I am not, by nature, an evangelical person. I am the kind of person that will quietly enjoy a band or artist for years without ever mentioning them. I am the kind of person that will say "I don't know" when asked what movies she enjoys, even though I know very well. This guardedness extends to other areas of my life as well - specifically, my eating habits. I am a lifelong vegetarian, and yet, I realised recently, that in three or four years of blogging, I have never once blogged about it. I have been so terrified of being branded a preachy vegetarian, that I haven't shared with any of you just how much I love this lifestyle. Remaining quiet hasn't saved me from the evangelism of others, however. On a daily basis, I still receive the same line of questioning from meat-eaters who just don't understand the issue all that well. I respect everybody's right to make their own informed decisions and prefer to leave people to eat as they please. In the spirit of leaving people to eat as they please, here are a few things that most, if not all vegetarians, will be sick to death of hearing. RT to save a life.
"So why are you vegetarian?" Firstly, this is none of your business. Secondly, it's a very defensive question to ask, because you're demanding that someone explain their personal choice to you just because it's different to your own. If I sat down at a table to have dinner with you and asked "so why do you eat meat?", you would think it rude and obnoxious. It's not cool the other way around. Thirdly, and most importantly, I am not your vegetarian library. There is plenty of easily Google-able information on the environmental, moral, and health-related reasons not to eat meat, so if you are genuinely interested in the answer to this question, please show some initiative and do the research yourself. Or not, whatever.
"Do you mind if I eat meat?" I find this question completely perplexing. The people who ask it seem to be under the impression that I don't share tables with people who have made different lifestyle choices to me, which is utterly ridiculous. I don't care what you eat while I am around. As long as the waiter doesn't mix up our orders, we're all good.
"I could never be a vegetarian" I didn't ask you to be, darling. And I don't care. None of us care.
"Where do you get your iron/protein?" This question is frankly embarrassing, and I wish people would look up "plant sources of iron and protein" before asking it of any veggie. It is actually incredibly easy to meet your protein and iron requirements on a veggie or vegan diet. Like most health-nuts, I use the app MyFitnessPal every day to make sure I hit my macro-nutrient goals, and I have my protein goal set much, much higher than the average because I lift weights and train very hard. I manage to eat a gram of protein per lb of my own body weight every single day. All on a plant-based diet. Shocking.
"Have you ever had bacon though?" Sometimes, when someone is particularly insecure about their own choices and goes heavily onto the defensive, they will start to mock you for being a vegetarian. They often act as if meat is some kind of forbidden fruit that must be torture for you to sit and watch someone else consume, or conversely, that it's disgusting and something they can torture you with. I've had people literally run through a list of all their favourite types of meat and ask me if I've ever tried them. I've had people wave a plate of bacon in front of my face as if it would scare and disgust me. I've had people trick me into eating meat, thinking it was hilarious. A lot of people like to make an awkward joke out of not being able to offer me some of their food as well, because they feel embarrassed. There's no need for this, guys. It's okay. Everything gonna be okay.
If you'd like some basic info on the logic behind a vegan/veggie lifestyle, then check out this presentation by The Vegan Atheist, and if you want tips on going vegetarian (and I say if, because it's totally up to you babes) then check out this video by Anastasjia Louise.
