Vegetarianism: Day Ten
Yesterday, I received an email from Fuddrucker’s offering a coupon on a burger combo for $8.00. As I recall, Fuddrucker’s is not your average burger joint, and it charges more than most fast food restaurants for its burgers. No judgments, just that it seems like a good deal to take if offered. I brought it up to Valerie who got immediately irritated when I reminded her of my month-long vegetarian fast.
She grew irritated with me again when she suggested that today instead of coming home to make dinner, we purchase a rotisserie chicken and side at the Walmart we planned on going to. This time I just smiled at her, and without a word, she remembered that I has imposed upon myself the month long fast on which rotisserie chicken was not permitted. This time, it was not mild irritation that was expressed, but out right hostility, the reminder to me that the imposition of the vegetarian fast was self-imposed, not family-imposed.
“I am not on a vegetarian diet,” she asserted, “and maybe I want a rotisserie chicken for dinner.” I think that secretly that bringing the meat into the house was somehow to convince me to give up this silly experiment which up to this moment she had tolerated.
I wonder if most vegetarians ever think about the feelings and wishes of their family members. It is almost as if vegetarians and meat eaters exist in two different Venn diagram circles where “neither the twain should meet.” Its unlikely that you’ll find vegetarians in a place that sales exclusively hamburgers or taking part in a meal in which the cornerstone of the plate is a meat like rotisserie chicken.
Life hacker makes the following suggestions. One, explain the choice without insulting others. Okay, nothing is worse than a pompous person trying to explain his moral high ground choice. Two, assure the meat eaters that it won’t be complicated. Even when I was still eating meat, I had a hard time explaining my odd dietary restrictions to friends. Three, learn the vegetarian substitutes for meat. As I have explained in prior posts, it is difficult to find vegetarian substitutes when you are on a budget. Four, be respectful when eating out or with others. This, I think does not make the situation any less difficult, only facially civil. (For the full article, click here.)
Ultimately, we solved are Venn diagram problem by buying a Pizza Hut pizza with half of it covered with bacon and the other half of it covered with mushrooms, along with bread sticks, and a giant chocolate chip cookie/cake.
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