Life without meat – a vegetarian tale
If you casually mention that you don’t eat spinach, all conversation doesn’t stop. Complete strangers don’t ask, “How do you get your iron?” If you don’t like peas, can’t stand squash or despise broccoli, no one seems to care. However, if you don’t eat meat, they have a name for you, and everyone has a comment.
Once a vegetarian has been outed, the, um, grilling begins. People first try to isolate the infraction to red meat. They ask, “You do eat chicken, don’t you? How about fish? You surely eat fish. Oysters? Crawdads? Prawns?”
As possibilities (and hopes) dwindle, the interrogation shifts to health hazards. People relate stories about friends and relatives who have contracted vitamin deficiencies and other diseases that condemn them to tragic, premature and needless ends. People bring up starving children in Third World countries, as if my eating meat would somehow alleviate world hunger.
Once it has been established that you probably are a committed vegetarian with little hope of redemption, the investigation turns sinister. People’s eyes narrow as they wonder if you have some sort of agenda.
Are you a vegan activist? Do you wear leather shoes or a leather belt? Do you belong to one of those groups that blow up butcher shops?
Satisfied in time that you are not a direct threat to carnivorous peace, someone is still bound to make one last try: “You do consume milk products, don’t you?” they ask.
When it’s confirmed that you are a two-time loser, you are reminded of the basic human need for calcium and protein. Certainly you must know that if you don’t eat meat and dairy products, you will eventually have the bone structure of Gumby and the musculature of Don Knotts.
Finally, it becomes clear that there is no way to reach you; the group urge to save and protect one of its own starts to wane. The herd begins to drift away.
I am aware this all is done with charity of purpose, and people are only trying to save me from myself. But after upwards of 30 years without eating meat, I’m still physically functional and probably will persist in my vegetative state.
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Eddie Ryshavy, Plymouth, is a retired school administrator.
Vegetarian, Raw and Vegan with Bill & Sheila
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