[Sca-cooks] meat "substitutes"- Rant

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Tara Sersen Boroson wrote:


>> OK, so a strict diet of salad is not my personal
>> choice, and can become very old very quickly, but if
>> YOU choose not to eat meat, why not respect your own
>> choice, and NOT EAT MEAT?
>
>
>
> Your point?  That's exactly what people are doing.


Agreed, but it seems for some, it's difficult to completely wean
themselves off meat, and that way tofu hotdogs and tofurkey lie. My own
feeling is that while I am not a vegetarian by any stretch of the
imagination (many of best friends were steaks), I happen to _like_ tofu
on its own merits, and consider it slightly degrading to a perfectly
good food to see it relegated to being a fake something else.


>
>
>> And why must vegetabletarians try to "convert" the
>> rest of us, particularly by trying to tell us that "it
>> tastes just like (whatever)"?
>
> Not all vegetarians do try to convert.  I've been accused of "trying to
> convert" people after they grilled me about why I asked the waitress at
> a diner not to bring me bacon with my breakfast.  I didn't bring up the
> subject, I merely answered their questions.  If you don't want to hear
> it, don't ask.  And, as for the "tastes just like," well, if you're
> going to a vegetarian household they may well be trying to accomodate
> your tastes within their bounds.


I have to agree here, they don't try to convert all the time (although
sometimes they do), but I think a lot of pressure is from directions
like marketing, and then people repeat the nonsense they hear. On the
other hand, I don't know how well the idea of simultaneously trying to
accomodate tastes within certain boundaries holds up. I mean, either
you're going to compel your guest to be a vegetarian if you are one, or
you aren't. The in-between approach seems kind of wishy-washy. Certainly
if I invite a vegetarian or a vegan over, I do everything I can to
accomodate their dietary preferences and needs, and at no time do I make
a clever artichoke molded from ground beef and consider my
responsibilities as a host fulfilled.

> I've generally only heard such
> comments when people were extremely reticent about trying something new.


True. It seems to suggest that the person doesn't know what the thing
tastes like, after all, so this seems perfectly reasonable.


>
>
>> Why can't the vegetabletarians just eat what they want
>> to eat (or not eat) and leave the rest of us alone to
>> enjoy our own dinners, with or without red meat, white
>> meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, cheese, hot
>> peppers, nuts, fungi, saffron, eggplant, or (shudder)
>> bell peppers?
>
>
>
> And why can't omnivores leave vegetarians alone to eat what they want
> without harping on them?  I never once tried to proselytize to anyone.


Probably the sooner we all stop speaking in generalizations ("There!
That's wot I'm on about! You 'eard 'im speakin' in generalizations,
didn't you?"), the better off we'll all be.


> Yet, a million times someone asked me why I didn't order meat at a
> restaurant, then proceeded to spend the rest of the meal mocking me "Oh,
> look!  Big chunk of pig!  My favorite!  Oink, oink.  Want some?"  Or, my
> favorite - "You know, those eggs you're eating are a chicken abortion."
>  I loved that one, because I got to tell them that they were wrong.
> It's chicken menstruation.
>
> Yes, some vegetarians are annoying.  Some omnivores, especially the ones
> who insist that they are "carnivores" and that they are at the "top of
> the food chain" are a million times more annoying.



Yes, but are either even half as annoying as those who say my all-time favorite, "I don't eat bait"? Personally, I think stupid people come in all types. Or maybe it's only one type. Stupid.


Adamantius

--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98