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Original poster

Can you be a Vegetarian without being a PITA?

126 replies

charlietherednosedpussy · 13/12/2005 21:43

I am a vegetarian and I dont object to my food being cooked in or near meat. If someones threw a sausage on my plate I will discreetly throw it onto dps plate for him to eat.
If I go to someones house for dinner I will take my own stuff to pop in the oven to save the hassle of them looking for something.
I will cook a bacon sarnie and serve it without saying OINK.
I dont think im a PITA but veggies seem to be getting really bad press on MN at the moment.
Am I ? ...Are you?

OP posts:
motherinfurrierfestivehat · 14/12/2005 16:25

I scrounge a fabulous meal off at least two friends as regularly as I can, motivated purely by greed. They both also happen to be vegetarian. And come to that childless. Dinner round there is bliss

Tatties · 14/12/2005 16:26

Exactly WigWamBam.

moondog · 14/12/2005 16:26

I don't find vegetarians apita at all-apart from those who eat certain meats and not other. Wtf??

If a vegetarian is coming for dinner,I would probably just make a completely non meat meal-something I do a lot of anyway.

I wouldn't expect a vegetarian to cook meat for me or anyone else though,just as I wouldn't expect to be offered a glass of wine when eating in the home of a Muslim friend.
Had a terrible time with a 'vegetarian' (one of those who eats meat as and when she fancies it) friend who came to visit us in Russia (not Moscow,but the sticks) and then announced that she didn't like vegetables or salads either.

twirlingaroundthechristmastree · 14/12/2005 16:34

Intolerance is pretty unattractive in most forms - I think it simplifies back to that, doesn't it?

Mercy · 14/12/2005 16:57

Dh was a vegetarian until about 3/4 months ago (now eats some fish). He has never had any qualms re cooking meat for anyone else and always takes veggie sausages etc if we are invited to a barbecue and will eat whatever is offered at someone else's house (not the meat obv.) without complaint.

He does get annoyed when eating out though (and I think quite rightly)if there is no decent non-meat alternative. We've had some very tense moments in cafes & restaurants both here and abroad.

It still irritates me though!

GemgleBells · 15/12/2005 11:39

Agree with the eating out thing Mercy. One of Dh's favorite place's to eat (he's not veggie) has only 3 non-meat alternatives. Veggie burger, chilli and pasta to a watery tomato sauce. Where as the rest of the menu is hugh.

Does a great double chocolate cake with hot fudge souce though. Mmmmmmm

WigWamBam · 15/12/2005 11:45

And restaurants always seem to think that veggie options have to be spicy - our local restaurant offers spicy stuffed peppers, spicy tomato pasta and vegetable chilli. Yet another variation on the belief that all vegetarian food is bland, so needs to be spiced up to make it tasty.

feastofsteven · 15/12/2005 11:49

I'm a PITA and not a vegetarian

littledonkeyrach · 15/12/2005 11:51

Yes, WWB, whereas 15 yrs ago, all veggie food either had fish in it, or was mushroom strogonoff!!

I am veggie, a proper one! I cook meat for DH and DDs and family that come for food.
It is my choice to be veggie.

MIL moans about it frequently when we go and stay.

What annoys me is my stepkids who are veggie, but don't really like vegetables or beans, and prefer not to have pasta or rice.....but do like pizza and chips.

feastofsteven · 15/12/2005 11:53

WWB - pretty please could you have a quick look at Nikcola's thread in Health about panic attacks. thx

WigWamBam · 15/12/2005 11:53

Even 10 years ago all vegetarian food had fish in it or was mushroom stroganoff ... guess what my main course was at my wedding?

Even now things aren't much better; at dd's old nursery the vegetarian option was almost always fish, and there are still restaurants who mark their fish dishes with a V.

Blackduck · 15/12/2005 11:55

I think you can mark a decade by the veg option...
lasange, stroganoff and now its mushroom risotto...;)

wessexgirl · 15/12/2005 11:56

I became a PITA vegetarian at 16....

Then just a vegetarian at 23 (bored with all the self-justifying conversations)...

Then started eating fish after an illness at 26...

I've got less and less 'proper' vegetarian as I've aged but find it very hard not to refer to myself as one. Old habits die hard, even though I've been eating fish for 10 years now.

But who on earth would describe themselves as 'pescatarian'? Most people would just stare at you.

WigWamBam · 15/12/2005 12:07

A friend of mine calls herself vegetarian, but what she really means is she only eats meat that she thinks comes from animals with small brains - so fish, chicken and so on. For her it's just a label that means she won't be saddled with having to eat beef at other people's dinner parties - it's easier to say she's veggie than to run through the list of what she won't eat.

I say call yourself what you like and eat what you like ... life's too short to split hairs about what vegetarianism means to different people, or to belittle someone else's choices just because they're not quite the same as yours!

wessexgirl · 15/12/2005 12:12

Indeed, WigWamBam...my aunt often calls herself a veggie when what she means is that she will eat meat that doesn't look like meat e.g. mince.

I find this quite funny but I'm not about to slate her for it.

GemgleBells · 15/12/2005 15:31

Must admit to eating fish while pg and bf. Just craved it so very much, and there is no veggie substitute that tastes like fish. So proberly a PITA at the moment.

BluStocking · 15/12/2005 15:54

Charlie - take no notice - there was a general MN harrumphing about everything that day, and some scurrilous regulars were making sport, I think!

I couldn't be a vegetarian because every cafe / restaurant near us seems to thnk that vegetarians eat nothing but goats cheese. yuk!

Mercy · 15/12/2005 16:02

YOu forgot the omelette

wewishyouamerryKITTYmas · 15/12/2005 16:13

I'm vegetarian and not a PITA I cook meat for DP and DD.

What annoys me is the people who eat meat but don't want to face where it comes from for eg was telling MIL we used to have capon for Xmas dinner explaining it was a castrated chicken bred for the table, my Dad would get one off a farmer and would go and pick it and the farmer would kill it, pluck it etc the look of horror on her face "oh no I couldn't do that!" but you can buy one that's lived in it's own filth for 10 weeks of it's miserable life in a dark shed then killed by hanging upside down on shackles and dipped in water and electrocuted before having it's head cut off. (sorry if TMI) But it's OK as it comes to her nice and packed in the supermarket.

She feels sorry for me as if I am forced not to eat meat no it's my choice.

I'm not anti meat eating I'm anti animal cruelty to get that meat on the table.

ThePrisoner · 16/12/2005 23:42

Despite being a strict veggie (but I really don't go on and on about it unless there's a mumsnet thread on it!!), I'm married to a complete carnivore. He is really quite gross. I'll cook him meat, but only if it comes from a box in M&S and can just get chucked in the oven.

christmasdinnyer · 17/12/2005 00:05

same here, TP, dh is SUCH a meat-lover. always conflict over what the children should eat. I feed then veg, dh always feeds them meat. don't know what the answer is, dh will NEVER convert.

PantomimEDAMe · 17/12/2005 00:15

I am a PITA generally but being a vegetarian doesn't seem to cause any problems. I do get irritated by restaurants that offer fish dishes to vegetarians though.. err, that's not veggie. So I wish those PITA who call themselves veggie but actually eat fish (or chicken, FFS, have they ever stopped to think about that one) would stop because they are just creating problems for people who are actually vegetarian. Invent your own bloody description, don't nick ours and subvert it!

Actually, the people who really make me wonder are the meat-eaters who quiz you about being vegetarian. I try to be polite and not put them off their food but some people push and push to the point where you have to tell them... and then they look all repelled. Well, you did ask!

Caligyulea · 17/12/2005 00:16

I think whether you consider a vegetarian a PITA or not depends on your own attitudes.

I don't think it's a PITA to expect your food not to be prepared, cooked and served away from meat products tbh. In fact, I wouldn't dream of showing such a lack of consideration to any vegetarian by assuming that that would be OK. What's so bloody difficult about using a different knife?

And I'm a rabid meat eater.

PranSerahndDancer · 17/12/2005 00:16

One year I had a barbeque that all the usualy vegetarian friend didn't come to for one reason or another... but we did have one guest who stated herself as vegetarian.

Sooo... got the seperate BBQ fired up, plenty of veggie kebabs and burgers (aside from the table groaning with salads etc).

She ate a couple of kebabs and burgers and then finished off the plate of chicken. Well, it was only chicken, wasn't it?

I just drank some more wine.

On a genuine vegetarian note, I could be (slightly) offended if a veggie brought their own food round. It would be like saying you didn't like my food IYKWIM. I know its different for many though (does she eat wafer thin ham???)

ThePrisoner · 17/12/2005 00:20

Dh has only ever known me as a veggie, although I've got a lot stricter (he says "worse"!) over the years. I have never tried to convert him, and he wouldn't ever try to sway me either. In fact, despite the fact that he would happily rip the back leg off a cow and eat it raw, he will stick up for me big time when people have a go at me. He also eats loads of veggie meals at home, and tells people how yummy they are. He totally respects my views, and will explain to people why I don't really like my veg served with the spoon which had just served gravy (and he uses really big words and intimidates people!) He happily admits that I am much healthier than him.

He will eat absolutely anything, and probably has done. He's had some very dubious things in other countries. But I still won't kiss him if he's just eaten something dead.

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