Ah, but meat eaters DO try to recruit you back to carnivorous eating! I know, because I’ve both been the recruiter and the recruited. As a child, I recall being indignant – INDIGNANT – that an Aunt had dared to become vegetarian. No older than 8, the little meat zealot I was shouted at her that ‘Eating meat was good for you – it was natural!’ (What the hell was wrong with me? Amazing I wasn’t round-housed to the face. Belated apologies, Auntie B.) This was my first taste of someone stepping out of the social mores of my family. My world was rocked to its broasted core.

We all have our lifestyle preferences. I grew up eating meat, as do many people. It is normalized in a lot of the world, but especially the US Midwest. I would argue that Chicago is one of the foremost meat-eating cities in the universe: we have a sausage problem. Hot dogs are basically currency here, though every kind of meat is celebrated. I grew up eating racks of ribs in the summer. I actively talked up my dad’s grilling prowess.

Somewhere along the line, I slowly started edging out beef and pork. (Bacon still haunts me – I’ve heard tell it is the only leftover craving of former meat eaters and I agree.) But having never really enjoyed the taste of beef, and realizing I was an animal lover who had an ethical problem with eating it and pork, I phased them out and turned my tasty attentions elsewhere. Moving to one of the US’s seafood capitals (Seattle) didn’t hurt. Suddenly I was surrounded by delicious fish everywhere. I expanded my pallet into seafood, discovered lots of interesting veggie dishes through vegetarian friends, and even occasionally bought myself tofu. Unheard of.

But: will I ever be a full-fledged vegetarian? Probably not. I consider myself a slightly expanded pescatarian. If I cook for myself, it’s 90% fish dishes, with some veggie thrown in. If I go out, it’s mostly fish dishes, though I still order poultry. I tell myself, if I had to survive in the wilderness, I could see myself being able to fish or kill a chicken. (Would I enjoy this? Hell no.) All of this might change to more veggies – but for now I am equally happy to eat veggie burgers and salmon fillets.

However, literally every family party my dad will ask if I want steak or a (non-veggie) burger or a pork chop. Every single time I say, “I don’t eat beef or pork anymore.” After this happened for perhaps the 20th time, my brother piped in with, “You know Lauren hasn’t eaten beef in 5 years, right?” I think this is just second nature. People offer you what they enjoy. Some people offer this to you with malice and judgement. You can avoid them. I.e. while out shopping and picking up some frozen scallops, a lady with a beatific smile stopped me and said, “You should go vegetarian.” Wow! Thank you. Good selling point, stranger.

In general, I don’t worry about high maintenance types who foist their opinions on the world. But for those who slip and offer you something outside of your food pallet, just forgive them and move on. They know not what they do.

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