Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why some people claim to be a vegetarian yet still eat meat?

103 replies

HamstersAndHockeySticks · 17/09/2014 18:50

Not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things but I do find it odd.

I knew someone a few years ago who liked to remind people that she was a vegetarian and made a big song and dance about the fact she had to make sure she ate enough nuts and seeds, etc to get protein. Fair enough. Except this person would regulary eat fish, chicken curry and hotdogs Confused. This was the work canteen so I knew it was actual chicken and hot dogs rather than meat substitutes. She also ate McDonald's big macs however she would tell people that McDonald's burgers weren't really made from meat, but simply animal fat Confused. Even if that was true, which it never has been as far as I know, where exactly did she think animal fat comes from?

I've also met a couple of other people who claimed they were a vegetatian but still ate meat in some form but none were as entertaining as she was.

OP posts:
SquirrelWearingATrilby · 17/09/2014 21:46

I was vegetarian for 3 years and I worked with a girl who had been vegetarian for her whole life. She wasn't averse to eating gelatine or wearing leather as that was "so fussy" though.

It was a bacon sarnie made me realise that I do like to eat meat.

(went on holiday to the US and one of the meals on the plane was tiny sarnies, 2 meat, 1 egg. Asked my now-ex to swap his 1 egg with my 2 meat and he said "NO" but he still wanted my meat sarnies. I screwed them up and put them in the bin. Think that was the beginning of the end there!)

Justagirlintheworld · 17/09/2014 22:05

It is pretty annoying having to specify to people that no, I don't eat chicken, fish, gelatine, etc. I now get in before further questioning that I don't eat anything that had eyes, a mouth or a bum-hole. That usually clears things up!

BettyFlour · 17/09/2014 22:21

YANBU

5 or so years ago I had a colleague who was a pescatarian, but insisted to everyone that she was vegetarian. This irritated me slightly...

Then I discovered that my MIL (who calls herself vegetarian) eats chicken....and ham and sauces from meat stews (I.e eats the stew the meat has been cooked in, but removes the meat)...! Wtf!?

pourmeanotherglass · 17/09/2014 22:27

Depends who you're pretending to,

Some people may be fussy about what meat they are prepared to eat (free range/organic etc) so find it safer to put themselves down as veggie for meetings/functions/school dinners etc.

BettyFlour · 17/09/2014 22:37

Yes pour I agree with you there.

I was vegetarian for years and like a PP, it was a bacon sandwich that did it for me (that is got me eating meat again!), now I eat meat, but wouldn't pork or eat a lot of game etc or random internal bits...! So I often put myself down as veggie for events.

But I don't tell friends and family I'm vegetarian...because...ummm....well.....I'm not!

BettyFlour · 17/09/2014 22:37

Ps I know bacon is pork (but it's the only pork I eat!) - see I told you I was fussy re: meat

Iggi999 · 17/09/2014 22:44

I've never got what the massive appeal of a bacon sandwich is.

Iggi999 · 17/09/2014 22:45

..it's often quoted as the reason for the vegetarian's downfall, it isn't the nicest meat surely?

BettyFlour · 17/09/2014 22:46

No... But it smells nice and tastes great! Well to me snyway

ScrambledeggLDCcakeBOAK · 17/09/2014 22:46

I don't really say I'm vegi but most people try to put me in that box because I really don't like meat.

I try to explain but it ends up in a back and forth until in the end I say I'm not a vegetarian I'm meat free but if you want to think of me as one to make it easier for your menu preparation that's fine.

I don't eat meat, I occasionally eat fish but I'm mostly meat/fish free diet I don't see why that is so difficult for people to get it sounds simple to me

BettyFlour · 17/09/2014 22:47

And it has to be super crispy....mmmmm

ScrambledeggLDCcakeBOAK · 17/09/2014 22:50

The real reality is I like the smell of meat and I like the taste but I can not stand the texture. My whole throat closes and I can't swallow it so I end up looking like a hamster Blush and if I do manage to get it down I feel very nauseated.

In fact it's actually a very stressful topic for me, so I just stay away from meat now.

BettyFlour · 17/09/2014 22:55

scrambled I felt like this until DH introduced me to fillet steak, cut almost wafer thin. Flash fry it. And it's so incredibly soft, it almost falls apart.

Or I do a stew and cook it slowly for hours! For me I always hated chewing, chewing, chewing. So very soft, falls apart in your mouth meat is lovely.

Or maybe you'd still have difficulty with that?

Original poster
HamstersAndHockeySticks · 17/09/2014 22:56

BettyFlour nah it has to be as undercooked as possible...nice and rare...mmmm...

OP posts:
CalamitouslyWrong · 17/09/2014 23:21

I get very annoyed at certain people in DH's family who claim an 'intolerance' to various foodstuffs, but who will happily eat it when they feel like it. Usually they make some remark that they 'shouldn't' be eating cake (or quiche! when apparently they're intolerant to egg) and they'll be very bloated in the morning. They're just attention seeking arses (to put it mildly, and in more ways than just this).

I know several people with real food intolerances and allergies and they don't pick and choose when they're intolerant/allergic. They don't look at a well stocked table of choices and pick up the only things that affect them badly. Nor do they make a massive song and dance about it so that everyone within 50m is aware that they're being 'naughty' and 'shouldn't' be eating whatever the thing is.

I'm pretty certain DH's incredibly irritating aunt would be a vegetarian who eats steak if she thought it would get her some attention/allow her to make demands of people and then not eat the specially prepared stuff because she could eat the stuff she's allegedly intolerant to it. The worst thing is that she won't cater to other people's dietary requirements. Indeed, she ensured that there was no vegetarian food whatsoever (well a couple of crudités) at her son's wedding (would gave cost more). She did insist that there was a tier of egg- and dairy-free wedding cake, but then chose to eat the normal cake because it 'tasted nicer'. Some intolerance...

People like her make life so much harder for people who actually need to control their diet (whether for medical or ethical reasons). She is a truly awful woman.

Deckmyballs · 17/09/2014 23:27

Yanbu. I know of someone who is vegetarian although allows themself the odd treat from none other than the kebab shop! Hmm

ScrambledeggLDCcakeBOAK · 17/09/2014 23:37

Aw thanks Betty

dh is a great cook and has tried all sorts of methods/cuts etc for me and Iv tried very hard incase it had become a stress reaction to being forced as a child (parents thought I was being fussy) but no it's just the way I'm wired I think.

Thanks again for the suggestions though esp as you were the same so it may have been helpful.

magpiegin · 18/09/2014 04:01

I had a housemate who was vegetarian but he ate duck because animals that live in water don't count.

LatteLoverLovesLattes · 18/09/2014 04:03

Because there are some very weird twats out there?!

They really really don't help us actual vegetarians. Idiots.

MidniteScribbler · 18/09/2014 04:24

I have a friend who is vegetarian, but says she is vegan when going out/being catered for because she finds that often people don't consider things like the stock they use, gelatine, etc, but if she says vegan then they do.

Random1999 · 18/09/2014 05:01

Ugh this pisses me off so much. Ive been vegetarian since i was 6 because I "became" intolerant to most meats, fish, bacon, chicken and all cold meats and was ill on many occasions until my mum stopped cooking me meats now I dont eat ANY meat at all, not even gelatin or anything like that. I wont even fry my food in a frying pan thats had meat in it without a wash (not being precious just bits of meat fall off and stay in the oil) yet someone I know had the audacity to tell me shes veggie WHILE eating a big mac.... Also back when I was in year 7 or 8 I asked for a vegetable pasty at lunch SPECIFYING to the woman serving that i couldnt eat meat and she gave me a ham one, I was ill for nearly 3 days after and her defense was "I thought you ate it"... its really annoying tbh.

sashh · 18/09/2014 06:11

hackmum

I would ask you about it if I was cooking for you.

I once did a vegan (yes I know you said vegi) dinner party and had to think about honey, decided not to use it.

When my guests arrived I asked, apparently honey was OK with them. As was wine/beer.Hmm

As for fish vs meat.

Fish can be farmed so objection to farming methods can be applied as much to fish as meat.

And if an animal is going to die to provide food surely it is more ethical to kill a cow that will feed a family than a fish that will feed one person for one meal?

Personally I don't understand vegetarians who drink milk. Yes the cow that was milked is alive, but it didn't just spontaneously start producing milk, it gave birth. What do you think happened to the calf?

Random1999 · 18/09/2014 06:23

Because milk didn't get its throat cut....

poolomoomon · 18/09/2014 07:00

Yeah my Dad is a 'vegetarian' that eats beef Hmm. I corrected my DGM and told her she's not a vegetarian, she's a pescetarian because she hasn't eaten meat for 45 years now but she loves fish, she does now call herself pescetarian.

I used to find it easier to say I was a veggie even though I ate fish and occasionally ate chicken years ago because most people don't know what a pescetarian is and I couldn't be bothered explaining so vegetarian was easier. I realise I was technically an omnivore that hated red meat and pork but that's harder for people to grasp Wink.

I am now a fully fledged vegetarian so no longer lying to myself and to others, rest assured.

poolomoomon · 18/09/2014 07:09

Oh and also there's the people who swear they're a vegetarian but happily consume gelatine or non-vegetarian whey powder. There's a girl I know that's a 'vegetarian' but eats sweets and things like party rings that are glazed with gelatine, I raised it with her and she said 'it's a byproduct so doesn't count' Hmm. She honestly saw gelatine being the same as milk and eggs. It isn't, gelatine is technically still a meat product as is whey powder that contains rennet from a cows stomach (most of nestle and mars products are not vegetarian for e.g)

I tried being vegan last year and I couldn't hack it tbh. I think vegans who do stick at it are absolute saints, truly don't know how they manage it. There's temptations everywhere and eating out is sooo difficult. Plus I was deficient in B12 and my mind started getting all forgetful, I couldn't even name an animal that started with the letter N one day for example. I even started dreaming about eating eggs and cadburys chocolate towards the end, when I did give in it was such a damn relief. I'm obviously a bad, bad person Wink.