Back in high school, I stopped eating meat: no red meat, no pork products, no poultry and no seafood (which I hadn't ever eaten anyway). It started out simply; I love animals, and that seemed reason enough for me.
But I'm from Buffalo, the land of wings and (roast) beef on (kimmel)weck. My friends started to tease me and labeled me as a bleeding heart, so I started to do some research to back up my new lifestyle.
Pretty soon, I was reading up on all the information I could find about vegetarianism and turned my new passion into a thesis research project.
GoVeg.com and PETA.org seemed to be a little heavy on the propaganda side, so I turned to environmentalists and anthropological research, to learn about the health benefits of a diet low in red meat and cholesterol and the economic ramifications of ranching practices in Third World countries.
I learned about the hormones and antibiotics pumped into animals to increase output of product and about the water and fossil fuels pumped into the meat-farming industries instead of into areas plagued by droughts and famine. My friends still gave me a hard time, at times sneaking meat into my food or testing my devotion: "Do you eat eggs? Milk? Gelatin? Then you are so not a vegetarian."
It seemed everyone was eager to catch me in some form of hypocrisy. I encountered many people who actually got defensive about their carnivore pride, but I never asked anyone to stop eating meat or even to refrain from eating meat in my presence.
There were always people who asked, "Are you offended that I'm eating meat right now? Like, does it upset you?" That makes it difficult to just enjoy a meal together.
And it's only getting more complicated: Sometimes I now eat meat.
When I know and trust the source that the meat comes from or am traveling and can't eat in any other healthy way, I'll generally settle on the non-vegetarian option. It seems reasonable to me.
"Aha!" you say, "So you're NOT a vegetarian! I have caught you in your lies and hypocrisy, and I can wave my pepperoni pizza in your face in victory!"
There was a time I relished reeling off lists of facts to these testy carnivores and laying out my extensively researched arguments on environmental sustainability with passion.
Yet all too often the only response I got would be a careless, "Whatever, I couldn't live without Philly cheese steaks."
I guess what I've learned is that if someone isn't ready to change the way they eat, then I can explain my dietary choices until my voice gives out, but it isn't going to do any good.
So next time you're sitting down to eat with a vegetarian, try asking them about why they made their choices and how it happened, instead of belittling their meal. And don't ask how they feel about being a carrot-killer.
Unless, of course, they pick the fight.
Kate Peck is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at katherine.peck@tufts.edu.
