The inevitable questions thread

littlecbear

Monkey61 wrote: »

Well as a very recent vegan I haven't had to field too many questions yet... explaining to my mother was hilarious though...

Mother: So you can eat eggs?
Me: No..no I can't.
Mother: Right. Are you sure you can't have meat? I mean, a cow is just like a walking tomato really.
Me: Sure, except the cow is a living animal
Mother: Ah but I'm sure they don't mind.
Me: Right, but no, no meat.
Mother: But if we didn't eat meat there wouldn't be any cows. They need us to eat them or they wouldn't exist.

Then I had to go and lie down in a quiet, darkened room for a while...

Here is an opposing view:

When I was in my teens an intelligent classmate of mine asked about my vegetarianism. She commented that if we stopped eating cows then there would be too many of them!

It stuck with me for some reason.

axel rose

Well I suppose it explains why we are so overrun with dogs, cats, crows, worms...................

R.D. aka MR.D

I'm a somewhat recent veggie, a few months and still getting used to explaining things to people.

but earlier at work (i take food orders) a man actually got angry with me when i asked him to claify what he meant when he said he wanted all the meals he'd ordered to be vegan. how dare i have the cheek to make sure wasn't getting something he didn't want to eat.:eek:

as we all know there are different interpretations and one vegan might eat something that another wouldn't.

so go easy on people who ask questions that might seem silly.

I've found most of the questions people ask me are just in an effort to understand what I mean or my reasons and a lot of it is just plain curiosity. Most people can't imagine a meat free life, it's the way a large percentage of people are brought up.

Although i'll never understand why most people assume you still eat chicken

bythewoods

R.D. aka MR.D wrote: »

Although i'll never understand why most people assume you still eat chicken

I know!
That really grates me.

"I'm a vegetarian"
..."So do you eat chicken then? Fish?"

Zwillinge

As I was told the other day, "Fish isn't actually meat!"

Aoifums

I've been told chicken isn't meat because chickens aren't really animals.

Mentalmiss

I have a friend who says "I do not eat anything that has a face".
She eats chicken and fish.
I do not understand that. Surely a chicken has a face. Even a fish has a face.

Aoifums

Mentalmiss wrote: »

"I do not eat anything that has a face".

I hate people saying that. So many things that I will happily tuck into have "faces". Potatoes have eyes, heads of lettuce, etc. Then people try to outsmart you by bringing up the potato/lettuce thing. Much easier to not say that then have to argue with someone.

rubadub

sweet-rasmus wrote: »

would you like the garlic mushrooms? (i explained to the waitress that surely there would be butter in that - oh yes, she replies)

They could well be made with just veg oil, butter is expensive, she might not have known so was just avoiding an argument by just agreeing and not bothering to ask. The use of "explained" and "surely", sounds like you were being patronising to the woman, rather than just asking if there was butter in them. Many people are ignorant and tip toe around the subject, and from reading some posts here I do not blame them one bit.

R.D. aka MR.D wrote: »

Although i'll never understand why most people assume you still eat chicken

bythewoods wrote: »

I know!
That really grates me.

"I'm a vegetarian"
..."So do you eat chicken then? Fish?"

It was already explained earlier on...

norrie rugger wrote: »

You must remember that Veggie covers a very laarge spectrum of people (to non vegies like myself).
From people who will eat Fish and/or Fowl or eggs etc.

Lots of people who call themselves "veggies" eat meat.

Locomotion wrote: »

What do you eat for Christmas dinner?!

I can't go a calendar year without getting asked that at least a dozen times!

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Ah yeah get that, hilarious that somebody can't understand not eating a random bird on a random day.

Longerview wrote: »

"what do you do for Christmas dinner"...sad not to have an imagination..

It is not a random day, it is christmas day and they have a traditional meal on that day and are simply making conversation and wondering if you prepare something special for that day too. It is one day where people do tend to do something special, what is wrong with asking about it? is it really so funny and sad?

A lot of the more bizarre questions could well be people taking the piss, I have seen this many times, guys winding people up with all sorts of stupid questions.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Aoifums wrote: »

I hate people saying that. So many things that I will happily tuck into have "faces". Potatoes have eyes, heads of lettuce, etc. Then people try to outsmart you by bringing up the potato/lettuce thing. Much easier to not say that then have to argue with someone.

I say it ironically, but I make sure to add "or a profile" just to get around the fish issue, or fishue if you will.

But generally if someone asks me ANY question about why or how I follow a diet which is drastically different from the vast majority of people in the Western world I'm too paralysed with shock mingled with scorn to even respond.

Mentalmiss

Jase Melodic Public wrote: »

But generally if someone asks me ANY question about why or how I follow a diet which is drastically different from the vast majority of people in the Western world I'm too paralysed with shock mingled with scorn to even respond.

It has been pointed out to me in company that my diet was not NORMAL.
I replied that it was not.
I said that NORMAL at my age was to be overweight, have high blood pressure, heartburn, watching for cancer or heart disease or other diseases and that I had no wish to be NORMAL.

Kooli

Jase Melodic Public wrote: »

I say it ironically, but I make sure to add "or a profile" just to get around the fish issue, or fishue if you will.

But generally if someone asks me ANY question about why or how I follow a diet which is drastically different from the vast majority of people in the Western world I'm too paralysed with shock mingled with scorn to even respond.

I am baffled by this - why would you be paralysed with shock and scorn by a question about a lifestyle choice you have made that is uncommon and someone wants to know more about?

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Yeah, makes more sense if you pick up on the sarcasm though :P

Miss No Name

I love when people ask me questions. It shows that they are interested - rather than just shrugging the whole thing off as stupid.

I am very proud of myself as a veggie and I want people to know my reasons for not eating meat. You never know - you might even get people thinking about cutting meat out of their diet. Most people you talk to will tell you that as a teenager they tried being a vegetarian, so they are not alien to the idea.

Be happy veggies and spread the good word - consider it your good fortune to be able to educate the nation on vegetarianism. All those stupid people that ask you stupid questions about fish and chickens will never ask them again if you put them right

Sapsorrow

dementedsoul wrote: »

Just read the whole thread "why do ppl hate veggies?" and now I've a bit of a headache (must be lack of protein and vitamins and omega oils...:P) and felt like something a bit more light hearted.


Sh*t sorry I started that thread, can't believe you read the whole thing well done I didn't make it that far! not suprised you have a headache, I was new to blogging back then and was a bit naive, I didn't expect a load of non-veggies to be hanging around a veggie forum looking for a debate! It's sad it turned out that way but also beautifully ironic I think.


I've been asked:

"but....do you eat sausages?"

"what can you make with salad?"

"what do you eat when you go to McDonalds?" (surprisingly I've had this one a lot)

quote]

Don't forget in the movie everyting is illuminated with elisia woods, he's a young jewish american visiting eastern europe (think it's ukraine not sure) to trace his family back or something and he's in a motel and asks for something without meat, his guide translates to the waitress explaining he's a strange american who doesn't eat meat, she eyes him suspiciously for a minute before simply asking the guide ' why, whats wrong with him?'
Brilliantly portrayed methinks!
Oh and in the end she brings him out a single boiled potatoe on a plate with nothing else on it!

Steffi

I get all the inevitable questions, and I don't mind answering the questions of curious people but its people's general misconceptions about how veganism or even just vegetables work annoy me.
For example, the last time I got a deli counter roll, just bread with all the limited number of salad fillings, no sauce, butter, cheese, eggs or meat, just a few vegetables on bread (they didn't even have hummus!). I was horrified to look at the price label to see that I was being charged full price for a 'meat and salad' roll. When I asked the management they said that 'two salads make a meat'- that's not how nature works!
Also in the Bagel Bar, asking for a vegan bagel, the vegetarian bagel without butter or cheese. They just stared at me for a few seconds and said 'but we have riccotta'. Riccotta isn't a plant!

CathyMoran

Steffi wrote: »

I get all the inevitable questions, and I don't mind answering the questions of curious people but its people's general misconceptions about how veganism or even just vegetables work annoy me.
For example, the last time I got a deli counter roll, just bread with all the limited number of salad fillings, no sauce, butter, cheese, eggs or meat, just a few vegetables on bread (they didn't even have hummus!). I was horrified to look at the price label to see that I was being charged full price for a 'meat and salad' roll. When I asked the management they said that 'two salads make a meat'- that's not how nature works!
Also in the Bagel Bar, asking for a vegan bagel, the vegetarian bagel without butter or cheese. They just stared at me for a few seconds and said 'but we have riccotta'. Riccotta isn't a plant!

I can understand - I would be a pesci-ovo-lacto-vegetarian (yes, we do exist - eat fish, eggs, milk) but was looking for a pannini with extra mushrooms - I got charged extra even though the normal pannini has meat, luckily my husband queried it and they reduced the price.

-lala-

CathyMoran wrote: »

I would be a pesci-ovo-lacto-vegetarian (yes, we do exist - eat fish, eggs, milk)

We know you exist - your existence is what leads many people to believe that vegetarians eat fish!

The term you are looking for, however, is pescetarian.

CathyMoran

-lala- wrote: »

We know you exist - your existence is what leads many people to believe that vegetarians eat fish!

The term you are looking for, however, is pescetarian.

It is the first time that I have heard of that term, I do know that the term I used is also valid and more descriptive - I would give up fish as well but I have a limited enough diet as is (due to certain medical conditions) - I get asked, "sure you will have some chicken?", I don't eat that!

Tar.Aldarion

You are a lacto ovo pescetarian. One of the reasons people ask if you want chicken is pescetarians say they are vegetarian but yet they eat meat(fish). Fish is seen as different to meat by a lot of people, similarly chicken is seen as different from red meat so people think we eat that.

Weyhey

-lala- wrote: »

We know you exist - your existence is what leads many people to believe that vegetarians eat fish!

The term you are looking for, however, is pescetarian.

Have to agree. I really wish folk who eat fish would not call themselves vegetarian. Fair play to anyone who is cutting down on their meat consumption in any way but eating fish and calling yourself vegetarian, to me it is a no no. It also just confuses things no ends.

The more 'fish only' meat eating folk call themselves pescetarian the more norm the word will become.

CathyMoran

Weyhey wrote: »

Have to agree. I really wish folk who eat fish would not call themselves vegetarian. Fair play to anyone who is cutting down on their meat consumption in any way but eating fish and calling yourself vegetarian, to me it is a no no. It also just confuses things no ends.

The more 'fish only' meat eating folk call themselves pescetarian the more norm the word will become.

While I understand in theory, until I posted on this thread I had never heard of such a term and I studied food science! What I was told that my diet was a pesci-ovo-lacto-vegetarian which is at least logical and comprehensible. I would never assume that a vegetarian would eat meat or fish but would have to ask them in advance if they ate eggs or dairy. I would have thought that it was obvious that they did not eat chicken.

I do admire vegans in particular (I was one for a while in my teens) but it is not a diet that I could follow now for a lot of medical reasons.

Miss No Name

Being a pescetarian or fishetarian myself I understand how this can confuse people.

Sometimes its just easier to say to people when in a restaurant or in someone’s home that you are a veggie than bother to explain it. If they ask me about it then I will explain that i'm not a 'proper' vegetarian because I eat fish. I was a lacto ova vegetarian for 8 years, then I stopped. In the last few years I turned towards my now 'pescetarian' diet because I felt it was too hard to give up everything and felt I would be left with very little menu/food options. I give up meat purely for moral reasons and still love it. But for the time being I believe we don't need to kill animals to survive and I refuse to eat them. I'm ok about fish as they don't have any nerve endings and can't feel pain anyhow. Whether people believe me or accept this is usually a different story.

cozmik

Miss No Name wrote: »

I'm ok about fish as they don't have any nerve endings and can't feel pain anyhow. Whether people believe me or accept this is usually a different story.

I guess you missed this study

http://www.livescience.com/animals/090430-fish-feel-pain-too.html

Miss No Name

@ cozmik yes I missed that study. It was only out last month. I have been like this for YEARS!!!!! Thanks.

Tar.Aldarion

'Some researchers have previously concluded that fish react to painful stimuli without actually feeling pain in the conscious way humans do. '

How exactly did they come to that conclusion? It's ridiculous.



And as for it coming out last month, I read a similar one ten years ago, and it said fish experienced pain easier than humans. Yet this is procailed as the 'first concrete evidence'.

Miss No Name

Whether people believe me or accept this is usually a different story.

See what I mean :rolleyes:

CathyMoran

I have problems with eating fish, especially as we have pet fish (goldfish and koi) - I do feel very guilty about it but I can not find a decent high protein low carb subsitute that I need for my limited diet (medical reasons). From experience with our fish I do think that they can be intelligent and I am very fond of them - ours have us well trained!

Thoie

CathyMoran wrote: »

I can not find a decent high protein low carb subsitute that I need for my limited diet (medical reasons).

Have you taken a look at Quorn/mycoprotein?

CathyMoran

Thoie wrote: »

Have you taken a look at Quorn/mycoprotein?

I would be looking to go vegan though, so that does not work