Dealing with Non-Veggies

[Guest guest]

Sparrow -

 

Your talking about your husband made me think about experiences of

dealing with non-veggies.

 

A friend of mine claims that not eating meat is not natural - claims

we are supposed to eat meat. I don't push it. Was easier when I was

eating cheese, but since I am pretty much off that - slip once in a

while and probably will for some time to come - it will be more

difficult. She said she dated a guy that was vegtarian once (before

she was married 20 year ago) and he gave her a non-meat hamburger

that tasted like cardboard. Well, 20 years ago it probably did. LOL

 

 

, " Sparrow R Jones "

<sparrowrose wrote:

>

> On 1/12/08, catherineleslie1 <catherineleslie1 wrote:

> >

> > I like learning and doing research about nutrition and health.

I've been

> > interested in it since high school. Maybe *I* should have been a

nutritionist?

> > Oh well, too late now. At this stage of my life I don't think I

could handle

> > going back to school. Too much thinking! (-:

>

> I know the feeling. I'm middle-aged and in school right now. It

looks

> like I will be forced to sit out this semester because I didn't get

> paperwork in on time and I have mixed feelings about that because I

> want to keep going without a break but I was also starting to get

> frazzled and burned-out.

>

> > I love casseroles too. And soups and stews. Will your hubby eat

soups and

> > stews? Or does he like things separate and not combined in any

way? Is he a

> > vegetarian? My husband will eat pretty much anything and

everything that

> > I make. He enjoys my cooking.

>

> My husband loves my cooking - when I cook something that gets past

his

> pickiness. He's not a vegetarian (and I don't push that issue

because

> I don't want to build up resentment that will get transferred to the

> food) and only likes some mixed things: chili, fried rice,

shepherd's

> pie. I can't think of anything else he will eat that is a big pot of

> mixed up stuff. Fortunately, all three of those can be made vegan

and

> his stuff added in after I've separated out my share. When he eats

> other stuff that has no real veg components, I just make my own dish

> of something totally different separately.

>

> I think a lot of his attitude toward food is based on unpleasant

> childhood experiences surrounding food, so I try to be gentle with

him

> about his food choices and not tangle up love and food together any

> more than they already are by nature, if that makes sense. There are

> times I get really frustrated about food, but I'd rather be

frustrated

> than the alternative of him not being here.

>

> But if I didn't have to cook another burger again for the rest of my

> life, I wouldn't shed a tear of loss over that! LOL

>

> Sparrow

>

[Guest guest]

> A friend of mine . . . said she dated a guy

that was

> vegtarian once (before

> she was married 20 year ago) and he gave her a

> non-meat hamburger

> that tasted like cardboard. Well, 20 years ago

> it probably did. LOL

 

Yeah, and 'cardboard' would nicely describe some

non-veggie hamburgers I vaguely recall eating in

the past too! LOL

 

Oh - we have friends like that. Got their

knickers in a twist because we took them to a

(very very nice) veg restaurant that served,

among other things, excellent faux f*sh and faux

me*t. I don't usually care for it, but this was

good. Anyway, friend #1 thoroughly spoiled the

evening by saying he didn't 'get' why vegetarians

would want to pretend they were eating me*t.

Explaining that we weren't pretending, that it

was no diffierent, in effect, than carving radish

roses or watermelon dragons, that it was a

tradition in Buddhist countires, that it hurt no

living thing, that it was not unhealthy, that . .

.. blah blah blah . . . cut no ice with him. He

just kept saying he just didn't 'get it' in a

superior way. LOL I guess he really didn't! Now I

just laugh, like you! Huge hugs.

 

Love, Pat

 

----

Vegetarian Spice:

http://beanvegan.blogspot.com

Vegan World Cuisine: http://www.care2.com/c2cvegworld

Vegetarian Slimming: vegetarianslimming

Vegetarians In Canada: vegetariansincanada

" Atrocities are not less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are

called medical research. " (George Bernard Shaw)

 

 

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[Guest guest]

The worst I've gotten so far from a non-veggie was at a student

organization meeting (ironically, the same situation is also the best

I've gotten from a non-veggie.) The leader asked what we wanted for

lunch and I kept quiet, knowing I had a Clif Bar and some nuts in my

purse and not wanting to make any waves or try to force others to

change to suit just one person.

 

The leader asked me specifically what I wanted and I hemmed and hawed

a little, then said " just get whatever. I'm okay with that. " But the

leader pushed for a specific answer from me so finally I said, " it's a

church fasting day so I can't eat any animal products at all. I have

some snacks in my purse, just get whatever the group wants. "

 

At that point, the leader decided to send out for Chinese food so that

I could have something! How wonderful! He got a vegan dish (which, I

noticed, everyone tried. Yay!) and a chicken dish and a beef dish.

That was all great, but then as I was putting some of the vegan food

on my plate, another student tried to put a piece of chicken on my

plate, saying (with a big, nasty grin on his face), " here, have some

of this chicken. It's good for you! "

 

I am ashamed of my response, because I consider it stooping to his

level, but I knew he was a devout Mormon family man and I said,

" You're wasting your time. maybe your daughter wants some coffee? "

(Mormons have a religious restriction against caffeine.) He didn't

respond to that, but he backed off, so maybe I got through to him just

how boorish it is to mock someone's religious beliefs.

 

But I wish I'd come back with a retort that was: a. more respectful of

his religion rather than stooping to his level, and b. sent the

message that it's not right to harass *anyone* for their food choices,

whether motivated by religion, ethics, allergies, health, flavor

preferences, or whatever.

 

There's a French phrase that translates as " staircase wit. " It means

at the end of the day, when you're climbing the staircase to go to bed

and think of that thing you *should* have said. Too often, my

responses to behavior like described above come to me on the staircase

.. . . years later. *sigh*

 

Sparrow