Carolyn McDermott | Contributing Writer
The cat is out of the bag- Carolyn is a vegetarian. First off, just make things clear, one who is vegetarian is someone who chooses not to consume meat in any of their meals. This includes fish. I know there is some discrepancy about fish, but that is a completely different issue.
I chose to stop consuming meat about a year and a half ago, so I am still considered a newbie. I do, though, know plenty of people who are vegetarian and have been veggie for a number of years, including the DeLaPortes, a powerhouse student affairs couple here on campus, multiple friends from back home, and a few coworkers. People do not die or suffer from nutritional problems due to being vegetarian. Some dietitians actually recommend consuming a plant-based diet. It all comes down to what the person is eating and how they are personally taking care of themselves.
After having several conversations with a variety of people, from multiple backgrounds I have found the reasons for being vegetarian (in no particular order of importance) are as follows:
1. Health Reasons
2. Animal Rights
3. Environmental Sustainability
4. Attention
I can provide for individuals a slew of information in regard to why it can be beneficial to a person’s health and the effects the meat industry has to do with environmental concerns. I can promise you this, people like attention. It’s ok to like attention, but some people are vegetarian just so they can say they are vegetarian, even though it’s really not that hard. Animal rights are a concern to sympathetic people, and they do matter and the general population is allowed to know what is being done to their potential food and how their potential food is being treated.
(Plants and their rights are what i am really concerned about.)
The reasons that have compelled me, being a twenty-year-old potential field researcher studying biology at a private institution in the middle of “Meat Country Midwest, USA” are the health concerns raised from meat consumption and the impacts on the environment. Through this article I am not trying to push my beliefs on to the readers or make them feel bad if they eat a hotdog or a beautiful medium-rare-cooked T-bone steak in front of me. The fact is I still love food. I still believe food is an art. I still love meat; I can’t say that at the past two Christmases I have not had a strong desire for some honey baked ham. I believe that I have just gotten to a state where I am immune or no longer have a desire to eat meat on a regular basis.
Being a vegetarian in what can be deemed as “Meat Country Midwest, USA” has its daily questions, opinions, and trials. Eating on a small campus with only one dining hall has the same daily questions, opinions and trials. Most days my meals are catered around a salad stock-piled with broccoli–arguably the only food that is keeping me alive and healthy. Seriously kids…eat your broccoli.
Big meat nights (Steak Night & Wing Night) are a challenge, because the vegetarian is usually forgotten, or is unaware of their option to have a portabella mushroom or some veggie/soy nuggets.
I can say that almost every formal dinner I have attended here at BV, has involved a portabella mushroom, and remember there is nothing wrong with predictability. I manage; I do and I am continually surprised by the options. I do struggle some days, but all serve eaters struggle some days, too. I always have a back-up plan, especially when the steamed rice is cleaned out. I have come to terms with the fact that I have chosen to make my eating habits a little harder to please. I commend our dining service for what they have done to accommodate for vegetarians I do wish for more fresh fruit, but I mean who doesn’t?
Lastly, I may be the kid who loves plain, dry rice cakes, eating crazy amounts of carbs, fruit, and peanut butter, but in the long run I would be just as bizarre in my food choices even if I consumed meat. This can be blamed on my bicultural upbringing or the fact that I am deemed as a crazy liberal hippie. My family and friends still watch me with curious eyes trying to get this vegetarian to eat meat. Personally, I love tempting them.
To end, a quote from a movie:
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE EAT NO MEAT?!?….Das ok, I make you lamb.”
Graphic by Aaron Burns
