Labels

Zombienosh

Hello.

I've been reading a lot of discussions, debates and sometimes arguments about veganism/vegetarianism and various other isms that try to define people by what they eat and it struck me - Why label it? Why give it an ism at all.

I'm what most people would call a vegetarian, but I wouldn't really call myself that and I don't. If a conversation or food situation arises I'd just say something like "I don't eat meat", that's usually met with a response of "why? are you vegetarian or something?"




I don't really like being shoved in a box. Lets take the term vegetarian. Does it conjure up a certain image, a pre-defined personality? To most people it does. How about Vegan? Does it also present an image? maybe a more extreme one? The word extreme gets thrown around a lot when referring to vegans I've noticed.

What originally started this thinking was not about how average omnivores see and label vegetarians but how vegans label vegetarians or vice versa.

I see a lot of people and organisations with an all or nothing attitude, Veganism or nothing!

Where does this sort of message leave the Vegetarian? I've seen people in discussions who feel they have to justify why they aren't vegan yet, as if it's some sort of mandatory progression. "I'm not vegan yet...but I plan on going vegan soon..." sort of response.

It stinks of snobbery from some vegans and guilt tripping from others. I know this isn't anything new, but I just thought if we didn't all label ourselves and adhere to society's standards of putting everything into a nice neat box we wouldn't have even half of the judgemental squabbling or pressurising that we see.

Eat whatever you want to eat, Be whoever you want to be. Don't let anyone tell you want you can or can't to eat and DON'T be defined by your dietary choices in life.



/rant over

Shenshen

I can understand the frustration with labels, as they will invariably result in generating prejudice - any label at all, when applied to a human, will result in some humans declaring they've got problems with humans who fit the label (or even just part of it).

On the other hand, they do make life a little easier.
If I tell someone "I don't eat meat", I may well find myself presented with fish. Or chicken soup. Or jelly.
Whereas if I tell them I'm vegetarian, most people get the picture and understand that I don't want to eat any animals at all - not just the muscles of dead mammals.

And the holier-than-thou attitude can be found in pretty much any group at all - an environmentalist might look down on another for buying avocados out of season, one Christian will feel superior to another for going to church daily rather than weekly, and as a result people end up feeling like they need to justify themselves and live up to other people's expectations.
It's "keeping up with the Joneses", nothing else.

Zombienosh

Yeah I hear what your saying about the label making it easier to people but doesn't it often bring a whole set of questions.

On one hand people want vegetarians to be loud and proud and to act as if its a cause or something bigger than a dietary choice, on another it's your personal belief or choice and it should be kept personal, forget what anyone thinks.

I'd be the latter there, and some people on option A look down on option B people, It doesn't bother me personally but I have seen it bother other people.

Dandelion6

I take it you've never travelled in a part of the world that doesn't have a concept of "vegetarianism". If you did, you'd be glad for a word that conveys to people "I don't eat any meat ever".

Zombienosh

If I traveled somewhere where people didn't understand the idea of "vegetarianism" I'm sure they wouldn't have pre-conceived images of me being a hippy twat.

Dandelion6

Strangely enough, when I was in those areas I was more concerned with getting food I was willing to eat than with what people thought of me for requesting it.

Zombienosh

That was a general point, of course I wouldn't care if I was in the back arse of nowhere I'd eat anything.

liz1991

Personally, I think it's quite handy having a label. It's a lot quicker to say "I'm a vegan" than "I don't eat meat, fish, eggs, dairy, honey, or indeed anything else that comes from an animal", and (at least in Ireland) it's generally well-understood.

On the other hand, I used to live in France, where a label of any kind was useless, even though there is a French word for vegan. Conversations in restaurants usually went like this:

"Je suis végétalienne, avez-vous quelque chose que je peux manger?" (I'm a vegan, have you something I can eat?"

"Ah, ouais, nous avons du poisson!" (Ah, yes, we have fish!)

"Ah... non. Je ne mange pas du poisson, de la viande, des oeufs, des produits laitières." (Eh... no. I don't eat fish, meat, eggs, dairy products.)

"Ah, c'est pas grave, nous avons des crustacés!" (Ah, that's okay, we have shellfish!)

"Ah... non."