Vegetarianism
So, I’m vegetarian for the most part. I have chicken about once in 2 weeks to a month. It’s not like I time it such that I eat it once a fortnight, or anything, it’s just how it happens. Also, I only eat boneless chicken. I don’t want to see the bones and the veins, and I definitely do not want anything ground up like sausage, nuggets or ham. As a child though, apparently I LOVED fish more than anything in the world. And then I woke up one day and just hated it. Couldn’t eat it anymore. And when fish went, so did everything else from under the sea. I don’t even remember cutting out seafood from my life, that’s how long ago this was. The next to go was mutton. Which I stopped because the texture bothered me. Beef is not allowed in Hinduism and even if I wanted to try it out of curiosity, I couldn’t bring myself to because it’s kinda like asking dog lovers to eat dog meat (Ooh, I got shudders typing that. Was just trying to explain my point of view). Pork has a distinct smell that I can’t get past. All of this “I don’t want to eat this” before I was 12 years old. The only thing left was chicken, and I thought I might stop eating that as well, and go full vegetarian. I lasted for seven years before it came crashing down on a McSpicy (It’s a burger with a fried chicken thigh in Singapore’s McDonalds). My cravings just got really bad one month and I felt like fangs were growing out of me. Since then, I eat chicken on an occasional basis. And that’s all I can eat. I can’t eat chicken every single day, or a few times in a week because that’s too much for me. Overall, I’m happy with my diet-based choices, and I’m pretty comfortable with it.
The problem begins when I have to tell people. You know, for social reasons. And as a chicken eating vegetarian, these are the questions and comments I have heard, since I was 12 years old:
Q: Is it because you’re Indian?
A: Maybe, since quite a bit of us are vegetarian? Some sort of genetic disposition maybe.
Q: Are you trying to lose weight?
A: What do you think Carol? *Purchases large french fries from McDonalds.
Q: Wait, what about protein? You know a vegetarian diet is pretty carb loaded right? It’s just potatoes. (If I had a dollar for every time someone told me a vegetarian diet is just potatoes, I could probably buy myself a new iMac AND an iPhone X. Well. I guess it’s not that common of a thing to hear after all)
A: Potatoes have eight whole grams of protein, Carol. Eight! *Proceeds to eat a french fry
Bonus follow up Q: You CAN’T lose weight on a vegetarian diet!
A: Watch me, Carol. *Takes out another french fry
Q: Do you eat eggs?
A: Yes, I love eggs!
Q: Are you doing this for ethical reasons? Aren’t you killing plants anyway? Who told you plants don’t have thoughts and emotions?
A: I'm sorry to disappoint, but I wish I cared more about this. I'm not that type of vegetarian.
Q: Can I eat meat in front of you?/I’m so sorry but I HAVE to have my beef burger/bacon/sushi etc.
A: Yes, don't even worry about it.
Q: I could never be vegetarian, I love meat too much.
A: I could never be a meat-eater either because I hate meat too much. LOL.
Q: But like, based on evolution, we are supposed to be eating meat.
A: Based on evolution, I thought intelligence was supposed to precede but look where we are.
Q: Don’t you get cravings to eat meat?
A: No, I get cravings for spinach and broccoli. No, I wasn't joking, I genuinely get cravings for specific vegetables.
Q: Wait, so you have eaten meat and seafood before? And you don't think (insert meat/seafood dish you adore) is delicious?
A: No, I really don't.
Q: You just haven't eaten (meat/seafood item) that was cooked right. Try (insert meat/seafood dish you think is healthy/delicious) and you will LOVE it!
A: I'm good Carol. *continues to shovel fries into face.
All this snafu over something so simple – I don’t eat seafood and meat because I don’t like them. Like how I don’t like cooked carrots (the texture bothers me) and raw tomatoes (the taste bothers me). In Tamil, we have a word used to describe everything that is not vegetarian (eggs, meat, seafood) – கவுச்சி/kowchi (pronounced cow-chee). Some people even describe cow milk as “kowchi”. I couldn’t find a proper English term to explain this with and I’m not sure if the term embodies the smell, the nature or the taste of the food. I don’t eat meat and seafood because the “kowchi” bothers me. It’s for this reason, no matter how much you convince me saying it’s vegetarian and even vegan, I won’t eat seaweed. Because to me, it has the same “kowchi” smell as fish. And it’s for this reason, I eat boneless chicken and eggs because my brain doesn’t quite register them as “kowchi”. Because to me, it’s like tofu.
The number of times I’ve had to launch into a full debate, and the number of times when I’ve been around someone who follows a certain diet pattern due to personal/health/religious reasons and has had to defend their choices, or, impose their choices onto others is shocking. Both sides suddenly adopt a “holier than thou” attitude, justifying their actions on aforementioned reasons. The sudden sense of self-righteousness is appalling. Over something as simple as what one chooses to consume. Which just makes me wonder, who did you start your vegan/vegetarian/keto/paleo diet for? Whatever happened to “Do you boo!” If you chose it for your health, and it worked fabulously for you, why should it fit all? If you say you are on a certain diet out of compassion for animals, why can’t you exercise said compassion towards fellow humans? If you are observing a diet for external reasons and you think would be beneficial for society, lead by example and inspire change. We need to be respectful of the fact that food is a commodity. Livelihoods depend on what we do or don’t eat, and it’s not as simple as let’s all go (insert diet plan) and save the world! From my point of view, diets started out based on the availability of resources, and were later enforced by factors such as religion for reasons such as self-discipline and division. Today, the barriers don’t necessarily exist anymore, so we have the option of picking and choosing our diet. And with the Internet, we are lucky to be informed on the decision that we are making. For ourselves. We think we know what we are doing, so it’s only fair to assume such of others. Respect each other’s choices.
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