A lot of people think veg*s are always trying to convert people, becoming radical and shoving their views in your face. Some are.
I could give you a million reasons why I think you should not eat animals, but only if you ask. If you ask me, "Robin, why should anyone do this?" I could probably make you second guess your lifestyle, but really what you eat and how you live are completely up to you and it's not in any way my place to tell you what you should do. All I can do is provide you with facts and references, if you're interested.
I'm a 'conservative' vegetarian, I guess. I don't like advertising it, usually, unless I have to ("It's really sweet of you to offer me chicken, but I'm a vegetarian.") which probably doesn't help the world...But I can't change the world, I don't pretend I can, I just like to focus on changing myself and being happy with my choices.
So I was pretty nervous about telling my family (I still haven't told my dad, who I rarely see) I avoided it for awhile ("Oh, no thanks, I had pork chops yesterday...") but I finally bit the bullet and told my mother, step father, and sister.
The results were...Surprising.
My step father genuinely worries about my health, given that he is a huge meat eater and believer in it.
My mother switches back and forth from being relieved I'm eating healthier, and worrying about it and gently trying to say "Oh well, maybe you could just eat meat SOMETIMES?"
My sister is quietly supportive.
I've also told two friends. One kind of jokes about it but generally doesn't care, and one just flat out doesn't care. She thinks I'm very 'hip' but that's about it.
One thing nearly all of these people have in common...
They all got, and continue to get, very defensive whenever they bring it up.
When I first told my family members, I literally said "I'm kind of a vegetarian now." That was all. No argument, no 'this is what you should do too', I said nothing more on it. I sat through about three hours and a family diner of people randomly bringing it back up and ranting. Self arguments included:
"Well I mean I could never do it..."
"I just love my steak too much, I could never give it up."
"I probably could if it weren't for [husband] and [children], maybe if I was on my own but it's not realistic..."
And I noticed this pattern, though I said nothing, for two months. Whenever it gets brought up, it's like they defend themselves...to themselves. They give THEMSELVES reasons why they can't make a diet change, or give up a certain food. On one occasion I even caught a family member muttering to themselves, quietly, in defense.
Not only that, but I've had people try to force meat back on me.
"Oh here, I won't tell anyone *wink*"
"It's okay if you just have one, isn't it?"
Cut to today, when I discovered vegetarian chicken nuggets.
While they're still not that great for you (and not vegan, heads up), MorningStar's 'chikn' nuggets are the closest thing I have ever gotten to 'meat'. With the exact texture and taste of a regular, store bought chicken nugget, I got really excited about them. As did my boyfriend, who still dabbles in meat and usually hates substitutes.
I told one friend, who made kind of a hurtful joke about it.
Then I moved on to my mother, who constantly told me she'd be willing to try my new food discoveries. I was really excited about finding this, and I asked her if she'd try one.
No. Gross.
I assured her it wasn't gross at all, no more gross than eating a piece of fried zucchini. She then got extremely agitated and informed me that it was disgusting and she would stick to her real chicken nuggets, thank you very much.
Okay, rant time.
First of all, if you said "hey I just made this really delicious cake, try some?" I wouldn't flip out on you. I wouldn't make you feel bad. Even if I didn't want any, I'd never say 'gross' about something you were excited and proud about.
Secondly, GROSS? Really?
To anyone else thinking gross, forgive me, but I'm going to bring up a point.
Fake meat is, usually (excluding tofu, etc.) made up of textured vegetable protein. This is made primarily from soy, but also can include wheat, cottonseed, etc.
This is usually what it looks like:
One of the things I liked about fake meat, even long before becoming a vegetarian, was the texture. You're never running the risk of getting a bite with bone, cartilage, organ, or any other unsavory mistake that reminds you that you're eating something that used to breathe. That was, actually, something I tried to avoid.
Now let's take a look at a regular old chicken nugget, and use mcnuggets as an example.
What's actually IN Mcnugget is kind of up for debate, much like hot dogs. It's fairly safe to say that at some point, some small part of a chicken Mcnugget came from some part of something looking like this
(that chicken's name is Janet, by the way. I kid you not.)
It's a lot of corn, and a lot of words you probably can't pronounce (I certainly can't.). I once found a bone in mine, so I can say there's probably some of that somewhere.
My father, who once worked at Mcdonalds, did confirm the 'pink slime' theory. At least, they had done it at the time.
So really, how is textured vegetable protein any gross than, at best, mechanically separated chicken flesh?