# You're a meat eater and you're dining with a vegetarian... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246 "2018-04-27T23:36:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/41 "2018-04-28T20:28:37Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Are these seriously real life experiences you’ve had? Because I’ve known many many many vegetarians, hell each of my kids went through a phase of being one (“they got better”), and I’ve experienced very very very little of that (and then from one fresh to having made the choice and brimming with new conversion enthusiasm which faded fast). What crowd do you hang with? I seriously wonder why your experience and mine differ so much. My best friend’s husband is like this. I can’t eat with him. He’s so vegan he’s even against products that are designed to mimic meat because he thinks that supports the concept of animals as food. Before I knew this about him we went to a carnival together and I got my most favoritest carnie food: meat-on-a-stick. He scowled and made really ugly comments about how some poor sweet cow died and had it’s flesh stripped from it’s body for my pleasure. I was embarrassed and it ruined my good time. If I’d known he felt that way I probably would have stuck with funnel cake because I don’t eat meat to upset anyone and he looked like he was about to break down in tears. This was at least 30 years ago and as many times as I’ve met with my best friend I will never dine with him. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/42 "2018-04-28T21:37:34Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Are these seriously real life experiences you’ve had? Because I’ve known many many many vegetarians, hell each of my kids went through a phase of being one (“they got better”), and I’ve experienced very very very little of that (and then from one fresh to having made the choice and brimming with new conversion enthusiasm which faded fast). What crowd do you hang with? I seriously wonder why your experience and mine differ so much. Same here. Like I mentioned, I dated a number of them and have friends who keep vegetarian , and they were all in high school and college, so it’s not so much an age thing, I think. All the vegetarians and vegans I’ve known have been very kind and empathetic people. I know there’s militant assholes out there, I guess, but my experience has been universally positive with vegetarians and vegans. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/43 "2018-04-29T04:48:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I would order whatever seemed most appealing to me on the menu, which would probably but not necessarily include meat. I would be open to the possibility of going to an all-vegetarian restaurant, if I had reason to expect that it would be good, and in that case, I’d obviously be ordering something vegetarian. And if it’s a context where we’d be expected to be eating the same food, such as a pizza place, or most home meals, then I’d eat vegetarian. > > I did once highly confuse my father at a restaurant. It was a pizza place, and I recommended one particular pizza they had that I’d had before and liked, and which happened to be vegetarian. He couldn’t fathom the idea that anyone would ever voluntarily not eat meat, in any situation where eating meat was an option. I would certainly order vegetarian if it sounded like one of the better things on the menu, and/or the place was famous for a particular item. Pizza - sometimes the vegetarian one does sound the best. Especially with sufficient cheese. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/44 "2018-04-29T05:56:47Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I don’t care if I offend people who are offended by that. I even heckle vegetarians while they’re eating. I’m paying for it. The menu prices reflect the cost of doing business, and it costs more to put vegetarian selections on the menu. If you don’t like what the restaurant serves, eat somewhere else, or learn to like it, which my mom made me do when I was five years old. > > One serving of meat per week or month or year is not going to shorten your life, or save the planet, or improve your chances of getting into Heaven. “I’m paying for dinner so if I want you to suck my dick, you need to do it…It’s not like it will shorten your life ,or save the planet, or improve your chances of getting into Heaven.” You’re a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/45 "2018-04-29T07:02:03Z")
If I’m eating with a vegetarian I’ll order the biggest steak the restaurant has - cooked blue. Then I’ll grab it with my bare hands and wring all the juices out on my plate.:eek: Holding plate to my mouth, I’ll noisily slurp up the juices along with a few burps. I’ll soak any remaining film up with the bread and devour it making dinosaur chomping sounds.😉 OR I’ll just order what I want.😃 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/46 "2018-04-29T07:55:02Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > If I’m eating with a vegetarian I’ll order the biggest steak the restaurant has - cooked blue. Then I’ll grab it with my bare hands and wring all the juices out on my plate.:eek: Holding plate to my mouth, I’ll noisily slurp up the juices along with a few burps. I’ll soak any remaining film up with the bread and devour it making dinosaur chomping sounds.😉 > > OR > > I’ll just order what I want.😃 You mean to tell me you don’t sneak meat into their food while they go to the restroom? What kind of anti-vegetarian are you? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/47 "2018-04-29T07:59:26Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > “I’m paying for dinner so if I want you to suck my dick, you need to do it…It’s not like it will shorten your life ,or save the planet, or improve your chances of getting into Heaven.” > > You’re a jerk. Should I be more impressed with your logic, or your civility? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/48 "2018-04-29T11:31:54Z")
I’ve been in this exact situation but with a vegan (as opposed to vegetarian). I found a few things on the menu that appealed both vegetarian and not, and then asked him if meat items would bother him and ruin his meal. He said no, so I just ordered whatever (trout, I think), but if he had said yes I would have selected a vegetarian dish. Assuming you like the person (or don’t dislike them, anyway, if you’ve just met) skipping meat for a single meal so they can better enjoy theirs doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/49 "2018-04-29T13:33:42Z")
I eat what I want to eat. It’s my stomach. Diets should be for personal tastes or health reasons, not for ideological reasons. Anybody who judges my food choices can bugger off. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/50 "2018-04-29T16:54:35Z")
If I know members of the party are vegetarian, I’ll always suggest an Indian restaurant, as they consistently have the best and widest range of non-meat dishes, and the meat dishes they do have tend to be “meat in a sauce” rather than huge hunks of meat (except for Tandoori chicken.) If I was compelled to eat vegetarian for life, I’d have to move to a primarily Indian or Pakistani neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/51 "2018-04-29T16:57:42Z")
Are we talking about a first date or a 5th date? First date, I’ll try to impress her by ordering what she does. 5th date? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/52 "2018-04-29T17:36:47Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > If I’m eating with a vegetarian I’ll order the biggest steak the restaurant has - cooked blue. Then I’ll grab it with my bare hands and wring all the juices out on my plate.:eek: Holding plate to my mouth, I’ll noisily slurp up the juices along with a few burps. I’ll soak any remaining film up with the bread and devour it making dinosaur chomping sounds.😉 At least you aren’t resorting to cannibalism. That always seems to upset the vegans for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/53 "2018-04-29T22:48:19Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > 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. There’s my answer. And if it would, I would consider eating something vegetarian. Not to say that I would _definitely_ do it, though. Guess it depends on the place. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/54 "2018-04-30T02:40:28Z")
Just today I went to lunch with a group of ladies I didn’t know very well. We were all taking a class and the one lady was one of the teachers. She recommended a cafe she eats at frequently because she’s vegan and the menu “has something for everyone”. To me this indicated that while she was vegan, she didn’t care what others ate in front of her. I was right. Some ordered vegan, some ordered vegetarian, some order food with meat. No one was offended. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/55 "2018-04-30T02:58:40Z")
I wouldn’t hesitate to order a steak, or other piece of meat. I would try not to order a game hen, or a lobster, or other dish usually served with the entire, recognizable body of the organism. That’s not to suggest that a person who did so would be wrong; no one has a right tho dictate the dietary choices of a new acquaintance. I just think it would be kinder not to make them watch me butcher the animal. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/56 "2018-04-30T03:58:35Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Should I be more impressed with your logic, or your civility? Up to you. Do you sneak pork in to meals with your friends that keep kosher or halal as well? Or just heckle them? What’s the heckle factor if you stack rank a vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian and those who keep kosher and/or halal versus just a picky eater? ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/57 "2018-04-30T04:27:34Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Should I be more impressed with your logic, or your civility? Says the man who likes to heckle others for their food choices. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/58 "2018-04-30T06:16:14Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Up to you. > > Do you sneak pork in to meals with your friends that keep kosher or halal as well? Or just heckle them? What’s the heckle factor if you stack rank a vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian and those who keep kosher and/or halal versus just a picky eater? I don’t discriminate. Well, maybe if they are members of a protected class, I might heckle them for that, too. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/59 "2018-04-30T13:52:30Z")
**jtur88** , don’t troll this forum. Either you are sincere but posting in a dleibertaly provocative manner, or only posting to provoke. Either way, enough. No warning issued, but stop it. > [@jtur88](#): > > I don’t care if I offend people who are offended by that. I even heckle vegetarians while they’re eating. I’m paying for it. The menu prices reflect the cost of doing business, and it costs more to put vegetarian selections on the menu. If you don’t like what the restaurant serves, eat somewhere else, or learn to like it, which my mom made me do when I was five years old. > > One serving of meat per week or month or year is not going to shorten your life, or save the planet, or improve your chances of getting into Heaven. > [@jtur88](#): > > I don’t discriminate. Well, maybe if they are members of a protected class, I might heckle them for that, too. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246/60 "2018-04-30T13:53:38Z")
**China Guy** , do not insult posters in this forum. No warning issued, but keep it polite around here. > [@China\_Guy](#): > > “I’m paying for dinner so if I want you to suck my dick, you need to do it…It’s not like it will shorten your life ,or save the planet, or improve your chances of getting into Heaven.” > > You’re a jerk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-meat-eater-and-youre-dining-with-a-vegetarian/813246.md?page=4)