As my wife told me, I couldn’t be in a more challenging place to try going vegetarian. But as Yoda once said…
“There is do or not do, there is no try.”
I have always liked visiting my wife’s family and enjoyed her mom’s cooking. But eating vegetarian is not easily done in this house, where every meal includes some sort of sweet smelling meat. The challenge, however, is not so much about the abundant choices at hand, but the serious lack of moral support.
When I mentioned my plan to stop eating meat, the first reaction was one of utter confusion. “I guess you’ll have to cook for yourself then.” Then came the pork chops.
Shortly before I had my vegetarian epiphany, I had taken a pork chop out of the freezer for dinner. After I decided to give up meat, I offered it up instead of throwing it out. Tonight it was prepared, along with four others – for two people since I was making a Caesar Salad for the wife and myself. “You’re missing out on these pork chops,” was the first discouraging comment. Followed by “So and so gave up on that eating vegetarian…” Sigh.
Some people just don’t get it, and never will. Luckily, my wife gets it and is offering plenty of encouragement. I didn’t expect anything less, considering she’s been a vegetarian for 20+ years. Watch her now try to go vegan again. Sigh.