Are you a vegetarian? (poll)

That is so true once you get outside of the big cities. I remember when that was true in the suburbs (1980s and before)! Everything was red meat, eating chicken all of the time (which I did) was almost like being a vegetarian. Unless you were Italian...Italian and Chinese restaurants were less white bread.

However even now out in the boonies you can get something that is at least lacto-ovo friendly - marinara pasta or something. Or you can eat an appetizer without feeling like a weirdo.

I really do find grass-fed beef is easier on me and actually more tasty. I have no compunction about paying more (and eating less of it) for red meat, if it's better but then I think that generally about most things.

I checked vegan, but in reality I'm vegan at home, lacto-vegetarian at local restaurants (try to find a good Indian place that doesn't slather dishes in ghee/clarified butter), and sometimes pescetarian on scuba vacations.

Male, dropped the meat and quit smoking when 3 years ago when I decided to clean up my health, and the longevity/chronic disease advantage of veganism (but don't forget the vitamin B12!) seemed pretty clear in the literature.

http://www.scielo.br/img/revistas/abc/v88n1/en_a06tab02.gif

Non-judgmental vegetarian since '99. If not for Indian buffets and the kids' uneaten pizza, I'd be vegan.

I didn't realize until Facebook how much certain people love bacon. Prior to Facebook, all I got/heard was stuff like "I'll have a BLT" or "We just bought this bacon; might as well have it with some eggs," not "OH MY GOD BACON YOU GUYS NOM NOM NOM" or "OH MY GOD HOW CAN YOU BE VEGETARIAN DON'T YOU MISS BACON?!?!"

Bacon is gross.

Mount C OTM.
I would normally never seek out a Boca burger, but when my partner and I went out to the boonies to buy our puppy (1 hr south of Aberdeen, WA), there was the one diner in the middle of nowhere (the city was Artic, WA.). They had a Boca burger option. They could have easily dropped the item, which would have made me so miserably hungry that day.

A lot has changed in the past 7-10 years alone.

Sorry for doing all-caps BACON earlier. It was more about what I want from cafe breakfasts than "ALL BACON IS GREAT WHY DON'T YOU EAT BACON?" I don't get the bacon-flavoured everything either.

I can think of a lot of processed meats I'd rather retain than bacon if I had to choose. I love bacon but c'mon; bresaolo, belota, foie gras d'oie, (kinda bacon-y) lardon, guancia, rillettes, hell even a good mortadella w/pistachio...

I don't really enjoy bacon when it's included with other meat. More than one kind of meat in a burger just seems unnecessary to me. I mean, for a meat sauce or something maybe but, yeah I'm not a crazy bacon person even though I do eat a fair bit of meat. I tend to worship steak more than bacon, if anything.

I don't know what half of those things are, Mr White. So, yeah, I'll have your bacon.

a good prosciutto (like la quercia) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> bacon, 90 percent of the time.

yep

mostly vegan right now (though occasionally i've had a few desserts that had hidden eggs in them, a few soups from the deli that prob had chicken broth)

bacon is gross!

do you ever feel like some people are fronting with this whole OMG I LOVE RIBS/BACON/CORNDOGS/FRIED CHICKEN shit nowadays

I feel like there's kind of a lack of discerning taste when it comes to ribs and stuff like that. people I work with are always OMG RIBS, and they could be garbage from any punkass bbq chain, they'll even eat storebought ribs and tell you it's from gods own cow and I just find it to be idiotic.

it's like, good barbecue or good fried chicken, and the rest of the shit out there is like the difference between a ripe tomato from your vegetable garden and a 'ripe' tomato from the grocery store. They shouldn't even be called the same thing.

to paraphrase nate dogg, HEYHEYHEYHEY EAT MEAT EVERYDAY

i pretty much subsist on meat/cheese sandwiches

I can think of a lot of processed meats I'd rather retain than bacon if I had to choose. I love bacon but c'mon; bresaolo, belota, foie gras d'oie, (kinda bacon-y) lardon, guancia, rillettes, hell even a good mortadella w/pistachio...

― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Saturday, March 17, 2012 3:06 AM (33 minutes ago)

i wrap cheeseburgers in jamon de iberico belota

I still like bacon taste. I ate something with bacon bits in it...and was pleased to find out they were TOTALLY FAKE. I can't remember which brand it was. Also there is liquid smoke or some other product that makes all food product taste like barbecued meat.

I had a terrible addiction to bacon bits sandwiches as a kid

Haha rev -- just yesterday I sang that to myself except it was "hey hey hey hey, eat beets everyday. "

is flexitarian a real word? fuck you, world.

it's like, good barbecue or good fried chicken, and the rest of the shit out there is like the difference between a ripe tomato from your vegetable garden and a 'ripe' tomato from the grocery store. They shouldn't even be called the same thing.

i gotta step in here and say that i have enjoyed the fried chicken they make at the supermarket when they have to do something with their inventory by the use-by date. it doesn't have a haute-cuisine pedigree like the ludobites fried chicken, but it's something nice and salty you can gnaw on for a few days when you're skint.

(is there any vegan food you can "gnaw" on? maybe corn on the cob?)

Wow, that attitude about ribs must vary depending on workplace culture. At my last job I actually wondered if someone upstairs was prejudiced because ribs were verboten at any office party. I suppose ribs could be banned because of the strong smell...but it seemed we could eat anything but ribs.

is there any vegan food you can "gnaw" on? maybe corn on the cob?

licorice root?

xxpost - get bent, I realized afterwards that I sounded like a big fat food snob and I didn't really intend it that way. I'll totally chow down on supermarket fried chicken or even KFC if the mood (sometimes) takes me. I think it's more me being IA with my fake food-porn coworkers whose gushing about how awesome this food or that food is, is way out of proportion to the actual tastiness of the food. You know?
They will RAVE about storebought mac and cheese. I'll enjoy it, but I save my raves for great food, I guess is what I wanted to say in my head but didn't. :)

I cant bring myself to eat pork of any variety, though I very VERY occasionally have bacon. But I do not get the bacon fronting. I dont think its anything but an addiction to the salt/smoke flavour. I avoid bacon, salamis, and other processed meats almost completely (v occasionally I'll have sausages pref w/out preservatives tho) due to all the canceros shite in them.

An irony coming from a smoker, I realise.

Im not vegetarian but I eat mostly meat free meals - lots of rice, vegies, legumes and tofu. I prefer to enjoy an expensive quality steak once or twice a month, than eat meat every day. I remain quite puzzled by peoples need to put meat into a meatless dish as if it is "missing something", I guss it might be an umami thing tho?

I could never be vegan. I love chese and eggs way too much.

I will pretty much eat every part of a pig, pork belly and pork jowl are so sinfully good! I will almost eat every part of a cow and chicken too. When I first tried bone marrow, I felt like the clouds parted and god was shining a light upon me. But I was a vegetarian in my early 20's.

I could never go back to doing without meat. The first time I tried slightly grilled though raw in the center foie gras the flavor brought tears to my eyes.

yeah otm re marrow. scary delicious.

i've experienced this, but almost entirely in the opposite direction, which is non-vegs who bring up the vegetarian thing over and over and over and over again. "I'd give you a piece of this - but you can't eat meat!!" "I don't know how you do this, oh man the meat is so good!" "It must be so hard for you here because you don't eat meat!" "I could never not eat meat, I don't know how you do it!". The repeated thing drives me wacky, especially as the chance of me talking about meat vs. not eating meat in a conversation is approximately 0.0000000001%

imo these people are awkwardly expressing their curiosity and interest but they don't feel comfortable saying "I'm actually pretty interested in knowing about your whole vegetarian deal." before I sort of started responding from that perspective (not super-longwindedly [except I'm me & am longwinded], just not defensively: "I could never not eat meat, I don't know how you do it!" "--I gotta be honest, when I stopped I wondered myself if it was going to totally suck but hand to God I don't miss it at all. Except maybe when a recipe calls for chicken stock, veg stock is hit or miss"; this exchange & variants pretty invariably lead to enjoyable non-"DON'T YOU MISS BACON?" conversations) I hated the fuck out of HOW CAN YOU STAND IT? q's but I seriously do think they're "How can I ask you about this without letting on that I'm legitimately curious about OH NOE VEGETARIANISM"

Haha rev -- just yesterday I sang that to myself except it was "hey hey hey hey, eat beets everyday. "

― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, March 16, 2012 9:09 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there are many vegetables i get down with, but beets i cannot abide by

You're missing out, roasted beets with goats milk cheese is tasty

That brings up an interesting point: the main problem being veg (although not so much now) or vegan (definitely still a problem) is that being veg/vegan means having to have boring conversations with smug veg/vegan people.

i've experienced this, but almost entirely in the opposite direction, which is non-vegs who bring up the vegetarian thing over and over and over and over again. "I'd give you a piece of this - but you can't eat meat!!" "I don't know how you do this, oh man the meat is so good!" "It must be so hard for you here because you don't eat meat!" "I could never not eat meat, I don't know how you do it!". The repeated thing drives me wacky, especially as the chance of me talking about meat vs. not eating meat in a conversation is approximately 0.0000000001%

― 1986 Olive Garden (Z S), Friday, 16 March 2012 23:28 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

zs otm itt. sure there are dicks but there are as many breeds of smug anti-vegetarian rhetoric, disdainful references to salad, rabbit food, strength-of-the-bull brandishing of meat intake credibility, bemused assumptions that you do not understand meals, &c. thanksgiving/&c is so funny an example of awkward-times-to-be-a-vegetarian as it is vegetarian-bonanza, as long as no one cooked the potatoes in goose fat. it is all the vegetables at once.

my friend was vegan for a long time, & then moved back into i think first dairy, then dairy & fish. now she says her ideal diet would probably be vegan w/fish. which sounds like it skipped a step of the pyramid but which i totally get. my dairy intake is decided by the times i imagine a pizza or an egg-glazed bagel and have to think whether i mind the providence of its ingredients, which is sometimes yes sometimes no, kinda vague.

Pescetarian for 7 years.

I eat meat. Burgers and all kinds of pork products are my favorite. Poultry less so, but chicken is such an easy staple food I probably end up eating more of that. I'm not fronting, it's the way I've eaten my whole life.

Vegetarian, vegan or meat eater, I really don't mind so long as smugness and elitist attitudes are not involved.

I have come across several food blogs when I went in search of protein shake and juicing recipes then tried to find a soup based on chicken broth, sesame oil and ginger that I use to make. There are a lot of people out there obsessed with wanting to eat as "perfect" as possible. Whether it is to ward of illness or be as hip as can be going gourmet at home daily. The eesh factor comes in with the way they praise themselves on their own diets and food choices. It is such a turn off.

vegetable fruit and grain-based here but eat some sort of seafood weekly (mostly at work for "quality control" purposes). been this way since 1982 when i was 15

Haven't eaten meat or fish for 6 years, think about going vegan all the time but I'm too transitory and don't cook enough to be vegan. (I'm also not pushy enough; takes balls to go into, say, a taqueria and ask for vegan food). Greenhouse gasses/factory farming's effects on humans are my main reasons. I've become a bigger animal fan as the years have gone by, though, and have come more into the idea that making any living thing with the capacity for suffering suffer so that your dinner tastes better isn't an okay thing to do.

I often wonder why it's easier for me to not eat meat, which is a moderately significant inconvenience in America, than to remember to turn everything off before I leave the house or seek out ethically made clothing. I think it's latent Catholic in me, mildly reveling in the self-denial.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/3642661392_5801c3b218.jpg

LOL

I really think the whole blood type thing has a lot to do with it. I am AB and if meat were removed from my diet, I wouldn't miss it. However, that being said, my body eventually does miss it and I did become anemic on a vegetarian diet in my 20's. I still do if I go too long without it so for that reason I do meat.

I did raw food for three weeks and was satisfied but that was a ton of pricey nuts, like bulks and bulks to use in all sorts of recipes. I went broke before the end of the month and had to return to the stove top.

Unabashed is a bit too much, flexi is a bit too little. Should have an option inbetween :-(

Just what I was thinking - I am unabashed in that there isn't much meat I'll shy away from, but I try and have about 50% of my meals meat free.

I don't really try, it just works out that way.

yeah, me neith

i like eating meat plenty but i would become a vegetarian if i dated one or like, lived with a bunch of them

i checked vegan, but i guess i'm flexivegan, given that i have been eating foods like cadbury creme eggs lately. plus, i often don't ask "vegan questions" in restaurants where sauces are concerned - like, i won't order a cream sauce, but i also won't grill the waiter to find out if half a teaspoon of fish sauce went into something. meat eaters that know this about me say that i'm a HUUUUUUUUGE hypocrite.