Friday, February 27, 2009
I have been a vegetarian since January 1983. The last piece of meat that I purposely chomped was a piece of sausage, and that was it. Since then I have occasionally accidentally eaten things that had lard or meat hidden away. The last time was a salad at a local restaurant where chicken showed up in the bottom of the bowl. I always ask, nicely, whether certain foods have lard or chicken stock (rice and beans), and have discovered that waiters sometimes lie- an hour later it all comes up.
When I came out as a vegetarian you would have thought I had told my parents I was a homosexual, they were so horrified. My mother fretted that I wasn't going to get the proper nutrition- this was back in the day that people were convinced you had to eat Bean A with Bread B and Vegetable C or you would die from some painful protein deficiency. My father was very angry that I wouldn't eat meat and when I cooked he ALWAYS said, "Well, this would be good if only it had some meat in it." This included whatever desserts I made. Kidding. He died from a heart attack after having a stroke- his arteries were clogged with bologna from 1968 and hamburger from 1976.
Up until the mid-1990s I would get very, very negative comments from straight men about being a vegetarian. You would think I had took them I was gay. It was somehow threatening to them.
I was never interested in telling other people what to eat, and never tried to convince people that being a vegetarian was better. So it always surprised me when my father's friends would say nasty things about me. I guess people are less uptight about the whole issue, because I never hear crap like that anymore.
I became a vegetarian because I grew up on a farm and fed all of the animals and decided that they have personalities just like humans. Animals, even chickens, have emotions and feelings and for the most part want to enjoy life. I would rather hang out with Henny-Penny and have her cluck at me, than have her roasting in the oven and traveling through my intestines.
Now that I have been writing this, the reaction I got for coming out as a vegetarian was very similar to the reaction I got as coming out as a fag. "Are you happy?" "Will you starve?" "Want to eat some meat?"
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When I came out as a vegetarian you would have thought I had told my parents I was a homosexual, they were so horrified. My mother fretted that I wasn't going to get the proper nutrition- this was back in the day that people were convinced you had to eat Bean A with Bread B and Vegetable C or you would die from some painful protein deficiency. My father was very angry that I wouldn't eat meat and when I cooked he ALWAYS said, "Well, this would be good if only it had some meat in it." This included whatever desserts I made. Kidding. He died from a heart attack after having a stroke- his arteries were clogged with bologna from 1968 and hamburger from 1976.
Up until the mid-1990s I would get very, very negative comments from straight men about being a vegetarian. You would think I had took them I was gay. It was somehow threatening to them.
I was never interested in telling other people what to eat, and never tried to convince people that being a vegetarian was better. So it always surprised me when my father's friends would say nasty things about me. I guess people are less uptight about the whole issue, because I never hear crap like that anymore.
I became a vegetarian because I grew up on a farm and fed all of the animals and decided that they have personalities just like humans. Animals, even chickens, have emotions and feelings and for the most part want to enjoy life. I would rather hang out with Henny-Penny and have her cluck at me, than have her roasting in the oven and traveling through my intestines.
Now that I have been writing this, the reaction I got for coming out as a vegetarian was very similar to the reaction I got as coming out as a fag. "Are you happy?" "Will you starve?" "Want to eat some meat?"
