It’s hard being a vegetarian

Ever stood in front of a buffet of sumptuous looking food and wondered which ones were not purely vegetarian?  It’s a fact of life for me.

I am a vegetarian because I have always been one.  My parents never prepared any meat.  Milk, eggs, and yoghurt were plenty growing up but not flesh of any animal.  So, naturally, I learnt to cook and eat vegetarian food.

In the US, I realize vegetarians run the gamut : vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians, vegetarians who eat fish, vegetarians whose only ‘meat’ comes from chicken and finally the “I am a vegetarian except I indulge in steak once in a while”-ians.  It does get confusing when you add nut-free, gluten-free, lactose-free descriptions into your vocabulary.

Traveling is hard with dietary restrictions.  The major cities are very agreeable – vegetarianism is almost a fad there.  But try entering the “real America” and you are in for a shock.  Last Spring, we drove from Atlanta to Orlando on I-75.  It’s about an 7 hour trip.  We were hard pressed to find a restaurant let alone one that served vegetarian.  We stopped at a “breakfast” restaurant.  Even their menu seemed like it was dripping lard!  Most of the time, you are left with a plain salad to eat while the others chomp on their meaty meals.

Then there are awkward moments when you tell a host that you are a vegetarian, and they come back with “I’m glad I didn’t make steak!  We are having turkey for dinner.”  You smile politely, play with the food and eat what you can.  And then fill up on dessert to please the hosts!

Some people rave about fish.  I have tried fish and frankly, it tastes like a flaky tofu – no offense.  And then there are those who pity you because “there is nothing like sinking your teeth into a juicy piece of meat”.  It’s like if a cannibal were to tell you, “Hey, ever tried the well done thighs of a human.  It’s heaven!”, would you be inclined to try human flesh?  Legalities aside, if your societal moral compass dictated that eating human being is repulsive, then chances are, you are going to be repulsed to even try it.  I grew up in a society that justified being a vegetarian because “you shouldn’t derive pleasure from someone else’s pain especially when there are other options”.  So, eating meat is not an option for me.

The hardest part though is cooking.  I envy meat eaters whose mealtime preparations take maybe an hour.  Vegetarian meals take hours to cook, plan and prepare.  This may be the only convincing reason for me to turn to meat.

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