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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand why some people dont eat meat free meals

467 replies

reducingfootprint · 21/06/2020 19:37

I do not call myself vegetarian but i eat meat rarely for health reasons (bowel cancer is common in the family) but i am happy to prepare it as my dh eats meat but enjoys meat free meals around 4 times a week. DC also eat meat free around 4 times a week. My siblings and their partners are also part time vegetarians and pre covid we all enjoyed getting together for meat free feasts.

When DM comes over, she refuses to eat anything without meat. Butternut squash soup? Needs bacon.
Halloumi fajitas? Needs beef.
Goats cheese and onion omelette? Needs chicken.
Plowmans salad? Needs ham.

AIBU to think ffs one meal without meat wont kill you!

OP posts:
SadSisters · 23/06/2020 18:55

I wouldn't go to a vegetarian restaurant for someone's birthday either (unless they didn't mind if I just had a drink and no dinner).

Would you genuinely not tolerate one less than stellar meal for the sake of celebrating a birthday for someone you care about?

EngiNerd · 23/06/2020 18:56

I think meat at every single meal is bizarre. I'm vegetarian now but even as a non veg I didn't have meat at every single meal and not even every day. What's even more bizarre are the people who refuse to eat vegetables.

On another note, my DH gave my MIL some Beyond Burgers a month ago. She's been cooking them up for FIL several days a week for the past 4 weeks and didn't tell him it's not meat. He's been telling her how great it is and he's been none the wiser. Finally told him two days ago and he was open to eating them again. Had he known before trying them that they were vegan he would've refused Grin

AintNoMaryPoppins · 23/06/2020 18:57

DH is like this. Doesn't see the 'point' if it doesn't have meat in it.

I do have meat in pretty much every meal however I wouldn't turn one down if I was cooked a vegetarian meal by someone else. It's not the end of the world to me even if I wouldn't choose to make it myself.

TazSyd · 23/06/2020 19:38

And the ignorant prejudices still keep coming. People who won't eat at a vegetarian restaurant sound like they must eat a very limited diet and must be very hard of thinking.

I don’t get this either.

Fair enough, the veggie option at an omnivore restaurant can be a bit dull but veggie restaurants are usually great. We have an 1847 near us and I love their food. It really broadens my horizons whenever I go there.

malificent7 · 23/06/2020 19:44

It is a bit odd and the world would be a better place if we all ate less meat but tbh it is a personal choice.

shinynewapple2020 · 23/06/2020 20:15

My DH is a bit like this.

I buy packs of ore-cooked chicken /crispy bacon /chorizo so I can cook myself a veggie curry/pasta/risotto then I just stir a bit of meat into DH's portion.

Strangely he's just ordered himself a pizza with veggie-only toppings and didn't even realise. If I'd made him one he'd be asking where the pepperoni was Hmm

oohnicevase · 23/06/2020 20:19

I was brought up in a very meat eating family , my dad fed me raw steak regularly and it was always a blue rare if cooked . I'm now a vegan and don't miss it , it's about training your mind . I believe you shouldn't eat it if you couldn't kill it yourself and of course everyone has a choice but it's very short sighted to think meat is everything !🙄

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 23/06/2020 20:21

Would you genuinely not tolerate one less than stellar meal for the sake of celebrating a birthday for someone you care about?

I would have to check the menu first to make sure I could eat something that wouldn't upset my stomach. Worst case scenario I'd ask for a plate of plain pasta (after checking with the restaurant first)

Ginfordinner · 23/06/2020 21:15

@PinkSparklyPussyCat no-one would berate you for not wanting to eat somewhere if it was a dietary/medical issue. The point that many of us have been making is that a lot of people are turning their noses up at meat free meals because they are fussy, ignorant, prejudiced, uneducated or just plain downright rude.

Refusing to go to a vegetarian restaurant for someone's birthday just because meat isn't served is petty and childish. IMO the person whose birthday it is gets to choose where they eat.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 23/06/2020 21:23

Thanks Ginfordinner. I often read these threads and worry what people I know think of me. I love the look of a lot of veggie meals, but it isn't worth the pain!

Anoisagusaris · 23/06/2020 21:29

I have no interest in eating pretend meat but happily eat decent vegetarian food. I would rather eat a good quality beef burger or a veggie/bean burger than quorn or anything processed to look like meat.

Things like veggie curry aren’t very filling IMO compared to chicken or meat one.

MitziK · 23/06/2020 21:29

[quote Ginfordinner]@PinkSparklyPussyCat no-one would berate you for not wanting to eat somewhere if it was a dietary/medical issue. The point that many of us have been making is that a lot of people are turning their noses up at meat free meals because they are fussy, ignorant, prejudiced, uneducated or just plain downright rude.

Refusing to go to a vegetarian restaurant for someone's birthday just because meat isn't served is petty and childish. IMO the person whose birthday it is gets to choose where they eat.[/quote]
Mind you, it's a handy way to make sure somebody doesn't come along and ruin your evening without you looking like an arsehole.

'I can't stand the bloody man/woman. I wish we didn't have to invite them, but you know we'd never hear the end of it if we didn't'.

'Hang on! I've got an idea. What if we book a table at...?'

'That's genius! We still invite them, they turn their nose up and think they're making an Important Statement of Power, we get to have a lovely meal without them poking at stuff, saying ''where's the meat, then?'' and ''this is shit, this is. Can't stand that muck, stick with what you know, that's what I always say, can't go wrong with a nice bit of beef'' or making gagging noises at the vegetable sides. BRILLIANT!'

Mum2jenny · 23/06/2020 21:37

Rarely eat meat free meals, or if I do it’s because they are fish based. Not too interested in vegi only meals although a vegi or vegan soup can be ok ( better with a meat based stock though imo).
Each to their own imo.

Colom · 23/06/2020 22:35

I'm a huge meat eater, I really love it and as I'm prone to iron deficiency I feel much better physically when I consume meat.

However, ethically I do feel guilty for the sheer amount we eat and how this contributes to the environmental shit show we find ourselves in, so have tried to reduce it dramatically.

Besides the very rare cooked breakfast we only have meat for dinner and we have to have at least two vegetarian meals per week. DH would always prefer meat and was reluctant to go along with this, but then he tried a delicious vegan chickpea and sweet potato curry I made one night and he's never complained since.

Vegetarian/vegan food can be delicious it just takes a bit of effort initially to work out what you like. I had veggie pakoras for lunch today with a huge pickled salad and mango chutney dip - mightn't sound anything special but it was so delicious!

Other favorites are bean burritos with sour cream/fried egg

A mezze, with hummus, pitta, olives etc. and we usually make sweet potato croquettes too

Black bean and avocado rice bowls

Admittedly it's nigh on impossible to have lo-carb veggie meals - I tried going strict vegan or a few months in my twenties and gained weight which I was surprised at. Definitely carb heavy which isn't great for my waistline sadly!

AliasGrape · 23/06/2020 22:46

I would rather eat a good quality beef burger or a veggie/bean burger than quorn or anything processed to look like meat.

It really bothers me that most places that do a veggie burger go down the meat replacement route. I love a good bean/chickpea type burger. A local pub used to do one that was so tasty and I would usually choose it even when I still ate meat. It’s now been replaced by a soya meatalike type which is nowhere near as good.

MrsAJ27 · 23/06/2020 22:48

OP why do you care? What has it got to do with you??

Colom · 23/06/2020 22:49

I wouldn't go to a vegetarian restaurant for someone's birthday either (unless they didn't mind if I just had a drink and no dinner).

How primitive...

PurpleDaisies · 23/06/2020 22:49

@AliasGrape I agree! I miss proper spicy bean burgers. Everything is always covered in nasty vegan cheese (I’m vegan and I wish it wasn’t there!).

AliasGrape · 23/06/2020 22:56

@PurpleDaisies - Yes that too! I would rather do without the cheese. (I never had normal cheese on my meat burgers either).

Aldi do quite a nice range of actual veggie burgers - there’s a beetroot one and a sweet potato one. They can be a bit dry though and I find I need to make a dressing of some sort. I’m yet to find a supermarket bean type burger that does it for me - they tend to be sad, frozen little things. I’ve tried making my own but I’m doing something wrong as they never hold together!

PurpleDaisies · 23/06/2020 22:58

Lidl spicy bean burgers are really nice. They’re the only ones I buy.

I haven’t seen the Aldi beetroot burgers-I’ll add those to the shopping list. Thanks!

fluffi · 23/06/2020 23:10

I think its rude to refuse or suggest improvements to meals that others are cooking for you. If I know friends are vegetarian I don't expect them to provide me with meat if I go over, one meat free meal won't kill me.

That said I always struggled when veggies come to mine for lunch/dinner and would spend hours researching online for recipes for a "nice" meal because breakfast is the only meal thats meat free (although if I had time to have smoked salmon and eggs or cooked breakfast everyday I would Smile).

Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese · 23/06/2020 23:13

I'm not particularly fussy when it comes to meat, DH will happily go meat free once or twice a week for dinner (I'm assuming reading the thread that it's about dinner and not all 3 meals)
So I meal plan around that, more often than not I don't bother cooking enough meat for me, but the sauce that I put over our dinners will be made using the juices from the meat.

My dad on the other hand, hasn't had a "real dinner" unless it's meat and 2 veg. Which is his perogative, however unlike a pp if we were all to go out for a family meal to a vegetarian restaurant (mum, ds and sil are all vegetarians) then he wouldn't object, he'd probably have a sausage or bacon butty before or after 🤦‍♀️

Ginfordinner · 23/06/2020 23:21

@Colom

I wouldn't go to a vegetarian restaurant for someone's birthday either (unless they didn't mind if I just had a drink and no dinner).

How primitive...

And ignorant.
BadLad · 24/06/2020 00:00

I eat some bowls of cereal every week and might have cheese on toast once in a while. I see those as snacks rather than meals. Apart from that, all my meals have meat. Tastiest part of any meal for me. Unless meat becomes illegal, that won't be changing any time soon.

That said, if someone cooked for me, it would be very bad manners to be anything other than appreciative. I'd have to leave the aforementioned beetroot burgers but that's because beetroot makes me heave, not because of the lack of meat. I'd eat everything else on the plate and quietly leave the beetroot to the side.

Astrid09 · 24/06/2020 04:07

Someone said they think it's bizarre that some people refuse to eat vegetables, I watched a health type programme looking into that and there's a percentage of people who's tounge has a stronger bitterness part than others and they will find them unbearable to eat and the worst veg are the green leafy tyoes. It was interesting to watch they did blind gold tests as well. My husband is one of them.