As a vegetarian (or "lacto-ovo-pescatarian" to be specific...) I come across with the weirdest attitudes and questions. I don´t know why everyone seems to get so sensitive when it comes to dietary habits. I never meet people who say e.g. that they admire me or wish they could do the same. Most people simply ask me the Question Why with a suspicious look on their face.
Don´t get me wrong: I don´t mind talking about it. It´s just pointless because I know that nothing I say back is new to anyone. It has to do with ethics and ecology. And health aswell. For me vegetarianism is mostly an ethical choice but it´s also a mere habit. And that´s what seems to be too hard to understand! People who follow the usual diet, meat being an important part of it, tend to talk to me like I was a member of a religious sect...
"What if you ate meat, like accidentally? For how long are you going to be a vegetarian? Could you eat organic chicken?? Don´t you ever feel like eating, say, a sausage???" Behind all these questions there seems to be the idea of meat being something unreplaceable and precious. And that vegetarians are unconformists, hippies and surely part of some underground culture. Luckily it´s becoming more and more popular and even a middle-aged man can be a vegetarian without the stigma of a tree-hugger. It´s also a well-known fact that a balanced diet doesn´t require meat.
I´m not worried about my image though. What bothers me more is the false idea carnivores have about my conceptions of them! "Those ignorant meat-eaters! I´m so much better than them!" Cause it really isn´t so. It might be hard to believe but I don´t care what other people do. I know people have differend priorities, tastes, lifestyles... People eat meat because they like it, they always have and everyone does it anyway. I´d say that very few people would change the content of their fridge just for the sake of the Earth. The change should always start from the person himself and his values. Who am I to convert anyone? I don´t even want to though I do it secretly by making good veggie foods to friends and family...
I could say the same thing to carnivores: who are you to convert me back to your side? There´s no reason to feel I´m threatening you with my "nobility" because I don´t think any less of you. I´m not a nun either and if I sometime become a carnivore again I´m not a "failure". It´s not like stop being a good person. An ethical choice can also be not to gossip about other people...!
I have enough facts to know that this is a good way. I don´t suffer. I don´t feel like eating meat even if it was organic. I like vegetarian food and it´s a part of my lifestyle just like writing lists or having a tea in the morning.
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