Daughter wants to become a vegetarian.

juno

RadoJo wrote: »

Unfortunately, however I am allergic to nuts, and have occasionally found myself in a position (often when on holiday in countries where they have neither vegetarianism or nut allergies as a matter of course) where I have to choose between a nut free meal and a meat free meal. If it comes to a question of whether I will die or not, it's a lot easier to make the decision!

I'm a coeliac vegetarian so I also have this problem. I find some places are better than others, though - I was in a pub in Brighton earlier this week where they had several meals for me to choose from! But then a restaurant in Nottingham only had one vegetarian option, and that was pasta.

of And I realise that my views on this are probably going to be seen as strange, but if someone has made something specifically for me and it is a choice of me eating it or it going in the bin, then I would see eating it as the better option. The animal has already died to be turned into meat so by throwing it away the animal's life has been wasted.

Emmzi

hngrymummy wrote: »

I was brought up to be polite to other people's feelings and not to hold myself to be more important than them. I'd far rather get on with my elderly in-laws than sit and say to a lovely old lady who's gone to a lot of trouble especially for me "actually you're too stupid to notice that's a meat quiche so I'm going to sit and eat nothing and make you feel awful"

Sorry to post again on the same subject but this one has really rattled my cage.

Old people may be physically frail but their brains may be sharp as anything. I was thinking about my mum (75) and she'd be
a) furious at someone for patronising her by lying/ being afraid to speak their mind and
b) horrified at feeding someone things they really didn't like.

Same with all my elederly relatives. I don't think we're an especially robust family so I don't tend to think old = frail comes from. (In fact I get my dad to come car shopping with me, he is a fiesty old devil who has no shame at asking for cheeky discounts)

Mum'd far rather be a good hostess and whip up an omlette or a cheese sarnie. Also it'd give her something to talk/ moan about to her mates which is also important. And t hen we'd have a barnie about veggieism and whether it is what god intended/ good for your body etc and actually, she'd really like that.

How about "I'm sorry, I see that has bacon in it - did I tell you I'm vegetarian? Really sorry if I didn't. The salad looks lovely tho, is it ok if I have some more of that?"

Ok, shutting up for a bit now!

pollypenny

Agree with the above!

I don't hold myself as more important than anyone. However, I'd as soon take a bite out of a person than out of a cow or pig!

Eating flesh revolts me.

cloudy-day

hngrymummy wrote: »

I was brought up to be polite to other people's feelings and not to hold myself to be more important than them. I'd far rather get on with my elderly in-laws than sit and say to a lovely old lady who's gone to a lot of trouble especially for me "actually you're too stupid to notice that's a meat quiche so I'm going to sit and eat nothing and make you feel awful" I'm really glad I did make the effort to be nice to her, as she died from pneumonia a few months later, and I'd have hated for her only memory of me to be a bad one and my only memory of her to be awkwardness.

I guess that you go to other people's houses and ensure that their cheese, wine, beer, pesto, deserts and food colourings are veggie too?

I guess that's just my opinion though.

Nope still don't get it. Nothing about manners to decline something you can't eat (note 'can't' not 'won't' to a moral veggie).

Older people are just as able to understand these things as younger people so no need to patronise there.

I'm afraid you're a very odd veggie if you make the choice to eat meat because someone's given it to you. :rotfl:

Ever heard of principles? Morals? Ethics?

No such thing as a veggie who eats meat. That would make you....a meat eater.

Frogletina

I'm a lifelong vegetarian and I had no problem explaining what I could or could not eat from a very early age, and that was in the days when vegetarianism was not as well understood as it is now.

Most foods are labelled now which helps and I find that people I meet are happy to provide me with vegetarian food.

I did spend most of my time at school eating an egg to replace the meat in school dinners, and very occasionally some cheese

I even went to France with a leaflet explaining what I could and couldn't eat, at the age of 13, and stayed with a French family. I think I lived on omelettes for 2 weeks - but as I was also given at least one glass of cider at each meal too, I was quite content.