My friend wants to go vegan/vegetarian, but...

[illinoisemakerr]

So, I have a friend who is thinking about going vegetarian.(she's lactose intolerant, so she'll be an accidental vegan.) I'm happy for her, but the thing is that she thinks that there are certain types of vegetarians that eat fish and/or seafood. I spent a good amount of time in class today explaining to her that vegetarians eat no meat, and a fish

Comments

[pearlmaster8]

I am the only one that doesn't care? Let me be clear. I care that she chooses to eat fish and is making the decision to eat it or not, but I don't care if she wants to call herself a vegetarian or not.

Who cares what you call yourself? It is what you do that matters. I try and do what I do logically and if someone told me that eating fish is not "vegetarian" that would make no difference to me. Call me what you want, I don't choose to be vegan to get the title, I do it because it makes sense. So talk to her more in terms of whether it makes sense for her to eat fish or not (according to whatever reasons she is choosing not to eat cows, chickens, etc.)

I guess I have just seen this a lot and it really doesn't matter to me what people decide to call themselves. I, personally, wouldn't consider someone who eats gelatin a vegetarian but there are a lot of people who do. Don't not do things JUST because they are non-vegan, abstain from them because you find them wrong.

Okay I have rambled long enough.

[vgnwtch]

I am one half of a transatlantic marriage. We've been wed for over a decade - since before either of us realised just how environmentally damaging air travel is. But we've flown once every two years across the Atlantic and back since 1994. In that time, we have only once had two vegan meals provided for us, even though we always made it clear on booking, 3 weeks before flying, 2 weeks before flying, 1 week before flying, 2 days before flying, and at the check-in desk. At best, we get one vegan meal to share between us. Usually, we get a vegetarian meal offered to us, in which almost everything contains dairy products. And, often, we get offered tuna or chicken sandwiches, because the cabin crew have vegetarian friends who eat fish and chicken, so it makes sense to them to offer them to us as alternatives. We now pack snacks so that we don't starve in the 6 hours on the plane plus the 2-3 hours at the airport ahead of time, and the hour or so on arrival, or the journey to/from the airport

[pearlmaster8]

What airline are you flying? I have gone on British Airways and Lufthansa on longer flights and they always have vegan options.

I suppose that is one aspect of people mistakingly calling themselves vegetarian that could cause problems. But it seems that more people are just concerned for some reason that they don't "deserve" that title. Like they are frustrated because they are "REAL" vegetarians and don't want someone else calling themselves that if they are not exactly the same way.

[vgnwtch]

I've flown BA, Lufthansa, AA, and others - and they've all screwed up. Yes, they've all had vegan options, but they haven't delivered.

[vegetus]

I was going to say something similar about labels... but you said it way better than I could.

Have you flown Cathay Pacific? I find they have the best vegan food options and heaps of vegan snacks. I also would write a letter of complaint to your airline if they can't manage to give you appropriate food, given how much money you give them being a regular customer.

As a side note, how do you manage the long-distance marriage?

[vgnwtch]

Oh, we complain every time. We email and write, and we phone. We get no apology, and we get no reply