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I'd rather eat a salad then steak. Why do you care? | Source: ShutterStock
Okay, time for a not so shocking confession: I don’t eat meat. I’m not a vegetarian, because I still eat fish, so the actual term for me is pescetarian. I stopped eating meat about five years ago, and it was a decision that I still feel really great about. Now, you would think that my eating habits wouldn’t really be interesting to anyone else but me, right? Wrong.
Ever since I made the switch from carnivore to pescetarian, I have been questioned and bothered about it by the majority of people I come in contact with. And honestly, I really wish it would stop. Curiosity is no big deal. I don’t care if you ask me what made me stop eating meat.
The comments that bother me are the ones that come from people who seem to be personally offended by the fact that I’m a pescetarian. Or by the people who insist on making fun of me for it every chance they get. Or the people who insist on trying to talk me into eating meat again, who basically flat-out tell me I’m stupid for making the choice I did.
I’m sorry, but why is what I choose to eat, or not eat, any of your business? Oh, right… it’s not. Since I have friends who have also made the decision to cut meat out of their lives, I know that I’m not the only one who gets picked on. It’s beyond annoying for a lot of reasons, and honestly, it needs to stop.
Go ahead, eat your burger. I don't care! | Source: ShutterStock
Like I said before, I don’t care if people are curious about my decision. I tell everyone the same thing: I read a book about what goes on in slaughterhouses and what is actually in our meat and chicken. It completely grossed me out! That afternoon, I immediately stopped eating meat. And please don’t tell me “fish have feelings too.” I’ve heard that ‘clever’ line one too many times. I do have an almost unhealthy love of animals. But, the real reason I became a pescetarian was for personal health reasons. So, drop it with the fish feelings, ok?
Most of the people who tell me I’m dumb for not eating meat are people who claim they “hate” vegetarians/vegans/pescetarians because we push our beliefs on others. First of all, that’s an unfair stereotype. I’ve never tried to talk someone out of eating a hamburger because I don’t want to eat one. In fact, for the first two years of my new diet, I worked at a steakhouse selling over-priced filet mignon. I mean, come on.
Second of all, those people are being incredibly hypocritical. Look, you’re telling me you hate that others make you feel guilty for eating meat, right? Then why are you sitting here trying to talk me into eating meat again? That literally makes no sense. No matter how much you tell me how yummy it is, it’s not going to make me change my mind. Go ahead, wave your bacon under my nose – I’m not going to eat it.
I don't really want to listen to your judgemental statements. | Source: ShutterStock
Then there are the people who tell me their life goal is to get me to unintentionally eat meat. Unbelievable, right? But I’ve heard this from a bunch of people. And honestly, it just sounds pathetic to me.
What I’m really trying to say here is that I don’t understand why others feel the need to put me down for being a pescetarian. My diet isn’t affecting you, so why do you feel like you have the right to tell me it’s stupid? It’s rude, it’s ridiculous and it’s totally uncalled for. Please stop judging me for my decision – and stop judging every other vegetarian and vegan out there also. There’s no reason someone else’s diet should make you annoyed or angry. Eat what you want, and let us eat what we want. Plain and simple.
Are you a vegetarian, vegan or pescetarian? Have you ever been made fun of for it? Let us know in the comments!
Case in point: what this guy said to this vegan
I think the reason so many people have a problem with vegans, vegetarians and other such lifestyle choices that are not ‘the norm’ is a combination of harassment from the people eating that way (it does happen, I was scared away from veganism over and over by over zealous vegans calling me murderer and blood mouth, telling me my stomach was a graveyard!) and the fear that they will have to adopt the lifestyle, themselves. Everyone who is bullying is wrong, on all sides. I agree with those above who say to just get along, it shouldn’t be so hard, there is enough fighting!
I have been a pescetarian for the last year and a half, but i recently changed that to now eating chicken, i only eat chicken and fish now, no burgers, no steaks, no bacon or lamb chops, just white meat and fish, and i still try to make them into the healthiest way i can, i was looked at weirdly for not eating meat anymore and i still am, like my friends try to shove a burger down my throat but i believe red meat, pork, exotic meats are unhealthy and murderous, so i don’t eat it, my dad has been really supportive for me but what i choose to eat is my choice and no one else’s, so no one should feel a diff. way if i don’t eat what they eat, I’m not taking your steak away!!
I go through something similar. I’ve tried to become a pesceterian for so long now but my Mum wont allow it! Whenever I try to not eat meat even for 2 days she starts rambling on about how meat is crucial to my diet. I even told her how to replace the nutrients but she still said no! My friends say im too skinny to be dieting and then I say I am trying to be healthy and they keep calling me annorexic or say im skinny as a stick whenever I mention it! Its just meat and im healthy weight.
Thank you for finally saying something! I have been a pescatarian for about 2 years now and all of my friends and some of my family give me crap about it. My dad and brothers always pretend that they forgot that I don’t eat meat and offering it too me which results in me getting mad at them. All my friends say I’m crazy for being a pescatarian (except one who admires me for it) and make fun of me, asking me if I miss meat and even trying to get me to eat it! I don’t miss meat and what they don’t know is that once someone gives up meat from their diet, they can get very sick if they eat it! It just makes me very angry sometimes.
Tell me about it! Im only 13 and i have been a vegetarian since i was in kindy – so already thats about 8 years and i get judged and made fun of all the time. Even some of my friends tease me about it and tell me how good it tastes. this time at primary school it was a girls birthday and she was trying to get me to eat this party pie that she kept waving in my face. she and her friends thought it was funny, so i told her not to do it. but no, she just kept pushing it, so i hit the pie out of her and and straight into her face, it was burning hot, and burnt her a bit. everyone learnt there lesson after that… but its so annoying how they judge you for it, its not like its effecting their diet in any way?
Well i want to be come a pescetarianism, but my family wont allow it (most of them hate fish). Which, i could get used too it eating it but we never get fish. Anyways im still in high school and well during school i only eat salads and take out all the meat they put in it out i give it to my friends (if there is no salad i get cheese pizza).When ever i ask for my parents to buy me mini pizza’s so i can have something to eat during the summer they buy pepperoni pizza (so i just take them off before i heat the up) No biggie right? wrong! Ever time i heat it up i still taste it i have to get used to it a guess.
Well im really into fruit and vegetables but, i have braces so i’d have to steam the veggies and cut the fruit. Which i don’t mind. Well, when ever i ask for them to buy me fruits it’s not what i asked for or its not the right type i wanted. But whenever i want to make dinner i’m like “we don’t have what i need to make can you take me to go shopping with you when you go out so i can get what i need,” they say sure. And what do they do they get but way before they said they would and leave without me. They do it all the time and it pisses me off.
But the funny thing is my mom is like i need to go on a diet and i just laugh and laugh b/c i try and try to get them to eat healthier. I say No Chips, No this, No that and yet she still complains about being fat. I tell her all the time let me do the shopping and cooking don’t have my step dad come along let me show you what is better and will help you loose weight I’ve been looking up stuff for years i know what im doing. And she still wont let it go though her head that if you let me pack you lunch and make dinner we can eat healthier and you can stop saying you need to lose weight.
I just also think it’s funny when she says she’s tired all the time and has no energy. Im like its b/c you eat junk all day. Or when you try to eat healthy, you don’t at your calorie intake and your sugar intake. You also wouldn’t be so tired if you let me cook you a healthy meal with no grease or something that isn’t high in fat. Plus you complain on how we don’t have a lot of money its b/c of all the useless junk food you buy and the energy drinks my step father buys. Eating healthier saves you money if you didn’t know that oh wait you wouldn’t have b/c you don’t listen to what im telling you. But ill prove you wrong and show you how eating healthier can save you money
P.S. I geting up around 5 every Saturday now so they cant leave me and im going to make a dinner list for a weeks meal without meat or little meat as possible and see how they like it.
P.S.S. I hope people realize that fish have a very short memory span and wouldn’t remember anything going on anyways so that B.S. about “Fish Have Feelings Too” is wrong b/c they wont remember!
I’d say my story is somewhat different than that of the typical vegetarian. Growing up in Iowa … on the meat, corn, and bean producing farm, we ate steak weekly and ground beef was a twice a day meal. It wasn’t until I was older did I realize some people considered hamburgers a treat and steak was eaten only when celebrating something. In college I started working for a “grill your own steak” house and later managed so there I was, back on the daily diet of meat (esp prime steak).
In 2005 I met my wife and she was a unique eater. She ate fruits and vegetables as a main course and only sometimes had fish or other meat products. I was intrigued but more so, confused by her eating habits. September of that same year, my military unit was deployed to Iraq and I spent 23 months away from home. During this time, I gained nearly 35 pounds and just felt terrible. When I came home, my wife fed me the same fruit, vegetable, fish, and whole grain diet she had been eating. By the following month I was 25 pounds lighter and I felt great. It only took two more months and I was back to my pre-deployment weight and I attribute it all to my diet.
Since then, we’ve taken all meat out of our diets but trying to educate our family and friends about our decision proved to be futile. It was always the same conversation. “We made you lobster! … What do you mean you don’t eat lobster, that isn’t meat.” Or, “We have a vegetarian soup for you. It’s potato soup.” When we ask about the red pieces floating in the bowl … “Oh, that’s just bacon bits.” My favorite is from my co-workers (I’m one of very few true vegetarians in the military) who constantly tell me something they brought for a pot-luck doesn’t contain meat, only to find out after further investigation that bacon is all over it. “You can just pick it out” they say. Yes, this is very frustrating because I would never tell someone they can just pick out the poop if a bird craps on their meal.
Nonetheless, we continue to work toward a better body by eating a wonderful diet rich in the things that our body craves. Someday the rest of the world will understand. Until then, I’ll continue to suffer through the Facebook posts from my friends (tagging me) with comments like, “roses are red, so is bacon … poems are hard.”
Thank you! I’ve been a vegetarian for 4 years and get picked on for it all the time! Preach it, girl!
I’m a vegetarian, so I can totally relate. I’ve been on this diet for over four and a half years now. I can’t stand it when people are like “You should eat this whopping, nasty smelling burger!!!!” No, I really shouldn’t, unless you want to see my body revolt, thus leading to the puking of my guts ON YOU. I don’t mind the “Why did you become a vegetarian?” but it’s when THEY try to get me to eat meat that I get really upset. It’s been over four years–if I haven’t eaten meat yet, I’m NOT GOING TO EAT MEAT.
I’m not a vegetarian anymore, but I really wish everyone could just get along and respect each other’s choices. There are a lot of meat-eaters trying to convert vegetarians and vegans (and pescetarians), but there are also a LOT of vegetarians (and… you get the idea) doing everything they can to make meat-eaters feel guilty for eating the way they do – calling them disgusting and monsters, inhuman, shoving slaughterhouse statistics in their faces – and it all annoys the crap out of me. There are reasons people choose to stop eating meat, and there are reasons people choose to keep eating it, and that’s all anyone needs to know. Like you said, your diet is no one’s business but yours… and my diet is no one’s business but mine.
im a vegitarian, and EVERY1, and I mean EVERYONE keeps on saying that im crazy, and that i should just eat meat and my mouth will water and then ill become a full carnivore. UNTRUE, UNTRUE, UNTRUE! They r just so rude and even some of my friends were like wth! ur a vegitarian! and i mean, OMG! ppl can be just so RUDE! its OUR choice, not thiers! what WE beleive in, NOT THEM! i dont give a crap what theyre eating and yet they pick on every singe salad i eat! like, “here, try this instead, im sry they ran out” and they hand me a hot dog. And all thier popular friends laugh like theres no tommorow. honestly, theres no POINT! i HATE meat and always will! its unfair that they try 2 make me ‘normal’! wat if i WANT 2 be a vegitarian? u ppl, if ur reading this, i think that u should KNOW that there is OBVIOUSLY a better way 2 spend ur life than trying 2 pick on all of the vegitarians till they finnaly crack! Its OUR desision, not yours, so back OFF!
[gurls r fiestyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...!]
Gurl i know what you’re going through. I myself am a vegetarian for almost 2 years and ive gotten the same stuff from people. people will ask me why and that its stupid to not eat meat while waving bacon in my face and snobbishly tell me they couldn’t give up meat. To make things worse, my own father has been convincing me to eat meat and constantly preassures me to eat a steak. Gross, right?
and you were a carnivore? yikes
I’m an omnivore
But I hate when vegetatians or pescetarians look at me like a freak when I eat meat
Sorry, but most vegans I know are cold hearted biatches.. And I’m not sure why
Comments like that are exactly what she’s talking about! Calling yourself a “normal eater” and saying most vegans are bitches and vegetarians look at you weird for eating meat… first of all, just because some vegans you know are bitches doesn’t mean they all are. Second, not all vegetarians look at you like you’re a freak when you eat meat! People like you are so annoying – why is it that you’re a normal eater just because you eat meat? That’s ridiculous. You sound so ignorant.
allison is right, just because you know some vegan/vegetarians that are pushy on their views doesn’t mean every vegan/vegetarian is like that. i would know.
Excuse me? “most vegans I know are cold hearted bitches”? This is exactly what this gurl is talking about when she says to stop judging. I am a vegan and have never been anything of what you just said. All my friends are omnivores and I don’t back away from them when they eat meat. It’s called personal beliefs, what you are doing right here is not respecting that. I don’t push my opinion on other people and neither should you.
Wooh! sorry everyone who just realized I was being really rude! I’m really sorry! I must have been in an extrememly bad mood. Sorry. Wow I’m dissapointed with myself
I’m friends with a few vegans and they probably wouldn’t like me much after that..
Reaaaally sorry. did not mean any of that
I need to learn not to go on the computer in anger
Yeah and all of you guys are right. I just stereotyped all vegetarians for no reason at all and I realize that. I take it back.
Thank you thank you thank you. I am a vegetarian, a recent one, and have been since October 2011 due to finding out how unhealthy meat it. It’s silly how much backlash you get when you tell someone “Oh no thank you, I don’t eat meat.” I get so tired of people saying things like, “But you’re must be malnourished!” Really? You’re eating a greasy ammonia-filled bacon cheeseburger, but I’m the one not getting enough nutrients? Being a vegetarian is one of the best decision I’ve ever made. And most of my family has my back and has actually cut down a lot on meat as well. I just wish people wouldn’t be so mean and start arguing with me with ignorant old rumors about vegetarians, and actually give us a chance to explain the facts, or really, just keep their comments to themselves! I suggest everyone watch the documentary “Forks Over Knives”.
Your lucky your family support you. I ask my mum if I can be a pescetarian and she says i will get malnourished and now watches how much meat I eat during meals and has a hissy fit if I don’t get enough! My grandma is not as bad but still makes me eat some meat, my brother and dad are epic because they seem to think i’m old enough to decide for myself though. I agree with you completely.