Eating a varied diet doesn't need a wanky label?

[Wherearemyminions]

Lots of articles and discussion in the media at the moment around diet, eating less meat, increased availability of vegan options etc. I keep seeing reference to Flexitarianism and think it's bonkers tbh.

I think we're a fairly typical household diet wise, I don't know anyone who has "meat and 2 veg" type meals every night, the last time I saw that was my grandparents in the 70s.

If we're eating out, sometimes I'll opt for the veggie/vegan option, purely because it's the thing I fancy or most like the look of on the menu.
At home, we probably have red meat once a fortnight, quite a bit of fish and chicken , maybe 3 or 4 times a week on average, the rest is plant based.

This is just being an omnivore, and eating a varied diet for taste, preference and choice with a nod to health and budget reasons.

I would not describe myself as flexitarian, or part time veggie/vegan, all of which I have seen recently. Unless you are actually vegetarian or vegan then no descriptive label of your diet is required.

I just eat whatever I want. Fed up of these “look at me! I’m eating a vegan/veggie/flexi-whatever-you-want-to-call-it diet” attention seekers. Nobody cares.

Technically I'm a "pescatarian" but I'd never go about calling myself that!!

Wine based ha!

I love that there are more meat-less options. Love that Greggs serve the vegan saus rolls & steak bakes now, every few weeks will get one when I'm out.

DS7 loves telling people he is pescatarian because he knows 99% of the time they won't have a clue what one is and he loves the attention

FWIW I've explained to DS that he can choose to eat whatever he likes at school - meat included. He's told me he'd rather eat how I eat. I fully expect this to change by secondary school!

@MyTuxFromProm

As I thought then!

I decided to buy lunch at the shop today.

I went from a chicken sandwich to a scotch egg, and ended up on a couscous feta thing.

Just think of all the wanky food labelling opportunities I missed had I instagrammed each option

Yep- I hate foods being labelled as "vegan" or "plant based" or whatever. It's just food!!!

YANBU

Unfortunately there's an increasing trend for wanting a wanky label to seem special/cool/most oppressed/most enlightened/delete as appropriate.

I eat a low meat, balanced diet, and have done for years. I didn't need a wanky label then and don't now.

Well, I mean you do actually have to label food vegan etc so people can tell it’s vegan. Some people have to avoid dairy for example because of deadly allergies. You can’t just say well it’s all food!! And expect them to guess.

Yes, but a cauliflower is a cauliflower. Just food. It may be vegan, but anyone is allowed to eat it.
I agree- labelling food products, like ready sandwiches- needs to be done.

Agreed. I say it's called being an omnivore.

Mind you, maybe it is a bit of a pushback against the assumption that someone will eat meat every meal. Not so much at home, but at cafes and restaurants I remember when ordering a dish without meat or fish in it would seem weird - and when there'd be very few such dishes on the menu.

Since I am an omnivore, I don't think much of the various fake meat things that have suddenly become super trendy. I'm sceptical about the health and environmental impacts of them. But I can see how they give more food options to vegetarians and vegans.

I agree with that.

@grafittiartist agreed re a cauliflower but a lot of stuff isn’t so clear cut e.g cheese often isn’t vegetarian, wine can be vegetarian, vegan or neither as can beer etc. In those cases if you need/want to know it’s useful, if you don’t ignore it!

I think I'll announce I'm a junkfoodtarian. I shall make sure I put it down as my dietary requirement in future.

Agree, I'm sick of all this wellness nonsense- talking about kale as though it's a new discovery: it's been grown for centuries!

My dear old Gran always talked about eating everything, but in moderation. And she was right.

I don't think much of the various fake meat things that have suddenly become super trendy

I caught some programme, maybe six months ago, comparing sausage maufacturing to manufacturing Quorn. I think it was intended to put people off eating sausages but to be honest I've always known sausages contained all the scrappy bits, that's kind of the whole point of them, and the Quorn manufacturing process is the most repulsive thing I've ever seen.

In the past I would have eaten Quorn at a push but after seeing it made, that's become a flat 'no'.

Happy to eat vegetable dishes if someone doesn't want to eat meat or fish, I like vegetables, but you can shove your substitutes.

I'm wary of The Labels. People misuse them all the time anyway if they use them to refer to how they eat only. There is a lot more to veganism, for example, than just food. And didn't the word vegetarian come from something other than vegetables, because it's a way of living, not just eating veg..? I'm sure I read that somewhere.

It's useful in restaurants though, if you have special requirements. Otherwise I don't like them in general.

I also think that flexitarians / reducitarians are just omnivores. I mean, aren't they? I probably am one, or maybe I am an 'almost vegan', as I heard Grace Dent refer to herself as recently... depends on the day! I think people like the labels to prove they aren't scoffing steak every night, but who does that, unless they're on the Atkins diet?

I don’t know why anyone saying they’re flexitarian would be annoying to you, tbh, or why you would care. Some of my family members describe themselves as this, it’s just a shorthand for “mostly vegetarian” or “vegetarian except if it makes things awkward”. They don’t buy meat and choose vegetarian options wherever possible, but they don’t feel terrible if they’re stuck at a service station and the only options are ham or chicken sandwich, for example. Or if they go round to old Aunt Mary’s and she’s made a quiche with bacon especially for them to try. It saves the “Oh but I thought you were vegetarian!” From onlookers.

You “would not describe yourself as flexitarian” - well of course not! If you eat meat 3-4 times a week you’re nowhere near it!

LolaSmiles, out of interest, what do you call a “low meat diet”?

I probably am one, or maybe I am an 'almost vegan', as I heard Grace Dent refer to herself as recently...
You must have missed the thread on here a few months ago where some posters were claiming that someone can totally be vegan whilst having egg-containing cake when they're out and about because they're reducing the amount of animal products they consume.

Some posters (rightly!) said they have no problems catering to dietary requirements and preferences as long as people don't take the piss and say they have to have vegan cheese, send the host out their way to cater for it, only to have a few spoonfuls of their DH's non-vegan pudding 'to taste'. Apparently if a host found this behaviour rude and irritating then they couldn't have been a good host and the "vegan" wasn't being misleading at all.
'Redefining language to suit how I view myself and to show how special I am' is quite the trend.

But there's no such thing as 'mostly vegetarian' or 'vegetarian when I can be bothered' you're either vegetarian or you're not.

And if you're not, there's already a word for it, which is omnivore. Most meals don't have meat in them. It's nothing special to have beans on toast, egg and chips or macaroni cheese for dinner. It's just food.

I agree with Barbara.

maybe I am an 'almost vegan', as I heard Grace Dent refer to herself as recently

I've heard people call themselves 'vegan-ish'. There's even (more than one!) a book about it

That’s your opinion Barbara, but anyone who wants to is entirely entitled to use words in whichever way they choose to define themselves and their diet. You can have whatever opinion you want about it, of course, but just because you find it annoying, it doesn't mean it’s not valid.

Pomegranateseeds
2/3 meals a day are no meat/fish, some days 3/3 meals are no meat/fish. When do eat meat it tends to be a small amount (e.g lardons in a veg based pasta dish or risotto). If I want to enjoy a more meat based meal then I do, usually that's when eating out hello Sunday roast

I'm not a big meat lover to be honest so can take it or leave it. It's cheaper to not eat meat too (if you're interested in buying well-sourced meat). I like fish and dairy so veganism is out for me.

Really it's not that exciting and just everything in moderation.

@BarbaraofSeville

Some vegetarians I know just don’t eat meat or fish but will eat non vegetarian cheese, wine, sweets etc

Some just don’t eat meat but eat fish (pescatarians really but call themselves vegetarians because more people understand the term)

Some are super strict and won’t eat anything with any meat products at all

Some (me) don’t eat meat and fish and do their best to avoid any traces of meat product while not wanting to spend their lives scouring every label more than I do already (T1 diabetic) so I accept accidents will happen.

So it’s not really all that simple and I don’t really care what other people call themselves.

LolaSmiles that sounds similar to me (except I don't like meat in a sunday dinner either, and I only eat fish about once a month;not keen). I love cheese though. I don't bother with a label myself but it doesn't bother me if people do.

Incidentally I'm the same about sexuality. (don't label myself but not a problem if someone else does...)