Hi weirdos,
It’s been a while, hope you haven’t missed me too much. I haven’t written an introspective post for a long time and I thought about this for the past few months. As most of you know I am vegetarian; I have been for about 14 years or so. I turned vegetarian at 9 years old mostly due to religious reasons at the time.
As I grew older, I learned more about the meat industry and the environment. I steered away from religion but grew very much more spiritually. I watched many documentaries and videos about how animals are killed and treated. Now this is not one of those posts but more a light-hearted post. Being vegetarian for this many years, I have heard almost every thing you can imagine. Here are my top 10 things you shouldn’t ask or or tell a vegetarian:

1. “I can’t be a vegetarian, I love my steak/sushi/chicken too much.” – Hey, thanks but I didn’t ask. Just because I mentioned I don’t eat meat, you really don’t need to be obligated to explain why you can’t be vegetarian. I would never ask you to be. It’s really odd when people try to defend themselves, I am not judging you.  

2. “Where do you get your protein from?” – This is an age old question. Legumes, beans, tofu, lentils and so much more. Google it. It’s incredibly frustrating that people still think you cannot find protein in veggies. The year is 2018 and people still ask these silly questions.

3.”Did you die when you last ate meat?” – No, how would I still be standing listening to your silly question if I died? But the animal died a cruel death. This was one of the most incredibly insensitive questions I ever got asked. Can I just eat my veggies in peace and not be bothered by nasty questions?

4. “You are missing out” – I really do not think so, animal cruelty is not something I miss. I wouldn’t have chose to eat vegetables for over a decade if I felt like I was missing out. Even if you think this is the case, it’s really none of your business commenting on my dietary choices, it’s not like I comment on yours?

5. “So do you eat chicken or fish?” – Please Google what vegetarian means. I mean are we living in the stone ages? Do you not understand what the term vegetarian means?Pescatarians do not eat meat but eat fish. No vegetarian eats chicken.

6. “Why” – It’s okay the first time you are asked this, even the 5th or 6th time but after 14 years it’s not cute anymore. Imagine someone asking you why you eat meat, chicken or seafood… How annoying would it be? Unless you are genuinely interested in my reason and won’t say anything thing else in this post then ask. Rather ask how it came about or how long have you been vegetarian.

7. “What would you do if you were the last person on eat and you had to eat a chicken to survive?” – Am I living in an episode of  The Walking Dead or something? I mean how likely is this to happen? Chances are this is never going to happen and even if it does, why would I want to live being the only person on Earth? Lol. I will not eat the chicken. 

8. “So what do you eat?” – Lord please have mercy on you if you ever ask a vegetarian this. Have you ever been to a grocery store? There are more vegetable options generally that meat options. There are also tons of fruits, nuts and snacks that are vegetarian. This is really one of the most ignorant questions ever. 

9. “A meal is not complete if it doesn’t have meat” – And humans aren’t complete without a brain but here we are… Cultural and societal norms may have deluded you into thinking that you need to have meat on your plate but this is far from true. 

10. “Plants have feelings too” – Plants do not have a brain or central nervous system, which means they can’t feel. Humans and animals perceive pain through sensory nerve cells. But you know who does feel pain? Cows, lambs, chickens, fish, octopus and all the other breathing, feeling animals that humans eat. In fact all farmed animals killed for food likely feel it in similar ways as we humans do. 

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. I hope you found some humour in this and do not take offence. Let me know if this taught you something or if you’ve been told something along these line if you’re vegetarian.

Until next time, 
Be nice to vegetarians! 

xx Miss Dhanusha

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