My favorite quote on the issue of being vegetarian, or not. Â Exactly why I don’t call myself a vegetarian, vegan, raw foodist, environmentalist, or anything-ist.
“I think that people have framed this conversation in absolutes. Either you are or you aren’t. The word vegetarian, I think, does a disservice because there are a lot of people who care but maybe don’t care, or can’t care in an ultimate way. If you think about environmentalism, nobody would ask, “Are you an environmentalist or not?” The question doesn’t make any sense. And the notion that the first time you drive in a car or fly in a plane that you should throw your hands up in the air and say, “Okay, well I give up. I’m not going to try at all anymore,” is crazy. If people thought about food more like how we think about the environment, a lot of people would be eating differently and the whole system would look a lot different.”
- Jonathan Safran Foer, from an interview about his book Eating Animals, with Kiera Butler for motherjones.com.
To see the whole interview click here. To see his book on Amazon… here.
I get asked a lot if I’m vegetarian, or vegan. I don’t call myself or think of myself that way, even though I eat that way most of the time. Just not 100% of the time. And I don’t like rules. Some people are absolutist about it which is actually admirable, but it’s not what works for me. And I don’t think pushing absolutism onto others is what will change the world.
People! Just… shift. I hear this a lot:Â ”Oh, I tried to go vegetarian but it was just too hard!” Well, did you try just maybe eating less meat? Same thing with being raw. If the goal is to get more people in the world to shift more to raw plant based foods and be healthier (and happier), lets just make it appealing! Not act like it’s a strict way of life, or requiring all kinds of sacrifice and change, which is intimidating.
I may care about the environment enough to recycle, compost, drink out of my own metal bottles, and generally try to be less of a “consumer” of stuff, but I’m still going to hop a plane to Tokyo if I get another invite, and sometimes I take really long showers. It all comes down to thinking about living in a community, which includes animals too, and an eco-system that’s getting seriously messed up. If everyone knew what was happening to the fish in the oceans and what that’s doing to our environment, people would be eating a lot less tuna melts. Or, I’d hope so.
I’m sure anyone who loves JSF’s book and has tried to gently pass it along or suggest it has heard “Oh! I heard about that book. I don’t want to read that… isn’t it going to make me want to not eat meat anymore?” I want to push my head through a wall every time I hear this. Or, push theirs! I mean really… really?? Did you really just say that? Why do so many people have this response?
Part of me wants to shove their face in the book, strap them down in front of the right documentaries, and ask, “Really? You want to keep on F-ing up the world for everyone else, keep everyone on the destruction train until we crash, just because somehow the idea of shifting what you eat is too… too what? Offensive? Difficult?” You really don’t want to know what you’re eating?
Then I try to relax and get back to my optimistic state. I try to stay far away from being judgmental. But I don’t think what I’m writing here is about being judgmental–it’s  about wanting people to be informed. And also, I really don’t want to push anyone’s head through a wall. I mean, I don’t think so.
Great post.
When I meet someone for the first time (especially, if it happens to be a date)… they seem to set out on a mission to label me as a “vegan,” “vegetarian,” “raw foodist,” etc. Then… once they think they have “figured me out,” they ask all sorts of questions, become defensive about certain topics, and sometimes become disgruntled when I won’t have a taste of their (fill in the blank). It is like, “just one???” “Nope, no thanks… I am cool”. They also tend to have this belief that I sit around eating lettuce leaves all day. That’s about just as irritating.
What really gets me though, is when someone continues to suffer from (fill in the blank)… yet does not want to give up (fill in the blank, again)… because they say if they do… they won’t “enjoy” life. Hrm… well.. last time I checked, life would be a heck of a lot more enjoyable if they weren’t suffering all the time. But hey!!! That’s just me.
I also find it quite frustrating when people don’t want to be informed, simply because it would change how they view their food. Good! That is the point!!! A few times I have heard… “Well Chickens are dumb…” What? I almost fell off my chair!
I used to get feisty when people would challenge my stance, now I just smile and nod, and usually… I whip up something delicious for them to try… I suggest a few books… and move along. Some people just don’t want to change, and I have decided those are not the people I want to be around. I like happy people. I like people who are concerned about their own well-being, and their loved ones… because if we don’t take care of ourselves… that too, is a problem.
<3
Happy to have discovered you have a blog.
Lauren
I’ve been really meaning to start eating a more vegitariandiet. It’s hard to break old habits, you know?
Great Post
people dont want to know beacuse then they will worry.and in EVERYTHING you eat there is SOMETHING bad-vegtables are genetically modified or full of pesticides (dont buy that crap that bio is pesticide free entirely), meat is full of hormones etc. if you analyzed what you ate you wouldnt be eating anything anymore! so i understand those people because thee are NO alternqatives unless you plant your own garden but the who knows if the soil has been contaminated and water and air? i always read labels and try to buy less processed foods but its stressful…and most people prefer not worrying and living a stress free life because they cannot influuence it…i worry, im stresful and my life is a shit!and for what? food??
This is SUCH a good post–I agree completely. I have evolved into eating vegetarian most of the time like you and also like you I would never call myself a vegetarian. Thanks for writing this piece!
It’s so funny…I was just having this very conversation with some friends of mine (in Texas…they LOVE their meat) about watching Food, Inc. A couple of co-workers saw it and made the comment…”makes you want to not eat meat” and Kim, who didn’t want to give up meat refused to watch it. I said to her that the best part of that film is that it doesn’t make a judgement about meat eating…it makes a statement about where that meat is coming from and the impact that kind of “factory” system is having on our Eco-System. That convinced her to watch it! She now only buys organic fruits, vegatables and grass fed/no antibiotic farmers market meats.
It wasn’t important for her to stop eating meat. It was important though that she understood…WHAT she was really eating. She was pregnant at the time (Abby was born last wednesday) and it was scarey to me that her baby was going to be ingesting a lot of that same poison. I think it’s important when you have those kinds of conversations that you leave out the judgement parts. Being a mostly raw-ish, vegan, vegatarian in Texas I get a lot of questions, I like them…its when people stop asking questions all together that we know as a society we are done…
On a side, but related note…I made Kim some Chia Pudding (your recipe) for dessert when she was pregnant and had insanely swollen feet and ankles…and with 20 minutes her feet were normal for the first time in MONTHS (and when I say swollen…i mean like 10X’s their size…HUGE) They have since added Chia seeds to their diet because the miracle spoke for itself..
Tracey that’s amazing about the chia seeds!! I’m going to suggest that to any one I know who’s pregnant… and yeah, I need to get my Mom to watch some of these movies, I think I have to sit her down and watch with her. !
Monica, I totally hear what you’re saying. There’s so much fear being bandied about in the media these days that it’s made us feel completely powerless, even in the most basic aspects of life. The most stressful part of the whole “omnivore’s dilemma” is feeling like you have no choice in the matter of what you put into your own body.
But the thing to remember is that you absolutely DO have options and you CAN influence the situation.
Your dollars are your voice and they speak volumes. In this consumer society, our choices in what we buy—and equally important, what we don’t buy—have a HUGE impact on what products are made available to us. Granted, it’s not the sole determining factor, but it’s a pretty damn big one. Even Wal-Mart has started carrying organic dairy products because of consumer demand for them. Who’da thunk it? And there’s more organic produce available than ever before in the major chain supermarkets. That tells me that our voices are being heard… and the times, they are a changin’.
So keep your chin up. The alternatives (to chemically-treated or factory-produced “edible foodlike substances”) are out there, even if they aren’t perfect. If you have farmers markets in your area, I highly recommend paying them a visit. I think you’ll find that buying produce (or meat, eggs and dairy, if you’re into that) directly from the farmers—most of whom (at least in my area) are chemical-free if not certified organic—is a great way to start taking back the power that we seem to have lost.