Semi vegetarian
Okay so right now I've been a semi vegetarian for about 2 years. I have tried ovo lacto before as well but in my family and southern American culture I found little support back then. I will occasionally eat chicken, turkey, and fish but no red meat or pork. I'm not trying to make excuses but I don't know if I could do a strict vegetarian diet in central Appalachian culture. I grew up here my whole life. There's a lot of pressure to eat red meat and pork every day (that's the culture) and around here, a lot of people look at you funny if you don't eat meat everyday (no joke). Even a handful of our rural towns offer expensive vegetarian options to our meat options. Seriously in some of these stores down here meat is cheaper than the tofu alternative. Even as a semi vegetarian that has given up most meat, I still find a lot of adversity in some cultural situations. I don't know if anyone here lives in central Appalachia or a rural area of the deep south but it feels like the more "country" a region is, the less accepting they are of vegetarians or vegans. I mean I have nephews who are 10-12 who don't understand that the pepperoni they eat is made out of pork and they are intelligent for their age too. So there's also a growing ignorance of what's in our food.
I've read one posts on a forum once where this girl from Kentucky was considered alternative and different because she was a vegetarian. It seems like throughout the world and even most parts of the US, vegetarianism and vegan acceptance has gone mainstream, except for a few pockets. That said, I don't eat meat everyday and most of my protein comes from dairy, eggs, and beans.
@PrincessKLS1983 - It can definitely be tough to keep to a vegetarian diet when there is a lot of cultural pressure not to. At the end of the day, what's important is finding a balance you feel comfortable with - both from a nutritional and from a cultural perspective. It sounds like for you, eating some white meat and largely a vegetarian diet has been working alright, and hopefully with time it will get easier. Glad to hear that you are thinking about protein sources - I know too many vegetarians who cut meat out without replacing it with other protein rich foods, and it is such a necessary component of your diet. Good luck, and I hope you continue to find more comfort with the balance you strike.
People truly need to be more educated, tough I don't think it is completly neccesary to go complete vegan or vegetarian ( please don't start fights over this lol, had to many angry vegans yelling at me already ) why? partly because humans are omnivores and that meat made us evolve into the beings we are today with our intelligence ( pretty interesting reading, google "how meat changed humanity" ), some can however not handle meat, their tummies can't break it down and they get tummy aches, but we eat way, way to much meat, so much that it is hurting us, nature and lots of animals, we don't need as much meat as we are eating today, fish probably included in that.
Vegetarian alternatives like veggie meat is super expensive here too, it's like they see a chance to earn money of our good will, which is really greedy, they should make it cheaper so people who usually eat meat could afford to try the veggie options, I eat fish but not cow, pig or chicken ( or any other meat of that type you can find ), partly because I don't eat it that often so I don't think my "horrible contribution to killing animals" does any bigger effect and I feel healthier while eating fish, and fish is way cheaper then the veggie meat options. Milk I have a hard time drinking tough considering how both cow and calf could be treated, now it isn't as bad in my country as in a lot of other countries but I still am not fond of it and have switched to oatmeal milk, which I think taste lovely tough hehe.
Good posts here. There are so many variants on what people (all around the world) eat- or don't eat. Best to leave it up tp the individual and as conscious citizens of the planet- do the best we can to honor our bodies, souls and the earth. Many people do not have enough food period. That is a cause to address , and everyone can do one little thing to help .
I want to be pure plant-based, and at home, am. The best thing that happened for me was learning to make "meat" that acted like meat and visitors never noticed. just like people don't always notice how you put a carrot and potato into a blender and voila, "the nacho cheese is done, everyone ready to dig in?". I big part of me going veg is because I want to grow what I eat and I have no way to afford keeping creatures, nor do I want to cause them pain, I now want them to roam free, not suck from their sometimes literal teet
I've been vegetarian my whole life I find that there are some great vegan recipes to follow. Plus there are always some great cookbooks for vegetarians
Thankfully, nowadays with the help of interesting cooking appliances and with the variety of recipes vegetarians dishes became very tasty and various. After reading Multi cooker reviews, I decided to get one and it was worth it because I can cook now many different meals and it's very easy.
Sounds to me like you are doing the best you can under the circumstances. I think that all or nothing thinking isn't helpful. There are a lot of reasons why it can be hard to stay 100% vegan. Any reduction in animal produces is a good thing, and you are making lots of conscious choices about what you eat for ethical reasons, so you're doing better than most people in the world. Be kind to yourself - you're a good person for caring.
I agree not just children but the people serving food here in the UK don't know what's in the food they are selling which I find pretty shocking. Only know this as I am a celiac so can't eat wheat and gluten. Always have to ask if theirs any in and most people don't seem to know. At first was quite surprised at Chinese takeaway foods as I thought that was all made from scratch and it also turns out that Chinese food here isn't actually authentic so why call it a Chinese takeaway just because Chinese people seem to run them. Also I the UK most curry houses we call Indians are mostly UK dishes ie the korma not actually authentic dishes. This may not surprise allot of people but did me. Since becoming a celiac I am allot more educated on food as its a dietary requirement for me. Growing up it was quite hard to get hold of gluten free things for me to eat my gran made my bread and I ate mostly proper dinners. Now theirs a bit more in the supermarkets and a bit more variety on menus though unlike allot of country's I wouldn't say its as normal as being a vegan as that's more popular or as normal as other country's with the whole gluten wheat free thing.
