Vegetarian at work buys chicken pasta but picks the chicken out??

[rhysella]

She claims she's a vegetarian for moral reasons but still BUYS the chicken pasta at work, but picks it out. I've suggested to her that she's still funding the animals death and that if she likes the chicken, she may as well have eaten that.. probably fairer to the chicken that died. She looked disgusted at me and apparently I don't understand vegetarianism and that she physically can't bring her self to eat "the poor animal that should never have been food". I fully understand why vegetarians have that view, I do. However, surely you don't then BUY chicken??

I know this is is pointless

This is weird and illogical of her: firstly, I don’t know a vegetarian who would deliberately choose a meat-based dish and pick the meat out; secondly, if she does actually care about the animal welfare issue, why buy something almost certainly factory farmed? And if you do choose to buy meat, wasting it seems to just add to the insult to the animal (not to mention it being a bit unhygienic to dump meat in the bin).

BarbaraofSevillle
Flexitarian ignites a quite disproportionate white-hot-rage in my very soul at the sheer idiocy of the entire thing. Jesus Mary & Joseph how did someone manage to repackage & sell omnivore (well, frugivore, technically, I think?) like that?! "Yes, yes, it's just the standard diet the majority of people eat; but now attention-seeking eejits who've not the self-control to actually go vegetarian can annoy everyone by hashtagging things unnecessarily & making a huge fuss about wanting special food. Perfect way to tap into the "vapid, egocentric & self-absorbed" market."

As for your woman with the chicken pasta, OP... feck knows what she's about, but she's no vegetarian. Saying you're a thing doesn't make you it, and while, as PPs have said, you might accidentally end up eating something that isn't vegetarian whilst abroad due to labelling issues &/or language barriers (but that doesn't tend to be an Actual Bits Of Meat/Fish situation, unless they are Stealthily Lurking & discovered by finding a piece in your mouth), This Is Not That. I caused a restaurant in Bern to change their menu because what looked vegan from description was not. Realised before eating as was obvious on seeing it. Waiter was v haughty & then v angry about my being right. With a side of weirdly aggressive about my speaking German, possibly because it removed his ability to rant about British people not speaking any other languages &/or to claim the menu was only wrong in English. Also, her whole "poor chicken" routine = completely unacceptable. Even if she were an actual vegetarian & not pulling this ridiculous nonsense, it isn't appropriate to be mewling over the fate of what's being dished up for lunch/what other people are/may be eating. And I say that as a vegan.

Are there any adopt-a-goat type-programmes that do chickens? Could [a group of*] you club together & get her some chickens, with a note to say that you're trying to go some way to offsetting her chicken footprint; something that you're sure she, as a committed flexitarian, will be hugely concerned about?

• if there are others being subjected to this ridiculousness...

I admire vegetarians who don’t eat meat out of principle.

One vegetarian friend of mine who has t eaten meat in twenty years because ratings meats means the death of an animal has absolutely no issue with buying leather shoes and bags. That to me is also baffling.

Yeah, supply and demand. This is stupid.

I'm also curious about Positively PERF's reasoning since to give a fuller quotation, it was I am vegetarian and I have, on occasion, had meals where I have picked the meat out - vegetable soup with lumps of ham in, or salad with tuna sprinkled on it. All the occasions I can think of though are in foreign countries where vegetarianism is rare and language barriers have made things difficult

Personally, I think someone can be vegetarian under these circumstances. it's no meal, or pick the bits of meat off. So I'd pick the bits of meat off. (But then a lot of the reason I don't eat meat other than fish is because I hate the taste and texture).

With the leather shoes thing people keep mentioning sometimes people go vegan and still have a whole wardrobe of stuff from before. Better to use it until it wear out (some donate to charity shop) than to chuck it all out. Then replace as you go with the non-leather shoes/belts etc.

Why do you care?

The friend I was referring to has been vegetarian for over twenty years. She does not own any shoes or bags that are twenty years old! In fact she has shoes and bags that are under a year old. She doesn’t bat an eyelid at using leather products as to quote her ‘the animal is already dead’. The same could be said for eating meat though. I simply do not get that logic.

tbf to some ‘vegetarians’ like this, it might be that they want to reduce rather than eliminate meat, but if they don’t say they’re vegetarian someone will make them eat meat when they don’t want to. Like going to someone’s house for a meal, if they say they’re veggie, nobody is going to serve them a slab of meat

I’m what i’d call an “ethical vegetarian”. I eat veggie 99% of the time. However if I am absolutely certain the meat is ethically farmed- so only if it’s been sourced and purchased by me (we have a local farm)- i do eat meat.

If people find out I eat meat though I immediately get “you’re not veggie” and then think it’s fine to serve me meat, and generally treat me like I’m some sort of huge attention seeker when I say I’m veggie. Basically treat me like a child refusing to eat their vegetables.

It’s the same with alcohol. I rarely drink. so when someone catches me drinking it’s we knew you weren’t teetotal and huge pressure to drink.

But yes, picking meat out of a dish is just wrong.

I don't like food waste but can't see why anyone should otherwise care in the slightest (what the woman calls herself or how she eats).

I don't know why it matters.

It's not really impacting the OP.

*Splurge77

@PositivelyPERF - curious to see your reasoning there.*

The juice from the flesh will have seeped into the food. If you’re going to eat food soaked in animal juices, then you might as well eat the meat. As for eating animals once or twice a year, because they’re ‘ethically’ sourced, you’re still eating meat, so not a vegetarian. I get fucked off with ‘part time’ vegetarians because you make it more difficult for those who don’t ‘actually eat meat’! I get enough pollocks asking me why I can’t pick the flesh out of a sandwich or meal, without hearing about such’n’such is a vegetarian and does it, or eats fish, or only eats their own rescue hens’ eggs and is vegan. FFS.

Not my business no, but when she's flicking the chicken in the bin right in front of me and saying "god poor thing" and then tucking right into the pasta, but hard to not make it your business

Just seen this comment. I hope you say something, that'd totally get on my boobage!
I wouldn't be able to bite my tongue.
" If you feel that strongly, pasta actually comes without chicken too so you won't be contributing to its suffering?"

She's not a vegetarian. She is a knobber though.

It's not really impacting the OP.

It does though. It's wasteful. We share a planet with limited resources. Peoples' choices do affect others.

It's also just fucking annoying watching someone who claims to be vegetarian buy something with chicken in, then throw the chicken away. The OP came here for a whinge - and why not. There are plenty of sillier threads.

About all those saying ‘not your business’ tbf many vegetarians are very vocal in saying they are vegetarian. When I meet my friend for dinner, we often go to vegetarian restaurants and so forth. When she then shows me her latest leather handbag, it is odd. I don’t understand why it’s ok to wear leather shoes and bags but eating the meat of the same animal is seen as unnecessary and quite often disgusting.

I'd describe myself as 'I don't really eat meat' rather than a vegetarian, because although I don't eat actual meat I don't take a huge amount of notice of what things are made of and therefore do eat things that a proper veggie wouldn't (e.g I'm not too fussy about how the gravy was made, and I eat parmesan). And even I wouldn't do that, I'd always choose a non meat pasta salad!! She is definitely definitely not a vegetarian.

OP - you stated that she still BUYS the chicken pasta at work, is this from a work canteen?
If so, is there a decent vegetarian option?

Chicken, surely the animal with the worst welfare rights possible. Even non vegetarians don't eat it.

That is worse than eating the meat, IMO (lapsed vegetarian). She is wasting the chicken. At least somebody could have got some nutrition from the animals death.

I've been vegetarian since forever. I don't preach, and I don't openly condemn what other people do (just in my head, of course). But this woman is seriously not remotely vegetarian, and pronouncing herself as one and then binning the chicken just makes her look stupid.

I'm a vegetarian and my pet hate is people policing my eating. They are always so concerned about what im eating and why. Okay she doesn't sound like a vegetarian but don't let it bother you. Plenty of people eat chicken, just let her do what she wants with her lunch.

Sadly this attitude doesn’t seem to uncommon for me. My mum is vegetarian as she’s allergic to meat and poultry (god forbid she ever try seafood.. lucky she’s not interested) and it’s amazing the amount of people who think “oh if I just pick out the meat it’s vegetarian” like fucking no!

I have several friends who describe themselves as vegetarian, but they eat fish. In my opinion they are just as vegetarian (i.e, not) as me. I eat meat, but avoid offal and shellfish.

"at least if said animal is killed and eaten, it’s better than being killed and binned by a veggie? So it was killed for nothing then "

Not really. Why would the animal care WHY it was killed. I don't think killing an animal for food is any better than killing it for any other unnecessary reason, at least when there is the option of other food.

I'm afraid I do this. I became a vegetarian initially for principled reasons, but over the years grew to dislike the taste as well. I'm now no longer vegetarian, but still eat very little meat, and will buy a chicken dish if there's not much else available, but because I'm still not keen on meat, I'll leave some of it.