I had a discussion recently where someone accused me of not being a "real vegetarian" because I eat eggs. I know that's kind of a grey area, and it differs for each person and their reason for being vegetarian (religious, texture, health, environmental, ethical, etc); but what do you personally eat?

For me, personally, I keep it simple. If it looks and tastes like meat, I don't eat it (except special occasions like religious holidays). It makes me feel bad, and I dislike the texture anyway. Feels like an animal died specifically for me, and I didn't even enjoy it. A waste of a perfectly good life. But I'm ok with "regenerative" animal products like eggs and cheese and honey and such, as long as the animals were treated with respect (hard to find dairy that meets this criteria).

Probably the most contentious is bones. Someone once gave me some ramen, and later told me they were surprised I ate it because the broth was made with chicken bones. I didn't know, but also it didn't really disturb me either. Those bones would have been thrown out if not put into soup; and the end result was soup, not a drumstick or something obviously meaty. If nobody told me, I wouldn't even notice. For some reason, occasional bone broth is fine by my books. I'm not an extremely strict vegetarian in the first place though, and everyone I asked said that bones are not vegetarian.

It makes me think about Blood & Bone fertiliser. If you grow tomatoes with it, are those tomatoes not vegetarian…? Where is the line? Curious on others thoughts.

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[–] 4 points 15 hours ago (1 child)

I think it doesn't have to be a gatekept cult. And fk the people who are trying to make it one. Don't listen to them. Reducing meat is a purported way to fight climate change, anything you're doing in meat reduction is good. If you don't eat meat but do eat eggs, absolutely no problem. If you eat meat once in a while, whatever. Perfect should never be the enemy of good. And trying to tick every box exactly right could become so large a focus it takes up so much space and time in your life that could be spent enjoying the brief existence we get. Every time you feel like people are policing what you're eating, remind you're they're probably super no fun at parties.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 hours ago

    I think it doesn’t have to be a gatekept cult.

    Yeah, remember the "vegan + bacon" principle. Choosing to reduce how much meat and animal products you eat is good. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

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