Let’s say you’re a meat eater and you’re dining with a vegetarian at a restaurant. Furthermore, let’s assume you do not know this person very well, and it’s the first time you’ve dined with them.
Will you order a dish that contains meat? Or will you order a vegetarian dish just in case they’re uncomfortable with sitting across from someone eating meat? (I understand many vegetarians don’t care. But some are bothered by it.)
I will eat whatever is best for me to eat, and let my dining companion do the same. I have my own issues, health and otherwise, with food, and I have learned that I need to worry about my own needs and let everyone else worry about theirs.
I am not going to tell people to adhere to my personal dietary restrictions. I regularly eat with people who eat things I can’t eat. I would hope that they would extend me the same courtesy, and if they can’t or won’t, then I won’t be eating with them.
A vegetarian who is disturbed by other people eating meat shouldn’t be eating at a restaurant that serves meat, and in practical reality, probably won’t be. Who wants to be squicked out or morally outraged or whatever, while they are eating? Not me.
I’m eating what I want to eat. Even if I’m not eating meat, people all around us will be so next time pick a vegan restaurant.
I’m a vegetarian who dines with meat eaters all the time, and I don’t care in the slightest what you guys order. Also I never raise it as a topic of discussion. All I care about is 1) let’s go to a place where some vegetarian meal or other is a possibility, and 2) don’t harass me about my being vegetarian, and we’re all good.
If me eating a non-vegetarian dish would cause discomfort to the other party and I had no way of knowing better, it would be the responsibility of the other party to inform me.
If someone is uncomfortable with someone because they’re eat meat, then they’re uncomfortable with me and we probably shouldn’t eat together. Seriously, problem solved.
If I know in advance that someone is a vegetarian, then of course I’ll go out of my way to ensure that we go somewhere where they have good options of dining that way. Might be a vegetarian place, might be a place where they serve omnivores.
I just eat meat if I want to. I’ve dated a number of vegans and have friends who are vegan, and it has never been an issue.
Now, if I know they are bothered by it, I may very well change my order, but then I’d also be wondering why in the hell we didn’t just go to a vegan restaurant to begin with (and I do actually enjoy vegan restaurants.)
It depends on the circumstances. I love meat and would be happy eating fish or many vegetarian meals (especially Thai, Indian or Japanese).
They should know what they are getting into when agreeing to go to an Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom themed restaurant, or a sea food restaurant.
I might order fish.
I will eat whatever sounds or looks nice on the menu, meat or no meat, safe in the knowledge that if they’re cunty enough to be offended by what *I *eat (or even just lecture me about it) it’s the last time we’ll ever eat together.
Life’s too short to allow annoying jerks into it.
I would order what I prefer, which would likely have some serving of meat.
Also what comes to mind…If we didn’t know them well, and were dining with them for the first time, it would be unlikely to know they were a vegetarian until after we ordered!
I’m mostly but not strictly a vegetarian myself, and it wouldn’t even occur to me to refrain from ordering a meat dish if I wanted one just because someone else was 100% vegetarian. I’ve never met a vegetarian who said they were uncomfortable being around someone who was eating meat, and someone who felt that way presumably wouldn’t have agreed to meet at a non-vegetarian restaurant in the first place.
If someone did tell me that they found it upsetting to watch others eat meat or even just that the smell of meat bothered them, I’d keep that in mind when suggesting a restaurant. But if being around meat is a problem for them, it’s their responsibility to be proactive about avoiding it.
I’m pretty sure that on my first date with Ms. P, who is vegetarian, I ordered meat.
I was a vegetarian for about 10 years. I would do it for me, but if we went a restaurant with good veggie stuff, I would totally want to order a few dishes and share. If knowing someone was a veg, I would ask if they had a good restaurant recommendation since I don’t eat out much and usually it’s with a customer that is a carnivore. Again, for purely selfish reasons but also consideration for the vegetarian.
My middle girl has been a pescatarian for 6 months or maybe even 12 months now. Carnivore jokes are not funny. You know, “cows eat veggies, so by extension it’s vegetarian” or “but meat is soooooo tasty…” or some other BS gets REALLY old really fast. Jus’ sayin’
Why not ask a vegetarian if they should eat meat so not to offend the omnivore? 
I would eat the meat if I wanted it. My best friend is vegetarian and she took me out once to a place that turned out to be all vegetarian. It could have offended me but I like to try new things so I had a grilled mushroom “steak” sandwich and it was pretty gosh darn good. I would never have invited her to a restaurant that didn’t have a good vegetarian selection.
Depending on the circumstances I might opt for the fish or pork chops instead of the medium rare steak, but I’m going to eat what I’m going to eat.
Is this my boss? Because that might change things. Otherwise I don’t even think I would bother to eat with a vegetarian. I mean we might do other things, but in general I’m not much into food as entertainment and I’m definitely a meat-eater.
I would order what I want. There’s no reason to not. People who can’t be near meat don’t randomly go to restaurants. If I knew I was going with a vegetarian then I would try to make sure we were going to a place with good choices for them, because some restaurants just don’t. (Not their fault, it’s their restaurant, they make what they’re good at.)