confessions of a part time vegetarian

WARNING: Some of the tenses in this post are kind of screwed up. Sorry. I'm tired (the excuse of champions).

On my birthday, I was craving bacon. One of the things that I'd managed to convince myself for most of the four (five?) years I was a vegetarian is that I'm not a huge fan of bacon. Vicious lie, or at least it is now. Bacon also holds some negative memories in my mind, unfortunately, because of one of the last times I was craving bacon.

We were having a family breakfast--french toast, strawberries, bacon--and I sat there, staring at the red strips of greasy meat, wanting. And so I talked myself into it, told myself the foundation of my personage wasn't going to crumble if I had one tiny piece of bacon. I reached for it.

It's like I was waiting for one of my sisters to say it, waiting to hear my insecurities voiced, and one of them did. "Aren't you a vegetarian?"

Like a rubber band snapping, I withdrew my hand and left the table in tears.* I don't blame her but for a minute I wished that people didn't have to stick so strictly to what they say they are, that our society left some room for growth or shifting. So let me just say that 'vegetarian' is a label, not a way of life. As a teenager and human being, I feel somewhat entitled to change. This is me, asking for space to shift around whenever I'm uncomfortable in my skin, on behalf of myself and every other person who wants to change without judgement.

Jeez, I really needed to get that out. Thank you for being an outlet. But on to what Vita was actually talking about.

First of all, I have never been what I would call a "strict" vegetarian. I never chose hunger if something was cooked in the same pan as meat. I'd usually pick around it or go for side dishes. These days, I eat chicken whenever and some red meat sporadically.


Does it inconvenience your parents or do you make your own food?
Being the only non-meat eater in my family might have been awkward if we were an intense meat eating family, but we aren't. We eat it a few times a week, less since my older sister left, and when we do, it's usually optional/on the side. Considering how light on meat we are anyway and how easy going I am, I don't think it's inconvenient. I can't speak for someone who has a family that eats meat every day, though.


What do you do when you're eating at someone else's house and they serve meat?
That's tricky. See, once you've been a vegetarian for a few years, the places where you habitually eat catch on to your preferences. All my friends know so there's always a cheese pizza alongside the pepperoni. New people are usually pretty accommodating, too. I mean, I feel bad when people go out of their way to make me a salad because they're serving meatloaf or whatever but it's kind of nice.
As for advice, it depends on the situation. If you're comfortable with the people, mention it beforehand and see if they can keep the meat to the side. If you don't feel like saying anything, stick to sides. And if you don't care, indulge. I've done it to avoid making people feel guilty and because, well, I felt like eating meat. But the more you mentioned it, the more it will stick and people will be thinking of it automatically after a while.

Oh and protein. A friend of mine went vegetarian and then stopped because she was gaining weight from snacking on carbs all the time. The weight thing isn't so much of a problem for me but energy and hunger are so protein is good. I eat nuts and beans and humuus (peanut butter is an arch-nemesis of mine) but also a lot of bread and pasta. And the government technically recommends 7-12 fruit and veggie servings every day so that probably wouldn't hurt. Balance is key in any diet.

I hope that helps. Let me know how it goes.

*Yes, I am that sensitive.