Please, for the love of God, we beg you, just stop asking.
As a vegetarian, there are a lot of questions and comments made when you’re eating a meal with people who eat meat.
“Why don’t you eat meat?” “What about steak though?” “Would you not even have fish?”
Contrary to popular belief, most veggies and vegans don’t care if you eat meat or not, nor do they ever comment on it, so why is it so different the other way around?
I’ve had friends, family, strangers and even wait staff comment on why I don’t eat meat, and to put it simply, it’s none of your business.
There are so many reasons someone might choose not to eat meat, but there are also a lot of people who can’t eat it.
Some people just don’t like the taste, some love animals too much, some may be religious reasons, others might have conditions or illnesses that you don’t know about that inhibits them from eating meat.
For me personally, I don’t eat meat for environmental reasons. That alone should be enough of an answer but more often than none, people need to know more.
“But, why? Humans are carnivores,” yes, and humans also still have appendixes but you don’t see us eating grass all day either.
Can you imagine sitting down to enjoy a meal and constantly having someone ask why you’re eating what you’re eating or telling you how gross that looks or how they could never give up a certain food? You’d think it was rude right?
Almost every time I make tofu or order it in a restaurant, someone feels the need to tell me how disgusting it looks. Surprisingly, it’s not something you want to hear right as you’re about to eat it.
I’ve often done it back to people, tell them that theirs looks just as rotten and you usually get a reaction as if you’ve just said you’d murdered their entire family, so why was it ok for them to say it to me?
There are countless reasons to avoid meat, and no matter which you say, someone will always have an answer trying to disprove you. It’s like some people who eat meat want to start an argument on it.
And don’t get me started on people asking would I not eat fish, like what part of vegetarian doesn’t make sense here?
I eat more protein in a day than the average person, I get all my vitamins in and have a little less to worry about when it comes to my carbon footprint, what I consume in a day is nobody’s concern but mine.
Humans have evolved, we don’t need meat anymore, so if someone around you chooses not to eat it, please have some respect and keep your opinions to yourself.
Also, don’t knock veggie food until you try it. Half the time it has a whole lot more flavour to it.
