For the record, I’m not a vegetarian because of my religion (Hinduism only ever mentions beef), because I hate plants (stupid squashes!), or because it’s the closest thing to wearing a tin-foil cap on my head to ward off alien brainwaves. I’m not a member of PETA (because they’re scary) and I’m not on some sort of insane diet. I’m a vegetarian because I don’t want to eat meat. That’s really all there is to it.
In India, vegetarianism is widely spread because produce is far cheaper than poultry — and India has a lot of agriculture. People eat what they can afford — which isn’t much. My family has been vegetarian for as long as I can remember. First, it’s a healthy way to eat and I suppose some of us like to think that it holds more closely to the ideals held by Hindu sadhus and mystics. Besides, imagine if India tried to eat all the meat it produced — things could turn quite rapidly into a global economic nightmare.
For me, vegetarianism implies the following things about my food:
- No meat: I’m looking at you, “piscaterians!” Fish still count!
- No contact with meat: This always aggravates me. I can’t get subs from my school cafeteria because the same tongs that picked up the slices of turkey or ham always end up being used to pick up vegetables, thereby spoiling everything. Call me a zealot, but everything we touch leaves a residue. It’s the same with meat, vegetables, anything.
- No imitation meat: What’s the point of eating fake meat? It does absolutely nothing for you. So suck it, Boca Burgers! Interesting note: when I was at NASA, instead of putting meat in the vegetarians’ wraps/sandwiches (because that…no), the caterers put zucchinis. I mean, zucchinis? Come on! Why not layers of cheese? Besides that, the zucchinis were pretty nasty.
Now, there are exceptions that I feel sort of weird about. First of all, I don’t like salads. Not only are they boring, but it’s just demeaning to give everyone else sandwiches and the vegetarian a bowl of leafy greens. That’s why I usually call salads “rabbit-food” — although I bet rabbits call all sorts of terrible things “human-food” with the same justification.
I used to eat Jello for a while because my mom held out a hope that gelatin really wasn’t made from animals. I don’t like it quite as much now, but I can’t really avoid it. It’s an integral piece of the food industry and I wish that the things I loved weren’t so dependent on it, but things being what they are, it’s simply a smudge on my record. I mean, it’s not like I’m oh-so in love with horse bones or something — that takes a special sort of person. Probably someone without taste buds. Or some sort of intergalactic French crêpes chef.
The point of this is: stop feeling bad for me! I’ve been raised on good ol’ buttery Indian food my entire life. My bones are made of pure titanium and I can only floss with galvanized steel. Either way, vegetarianism beats the pants off of veganism!
Read 8 comments (Leave a comment?)
brendan said:
Vegans are just stupid. A cow needs to be milked to survive.
Posted on August 1, 2007 4:26 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Well, I wouldn’t say they’re stupid. We’re talking about choices here and all :P
But you’re right; there’s a line between killing an animal for its food products and taking food products from the animal — for example, eggs and milk.
Also, I don’t like soybeans :(
Posted on August 1, 2007 4:31 PM; Permalink
Greg Wood said:
Although I’m pretty much a raging liberal, I have never got my head around vegetarianism. Don’t know why, maybe it’s something to do with cheeseburgers, or maybe its because of the fact that if cows had fingers, arms and were super clever, we’d surely be living in pens.
Despite this I still find it very hard to buy standard supermarket meat, having seen documentaries focusing on animal slaughtering and the condition some creatures are kept in before being processed for food for humans. Here in the UK organic food stuffs are pretty big at the moment, I guess people realise that eating something that has died nicely is a lot more satisfying than chomping away on a KFC-strangled-chicken-burger.
Posted on August 1, 2007 6:54 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Oh yeah, I’m sure. If I ever ate meat, I would want it to be prepared humanely. I mean, Kosher food is taking it a little far, but I like the intent behind it :)
Posted on August 1, 2007 10:14 PM; Permalink
Kilian Valkhof said:
I’m a meat-eater, but I can make killer meal-salads as well. I’m certain you would like them ;)
That, and kosjer/halal really isn’t a nicer way to die for an animal. quite the opposite, actually…
Posted on August 2, 2007 3:07 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Kilian: Damn, you’re right. The animal would bleed to death with kosher preparation. I thought it only involved a rabbi’s blessing.
Blegh…in fact, that’s waaay worse than I previously thought.
Posted on August 2, 2007 5:23 PM; Permalink
adam said:
re: cows needing to be milked to live: yes and no.
dairy cows are bred to produce more milk than would be healthy, were they not being constantly milked. it’s painful for the cow, and you’re right, they do need to be milked. but it’s factory farming, and the economics of commodities that have made it so.
a healthy female cow would only need to be milked by her calves, not constantly, as our hormonally induced dairy cows do.
Posted on August 15, 2007 2:55 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thanks for the clarification! I really wish we had healthier standards for dairy products, since I adore them so much.
Posted on August 15, 2007 7:31 PM; Permalink