mother is experiencing.
I don’t know why these fish/chicken-eaters want to be called something they clearly are not anwyay. There is nothing wrong with a diet which includes fish and chicken. Sounds very healthy. But it’s just not vegetarian, that’s all!
What the hell is it with the sudden hostility towards vegetarians who also eat fish? Everybody has their own reasons for deciding what they will or will not eat - who are you to start telling them that they are wrong?
I expected better from you especially, yosemitebabe, given your well-documented and well-founded ire at omnivores who take every opportunity to tell you that YOUR food-choice is wrong.
Yeah, they call themselves “vegetarian” when maybe “piscenarian” would be more appropriate. But guess what? Not many people have heard of “piscenarian” whereas “vegetarian” is straightforward. And piscenarians can cope with missing out on some fish they otherwise would have been able to eat. But they don’t want to be saddled with a steak. So they use the stronger term and clarify if asked.
I will eat poultry and fish sometimes, but never red meat. I know that this means I am not a vegetarian, but sometimes I find myself all but forced to use the term to describe myself. Consider this conversation, inspired by actual events:
STUPID PERSON: You should have some steak, Lamia.
ME: No, thank you.
SP: But you have to try it, it’s really good!
ME: I’m sorry, I don’t eat red meat.
SP: It’s not red, it’s cooked! (I swear I have heard this hundreds of times.)
ME: No, it doesn’t have anything to do with how it’s cooked. It’s just that there are some types of meat I don’t eat. I’ll eat chicken, but not steak.
SP: Ah, you’re a vegetarian.
ME: Not really, I just don’t eat some kinds of meat.
SP: So you’re saying that you’re a vegetarian.
ME: Fine, whatever. Pass the rolls, please.
I have learned from experience that sometimes it is easier to just say I’m a vegetarian from the beginning even if it is not strictly true. I never say this to real vegetarians, to anyone who is likely to be cooking for me, or anyone who even eats with me often. But I will do it if I think it will get someone to stop pestering me to eat a hamburger while at the same time saving me from having to provide a ten-minute lecture on my specific diet.
Actually, mouthbreather, by nature I’m not much of a hot-head.
I was reacting to this:
This hit home because Ms kabbes is a piscenarian. She also is very clued up on animal rights and what she doesn’t know about diet and the food industry isn’t worth bothering about as a consumer. She’s really opened my eyes.
She has valid reasons for her life-choices and I don’t appreciate yosemitebabe belittling them by saying that she is “pretend[ing] to represent vegetarians”. What the fuck does that mean anyway?
“Incorrect infomation about vegetarians”? Such as what? That some of them choose not to eat fish whilst others do? As I said - it’s a lot simpler to tell someone you are a vegetarian and circumvent any possible problems than it is to tell them you are a piscenarian and risk being served meat. It also avoids embroiling yourself in these very bloody debates we’re wrapped up in now - inevitably some half-wit who thinks that they are being startlingly original will start on with “but fish are animals too” (YAWN) and think that they have summarised the whole ethical, political and socialogical conundrum with that brilliant observation. She, being a peaceful person who wants to live and let live as much as possible in everyday life, doesn’t WANT to get into such an argument. So she just says “vegetarian”. I’d have thought that yosemitebabe of all people would understand that, as she can’t stand having to constantly justify her food choices either.
There’s no point on one hand asking to be left alone to pursue your decisions as you see fit whilst on the other looking down your nose at someone who you dismiss as a “vegetarian wannabe”. That’s just hypocrisy.
Let’s not forget the people that call anyone that doesn’t like to eat meat a vegitarian.
I just happen to find meat disgusting, but have been known to nibble on the occasional fish stick. I don’t claim to be anything at all (hell, I barely believe I exist), yet everyone tells their friends about my being a “vegitarian”. It’s usually the people who never think about these things that come up with the misunderstandings, not us non-meateating people.
