No, I don't eat pork.
Jan. 5th, 2009 09:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blacklillyBack in October I wrote about my vegetarian moral dilemma www.kittygoth.livejournal.com/tag/vegetarianism. It was all very, "Oh! What should I do!" before having an attack of the vapours and having to lie down (by which read "melodramatic").
Today I'm just going to have a rant. But first I'm going to show you a picture I found somewhere.
On my last trip to Whitby, Lou and stayed in a B&B I'd previously visited. The ownership had changed hands. When I informed the landlady that I was vegetarian she shouted down the stairs to her husband (in your head you should say this with a thick Yorkshire accent:
" Hey Chris! We've got one o'them!"
" One o' what?"
" A vegetarian!" She turned back to me and continued: "I knew you were vegetarian."
" Oh really?" I replied. "How?"
" You've got a nose ring."
Which is bit like saying, I knew you were a terrorist because you had a mysterious mark on the third fingernail of your right hand. At least she didn't feed me quiche. Which is another thing. Why quiche? "Oh, a vegetarian's coming to tea. What do they eat? I know, quiche!" Why? I once went to some sort of Weight Watcher's meeting with my mum when I was about 14 or 15 (because you really need to develop an eating disorder at that age). The second week I went back and hadn't lost any weight, and the woman weighing me smiled and quipped: "Too much quiche, eh?"
Fucking retards.
Anyway...
Of late, I have been assulted by meat. Yesterday, for example, I was in an omu-rice restuarant in Gifu with Rachel and we ordered two different dishes. I ordered what looked like the non-meat omu (and yes, I checked the ingredients listed), while Rachel ordered one with tarako sauce (that's fish eggs). When I started digging into mine I found little pink pieces of meat, which turned out to be bacon. Rachel (who will eat anything), didn't have any meat in her dish. It appears that in Japan bacon is not classified as a form of meat, or indeed food, as it wasn't mentioned at all in the list of ingredients. In fact, anything pig like doesn't seem to warrant a mention in any dish.
Let me give you more examples. In a cafe I ordered a cheese and mushroom sandwich, after checking the ingredients for meat. I bit into it and found huge lumps of bacon. At dinner with one of my students I ordered an aubergine dish from the VEGETABLE menu, and it turned up swimming in meat sauce. NOWHERE was meat mentioned!!! After ice-skating the other week we all went to a restaurant for lunch. I tried to order the Vietnamese fresh spring rolls, they had pork in them. The Korean chijimi? Pork. The mozzarella and tomato pizza? Pork. The only items which weren't laced with anything porcine were the chips and the crab and shrimp pizza. So you can guess what I ate.
This begs the question as to how many times I've eaten something I thought was meat-free but which was actually laced with meat.
So what am I to do? I'm considering going extreme and just not eating anymore food unless I've cooked it. Rachel suggested that everytime I go out with anyone I insist on going somewhere which has vegetarian options. I think I may just not go out. Or find somewhere accomodating. Dai, who owns my local bar, is quite happy to rustle me up something vegetarian. Even when I lived in Ina people would adapt things for me. The other night in my favourite bar in the whole world, Keiko made me vegetarian manju dumplings, and adjusted everything else at the party (apart from the chicken) so that it didn't have meat in it. And you know what? No one missed the meat. No one.
And another thing which is pissing me off, is people telling me how much I'm missing out by not eating meat. "Oh Laura, we're going to eat Sunday lunch. You should eat meat just this once so that you don't miss out". Miss out on what? I just don't see it as that. I enjoy the food I eat. It just so happens that I don't consider my meals to be incomplete without meat in them. People are always attacking me for being vegetarian, yet I don't criticize anyone for eating meat. Next time someone does it, and it'll probably be someone I work with, I'm going to inform them, in no uncertain terms, to fuck off. See, I'm getting myself worked up now.
Alright, one more quick story. I'm pretty sure this actually happened, and Lou must correct if I'm wrong as I recall her telling me the tale. There was a choir who toured regularly around England and Europe. They were vegetarian. Everywhere they went they were fed quiche. Everywhere. Eventually they got fed up and had it stated quite clearly on their contracts that they were not to be fed anymore quiche. I need one of those.
Right, anyway. It's 10.30am, I'm still in my pyjamas. Later I'm going to a vegan macrobiotic cafe in Yokohama. Hurrah!!!!
Today I'm just going to have a rant. But first I'm going to show you a picture I found somewhere.
On my last trip to Whitby, Lou and stayed in a B&B I'd previously visited. The ownership had changed hands. When I informed the landlady that I was vegetarian she shouted down the stairs to her husband (in your head you should say this with a thick Yorkshire accent:
" Hey Chris! We've got one o'them!"
" One o' what?"
" A vegetarian!" She turned back to me and continued: "I knew you were vegetarian."
" Oh really?" I replied. "How?"
" You've got a nose ring."
Which is bit like saying, I knew you were a terrorist because you had a mysterious mark on the third fingernail of your right hand. At least she didn't feed me quiche. Which is another thing. Why quiche? "Oh, a vegetarian's coming to tea. What do they eat? I know, quiche!" Why? I once went to some sort of Weight Watcher's meeting with my mum when I was about 14 or 15 (because you really need to develop an eating disorder at that age). The second week I went back and hadn't lost any weight, and the woman weighing me smiled and quipped: "Too much quiche, eh?"
Fucking retards.
Anyway...
Of late, I have been assulted by meat. Yesterday, for example, I was in an omu-rice restuarant in Gifu with Rachel and we ordered two different dishes. I ordered what looked like the non-meat omu (and yes, I checked the ingredients listed), while Rachel ordered one with tarako sauce (that's fish eggs). When I started digging into mine I found little pink pieces of meat, which turned out to be bacon. Rachel (who will eat anything), didn't have any meat in her dish. It appears that in Japan bacon is not classified as a form of meat, or indeed food, as it wasn't mentioned at all in the list of ingredients. In fact, anything pig like doesn't seem to warrant a mention in any dish.
Let me give you more examples. In a cafe I ordered a cheese and mushroom sandwich, after checking the ingredients for meat. I bit into it and found huge lumps of bacon. At dinner with one of my students I ordered an aubergine dish from the VEGETABLE menu, and it turned up swimming in meat sauce. NOWHERE was meat mentioned!!! After ice-skating the other week we all went to a restaurant for lunch. I tried to order the Vietnamese fresh spring rolls, they had pork in them. The Korean chijimi? Pork. The mozzarella and tomato pizza? Pork. The only items which weren't laced with anything porcine were the chips and the crab and shrimp pizza. So you can guess what I ate.
This begs the question as to how many times I've eaten something I thought was meat-free but which was actually laced with meat.
So what am I to do? I'm considering going extreme and just not eating anymore food unless I've cooked it. Rachel suggested that everytime I go out with anyone I insist on going somewhere which has vegetarian options. I think I may just not go out. Or find somewhere accomodating. Dai, who owns my local bar, is quite happy to rustle me up something vegetarian. Even when I lived in Ina people would adapt things for me. The other night in my favourite bar in the whole world, Keiko made me vegetarian manju dumplings, and adjusted everything else at the party (apart from the chicken) so that it didn't have meat in it. And you know what? No one missed the meat. No one.
And another thing which is pissing me off, is people telling me how much I'm missing out by not eating meat. "Oh Laura, we're going to eat Sunday lunch. You should eat meat just this once so that you don't miss out". Miss out on what? I just don't see it as that. I enjoy the food I eat. It just so happens that I don't consider my meals to be incomplete without meat in them. People are always attacking me for being vegetarian, yet I don't criticize anyone for eating meat. Next time someone does it, and it'll probably be someone I work with, I'm going to inform them, in no uncertain terms, to fuck off. See, I'm getting myself worked up now.
Alright, one more quick story. I'm pretty sure this actually happened, and Lou must correct if I'm wrong as I recall her telling me the tale. There was a choir who toured regularly around England and Europe. They were vegetarian. Everywhere they went they were fed quiche. Everywhere. Eventually they got fed up and had it stated quite clearly on their contracts that they were not to be fed anymore quiche. I need one of those.
Right, anyway. It's 10.30am, I'm still in my pyjamas. Later I'm going to a vegan macrobiotic cafe in Yokohama. Hurrah!!!!
no subject
on 2009-01-05 07:39 pm (UTC)You around to Skype this weekend?
Oh, and Happy New Year!
Lou xx
no subject
on 2009-01-05 11:26 pm (UTC)Did you get my card and letter?