Why do a lot of meat-eaters think that being vegetarian is a sacrifice for...?

Question

... for, uh, vegetarians like me. Because honestly, it's not. I was born vegetarian and eating meat would be *the* ultimate sacrifice. I rarely hang out with non-vegs but the few times I do, they're always hell bent (and pretty confident) that they'd change my diet in less than a few minutes.

Kinda like tonight, I was having dinner with a new friend of mine. And when he learns that I've been vegetarian all my life- he suddenly goes "Mmm. Meat is the best" and uh, "You are missing out." the whole night.

The same goes with a lot of vegetarians (myself not included).. they're always grumbling about how gross meat is in front of meat-eaters like it's going to convert them.

I mean, seriously? *eyebrow raise* Do you see the way they're chewing on the meat like it's their ticket to heaven?

Anyway, uh, rant over. I was just musing because I had the wackiest dinner with an animal activist/vegetarian and a meat-eater today.

Mona: Uh, gee.. I don't know.. maybe because I've never eaten meat my whole life?

ETA: I just re-read my question again and it came off as me saying that I came out into the world a vegetarian... Let me rephrase that: ... I've been a vegetarian ever since I was born...

Answer 1

I agree with Mona (and others) who have commented that vegetarianism is not something you're born with; it's a choice, a lifestyle, and a series of habits, acquired over many years. In fact, it's comparable to speaking a certain language, or subscribing to a certain religion.

Every child, every-where, is born a "clean slate". By virtue of their humanity, every child is equipped to learn any language, just as they are equipped to consume an omnivorous diet (or to develop their own set of religious beliefs, etc etc etc).

In the case of language (for example), a child will learn to speak the language/s predominantly spoken in the household. For most of us here in the USA, that's obviously English. Likewise, if a child is raised in a vegetarian household (or in a Catholic household), the child will adopt these things as "correct", and retain the "values" they have learned---often, forever.

It is no more acceptable for me (I am an omnivore) to try to "talk you out of" being a vegetarian, than it would be for me to try to get you to convert to my religion. If you are an adult, you have a very clear sense of your beliefs, values, etc (so do I). An hour of badgering by someone telling you "meat is good!" isn't going to undo a lifetime of learning.

BTW...I have friends who are vegetarians, as well. And I do tease them about it, but not because I think I can "convert" them. Just because they're my friends, and I like to pick on them (they do it right back at me, too).

Answer 2

When I was a kid my family never gave me any meat, then i went to public school and tried it and loved it. Now as I'm older I sometimes see it as a sacrifice because it taste so good and it's very hard looking for substitutes. Most of the grocery stores I shop in don't have too many alternatives to meat. I am trying to becomes vegetarian but its still hard for me, I'm lucky because I have my grandma who makes me indian food everyday, which is vegetarian. But if she couldnt make me it, i would most likely switch back to eating meat. I do know overall it's better being a vegetarian because me grandma is 80 and has more energy than i do, her mother lived up to 98, as did her father.

Answer 3

I can't tell you how many times a meat-eater has said to me, "Mmmm... you don't know what you're missing..." Well, yeah, actually I DO; I ate meat for the first 16 years of my life and I know exactly what I'm missing... and it's not nearly enough to have made me doubt my choice to go veg 30 years ago. It's been very little sacrifice in my book.

I agree wholeheartedly with EBGal when it comes to raising kids veg. If it's what you truly believe is best, how could you not raise your kids that way? It would be like telling a Christian that, because we're not "born" with a religion, they shouldn't take their kids to church.

Answer 4

Yeah, people sometimes ask me, "Do you miss meat," and I answer that I miss it as much as I miss poopy diapers since my kid got potty trained. Meat disgusts me, but I rarely talk about it with meat eaters. I want them to respect my decisions, so I need to accept theirs. I'm not out to convert the world - I just want meat eaters to not heckle me.

How could vegetarian parents NOT raise a child as vegetarian?! It is proven healthier to eat low on the food chain. People want their children to be healthy, so why feed them something that will shorten their lives? If they want to eat meat when they get old enough to make their own decisions, that is their right, but as long as the parents are deciding, they should do what is in the best interest of the child, and that most definitely does not include meat!

Answer 5

I think it is funny how meat-eaters think that we are the ones pushing our beliefs onto others. I know some of us do, but I see many more meat-eaters calling vegans/vegetarians crazy, unhealthy, stupid, irrational, etc. Just respect everyone's diet, no matter what it's like.

You're lucky to have been veg your whole life. I never really liked meat or the fact it came from animals, but my parents forced me to eat it...until I got older and could make my own decisions.

Answer 6

Do they?

While I couldn't live a vegetarian life style myself, I like my thick juicy steaks too much, I quite enjoy eating veggie now and them.

It doesn't have to he a sacrifice, it just takes more thought to be able to provide a fully balanced, tasty, meal.

Luckily my partner is a great cook and can do wonders with some cous-cous/rice/noodles and whatever veg and spices I have in the house, so if we can't be bothered getting meat from the freezer (or shopping for fresh) we still eat very tasty food.

I agree with your comments about arguments between meat eaters and veggies but they are just stupid.

A meat eater has no right to try to force meat on veggies, or ridicule them for not eating it ..... a veggie also has no right to condemn those of us that enjoy for eating it.

The veggie battle cry of "MEAT IS MURDER" is just stupid - one carrot can produce more "offspring" in one year that a cow will in it's whole life .... now who's the murderer?

As for the BORN VEGETARIAN comment.

WRONG

You were born an omnivore, it's your choice not to eat meat, or should have been - it sounds like you had being a veggie forced on you by your parents.

Answer 7

The problem with meat-eating is that it might taste good but the act of killing the animal to eat it means you are destroying God's own property or metaphor which God has created and granted it living rights on His-own land. God might not have told you yet about what that particular animal is intended for in his great big pawn game. You may simply be too incompetent to even understand why God even created that class of animals and why that particular animal is in that particular place at that particular time. If you, killed the animal then it means you are hindering God's moves that are either "in progress" or "planned". So you are committing a violation against God's intentions. As usual God does not punish you immediately. ("Deivam Ninru Kollum") He simply notes it down nor does he punish you directly. He will use another of his metaphors to move against you at the most inopportune time when you least expect it.

Looking at it another way, by "choosing to commit" a murder of God's own creations, unless that creation actually bothered or disturbed you in the first place, you are transferring "negative energy" by taking the food of the dead meat that you killed. The negative energy will accumulate in your brain and will reflect in your actions. When there are two ways of doing the same thing, you will instinctively choose the negative way thus bringing about more and more destruction upon yourselves. You wont even know God punished you because you brought upon your own demise - God will make you do it... He has ways and means.

Why do you think the descendants of "the king of England" live lives that are worse than beggars? Some have self-immolated themselves, Some females are working as housemaids, being assaulted and tortured daily in words, Some have been rolling beedis to make a living, Some males are without their sex partners, Many babies have been aborted forcefully, etc.? Its all KARMA - thousands of killings and executions, taking off hands, legs, penises, disfigurements, living tortures, cutting off heads, destroyed families etc. have been done by them or by their assigned agents in more than 200-300 years of the history of the lineage. Somebody has to pay for it all, right? So God took His toll on them. Thats why there was no significant advancement for mankind in the last 400-500 years... When the lineage got transferred to the "Brahmins" who have always been serving God in idol form in close proximity, God started giving back benefits one by one, not directly, but in the form of ideas and concepts that benefit humankind as a whole.

If you look at a snake a snake will never bite you unless you disturbed it in the first place. If the snake seeks and bites you to death it means you have done something somewhere that God moved it against you... You will only blame the snake for biting you because it is just a metaphor for the supreme interconnected and convoluted power exchange game that is taking place somewhere.. If you just extrapolate it the Earth itself is a metaphor of something, somewhere... That is another BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME

Answer 8

Not eating meat is a choice, it shouldn't be forced on someone nor should it be something that a child is put through. Sorry but anyone that raises a child vegan or vegetarian needs to be evaluated. Let me rephrase that, not allowing a child to eat meat because you yourself don't believe in it is wrong, I don't know your parents but if they raised you without ever giving you meat then they are in the wrong.

Answer 9

because they are stupid and insensitive. i eat meat and veggies and my best friend is vegetarian. we discuss it sometimes, she'll ask me if the veggie pepperoni tastes like real pepperoni etc, but neither of us push our choice onto the other

Answer 10

Sounds like you have some pretty intolerant friends, but like you say, the 'holier than thou' stuff seems to run both ways.