I was at my childhood home last weekend, and my mother and I had a friend over for dinner.
As my mom and I were making dinner, I was stealing shrimp for shrimp foo young (and sidenote, dropped one down my shirt and IT VANISHED INTO MY CLEAVAGE NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN, I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING) I go, "wait, isn't friend-we're-having-for-dinner-a-vegetarian?'
Mom: Yeah, she's a vegetarian but she eats seafood.
Me: I'm sorry, but that is not being a vegetarian.
Mom: But it's just fish. If I was a vegetarian, that's the kind of vegetarian I'd be.
Me: Fish and shrimp are animals, mom! They count.
Mom: You're right.
[long pause]
Me: So I was reading about the siege of Leningrad, and did you know that cannibalism was so prevalent that the police had a special division to try and stop it?
Mom (disgusted): Really?
Me: I wonder if I would eat human flesh to survive. I want to say no, but...
Mom: ...you're hesitating.
Me: I mean, if I was starving, and my neighbor was already dead right across the hall... I'd probably eat them.
Mom: I wouldn't! How do you live with that afterwards? ...unless I had kids who were starving. Then I'd probably feed them human flesh. But I'd lie, I'd say it was rat.
Me: This probably wasn't the best conversation to have before dinner, was it?
As my mom and I were making dinner, I was stealing shrimp for shrimp foo young (and sidenote, dropped one down my shirt and IT VANISHED INTO MY CLEAVAGE NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN, I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING) I go, "wait, isn't friend-we're-having-for-dinner-a-vegetarian?'
Mom: Yeah, she's a vegetarian but she eats seafood.
Me: I'm sorry, but that is not being a vegetarian.
Mom: But it's just fish. If I was a vegetarian, that's the kind of vegetarian I'd be.
Me: Fish and shrimp are animals, mom! They count.
Mom: You're right.
[long pause]
Me: So I was reading about the siege of Leningrad, and did you know that cannibalism was so prevalent that the police had a special division to try and stop it?
Mom (disgusted): Really?
Me: I wonder if I would eat human flesh to survive. I want to say no, but...
Mom: ...you're hesitating.
Me: I mean, if I was starving, and my neighbor was already dead right across the hall... I'd probably eat them.
Mom: I wouldn't! How do you live with that afterwards? ...unless I had kids who were starving. Then I'd probably feed them human flesh. But I'd lie, I'd say it was rat.
Me: This probably wasn't the best conversation to have before dinner, was it?
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This. I do think it's possible to be vegan and healthy, but the problem is that it costs a lot of money. I have one friend that was practically eating nothing but bread because she couldn't afford anything else...then when she couldn't eat glucose anymore, she pretty much had no choice but to go back to eating meat.
However, it's an ironic shift class-wise, because vegetarian/vegan food sources were basically discovered by incredibly poor people that couldn't afford to slaughter cows, goats, and chickens all the time.
no subject
no subject
Yep. And frankly, one of the contributing factors to obesity is that in some places (not everywhere, but some) due to the availability of grocery stores, it's cheater to eat badly than to eat healthily.