Vegetarianism

Long overdue, I know, but better late than never. Today's topic will be what I promised in my last post: vegetariansim.

My sister became a vegetarian at age 9. Since she is ten and a half years older than me, I've never known her to eat meat and always grew up aware of the concept. By age 12 I stopped eating red meat (I was disgusted by watching the meat being prepared at the burger joint I went to once a week after dance class), shortly after I reduced my chicken consumption to Friday nights only since I disliked being fleishig (I keep kosher. If you're interested in more details leave a comment and I'll explain) and I stopped entirely bu age 14. One year later I decided that, if I were really going to be a vegetarian on principle (that principle being that I don't believe in killing unnecessarily) then I'd have to give up on fish, too. That one was harder, since I really liked fish, but nonetheless I stopped.

I know, I know some of you are going to say, "but those carrots are murdered, too!" To that argument I say, look, I've never once in my life tried to convert anyone over to vegetariansim. So keep your own damn nose out of my business if all you;re going to do about it is give me a hard time.

For the record, no, I don't wear leather/use leather products. I wore a silk wedding dress and have a huge amount of guilt over it. I don't eat marshmallows, candy corn, or other foods containing animal-sourced gelatin. I am not a vegan, though I was for a while in college. I do eat cheese, honey, and eggs, though on the later I am switching to organic free-range and yes, I know that free-range doesn't really mean free-range but it's the best I can do right now.

Here's where you'll really have an issue: my kids are vegetarian (though they have eaten marshmallows). It was never my intention to keep my kids vegetarian but when it came time to introduce new foods to them I simply could not bring myself to feeding them meat (and yes, as anyone who has been to my house for Shabbat can attest, I do cook and serve meat for my husband and guests). My reasoning is that, at this age I am responsible for taking acre of them and I really can not bring myself to make a choice for them that goes against what I would choose for myself. I do not eat meat for moral reasons and right now i make their moral decisions. When they are old enough to ask for a hamburger then yes, I will give them a hamburger. Till then the best I can do for them is what I would do for myself.

That being said, we're looking into daycare options for them next year, including places that cook and serve the kids meat, and I don't know if/what alternatives are.

By the way, when I say simply 'meat' I am including poultry and fish.