The Practical Vegetarian
Posted by Tweety on Oct 05, 2010 · Member since Jan 2003 · 3135 posts
I know most of us would rather starve than compromise. But perhaps for some people veg*nism isn't an all or nothing idea, and it's more attractive for them to be practical, rather than guilt-laden and judged,
Quote:
A Practical Vegetarian is someone who almost always eats plant-based food when that choice is available. And when that choice is not available she is open to eating whatever food is indeed available and does so with gratitude. The difference between being a strict vegetarian versus a practical vegetarian is the world of difference between easily following a kind diet and struggling to stick to a strict regimen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gopi-kallayil/the-practical-vegetarian_b_715172.html
I 100% agree with you that he shouldn't call himself a vegetarian.
I don't think it's fair to make judgements about he's only doing it to be trendy. Hew listed some very compelling reasons to eat a vegetarian diet.
As for the lazy accusations, that might be true. With committment, planning and organizations, one can be vegan anywhere/anytime.
However, some people are never going to become vegan ever and they shouldn't call themselves anything with the word vegetarian in it, but still I'm not going to be the one to shoot down their efforts.
I guess I know what it feels like to have the wrath and judgements of radical vegans when I wasn't one, that I'm not going to be the say "I did it, why can't you". Even those years when I was about 99.999% vegan I still got a "fuck you" from someone and the "why can't you go all the way and not be a hippocrit".
Personally, I think vegans have chilled out over the years and aren't nearly as judgemental and harsh as they once were, say 15 or so years ago. I definately feel that VegWeb is more supportive of non vegans than other BB's which is why I stuck around for over 15 years, most of which I wasn't a vegan.
I don't care if you call yourself, one animal-free meal is a good meal.
I don't think it's fair to make judgements about he's only doing it to be trendy. Hew listed some very compelling reasons to eat a vegetarian diet.
I was more referring to his need to label his choices as "practical vegetarian" to fit in the word "vegetarian", instead of using the already perfectly fine, but "vegetarian"-free word, "flexitarian". Not so much his diet, itself.
Who cares what the guy calls himself? Does it effect you personally? At least the guy makes an effort to not eat meat as much as he can.
I suppose we're looking at it from two different perspectives. I think you're looking at it from the perspective of what he eats and I'm looking at it from the perspective of other people's take-home message. We've discussed in the thread that we don't care what he eats, and it's true. The damage comes when he calls himself vegetarian while consuming meat. Omnis aren't going to be so educated that they'll understand and those people may innocently include meat or gelatin or chicken broth or whatever in future dishes and earnestly call it vegetarian because they think it is / don't know any better. It creates unnecessary confusion.
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