Chick-eat-arian Anybody?
Author: utbt13 Jul 2010
We have interesting food profile in our house. I am a vegetarian and R eats poultry, mutton and seafood. What we have is a perfect example of an arranged marriage and a standing example of not every thing can be โarrangedโ. In my teens, I cleaned the meat my father bought home and that sealed the deal for me. My amma being a vegetarian herself, did not mind. After my marriage, R and I had to work out dietary preferences and now we have settled in to a pattern. While I am still a vegetarian, I cook chicken and egg few times a week at home. Seeing how much I wince at the smell of seafood, R has stopped eating seafood at home.
But the issue was being a vegetarian in USA (though I am lucky that I live in California ๐ and technically I must not crib…. ) where people do not comprehend the full meaning of vegetarian. While on the road the husband just says, โI will have number 2 pleaseโ and I have to say, โI will have number four, without X. But can you add Y and Z? And A on the side. I am a vegetarian. No meat, no egg, no seafood, no shrimp. No bacon bits. BTW, is the broth vegetarian too? Can you check? Thanks.โ, fully knowing that I had lost the person taking order at โwithout Xโ. Sigh.
Places like Subway, where they have veggie sub, are equally bad. They have a system where they have their add ons in buckets in the order of cheese, meat, veggies, condiments. Even if the person making a Sub changes gloves every time he/she makes a Sub with meat, the person touches meat first and then continues to touch the veggies. And they use the same knife to slice everything. Even worse, in some Subways, the people outright refuse to change the gloves. While I am aware that if I am a vegetarian and also eat outside, I have make adjustments, it is the lack of awareness bothers me. If I thought ordering and awareness were an issue, I am facing the REAL issue after I had the girls.
First were the concerned relatives, who still refuse to believe that I can make decent chicken/egg/mutton dishes without checking for taste, this even after eating what I have cooked, started to throw questions at me right from the time Chula was six months old. Suddenly it was every oneโs business. Both the girls did not like the texture of meat till they were three. Every time they spat out meat or egg, blaming eyes would be directed on me. I couldnโt help but laugh. Okay, I fumed a little, but now I find it funny.
Now the girls notice that I do not eat meat and there are hazar questions.
Chula: But why??
Me: I just told you why.
Chula: Am I a vegetarian?
Me: Well you eat chicken and egg and you enjoy eating it. So, no, you are not a vegetarian.
Chula: So am I non vegetarian? Do we eat hot dog, meat balls?
Me: No. You eat only chicken and egg. So if there is a celebration lunch at school and your teachers offer you pork or beef, you have to say no.
Chula: I want to be vegetarian.
Me: Ok. What is your favorite food in the whole world?
Chula: Chicken.
Me: So why do you want to be vegetarian? Just because you like me, you donโt have to copy me.
Chula: Ok, this one time I will eat this chicken and from tomorrow, I will be vegetarian.
Me: May be you can decide it after you are ten years old. How about that?
Chula: So what am I?
Me: Hmmm. You eat chicken and egg. So may be you are a Chick-eat-rian.
Presently we have decided on Chick-eat-rian.
PS: Mieja does not like to be defined by anything, least of all, her food. In fact she prefers to define her food as, โI likeโ and โI donโt likeโ. She refuses to waste time in questions related to food. Her recent occupation is, โSo what happened before the big bang? How do you know that?โ, โHow old is the earth? How do you know that? Did you go for the birthday and count the candles?โ, โHow do you know that dirt has germs? Did you see that?โ.
Same sex, same family, same parents, same environment, but different personality and styles of thinking.
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16 Responses for "Chick-eat-arian Anybody?"
Even in Cal – its such a pain to explain what all is excluded from vegetarian food – and its even more complicated explaining dairy – yes, eggs – no to even Indians
UTBT SAYS: Even to Indians, yes. Been there ๐
Love your kids. Actually kids anywhere. They do come up with the original, don’t they? Just when you think you have heard it all, WHAM!
And I know what you mean about it being difficult to explain- once when we were served something in which there was something that I thought was beef, I told the waiter, and all she did was to proceed to remove the offending pieces and serve me the same dish. I suppose the best one could hope is to have a Jewish person to explain to. They understand Kosher.
UTBT SAYS: At times the dishes with egg or shrimp I send back, is probably subject to the same removing and reserving ๐
We went to California Academy of Sciences two weeks back and there was a cross section of a Redwood tree with its rings and the age of the tree at the bottom. Mieja wanted to count the rings and reconfirm the age of the tree. Considering that she cannot count more than 39 we were saved ๐
LOL!
‘I like’ Meija’s questions.
UTBT SAYS: I like it when I reflect upon it. Sometimes her questions come at the most inappropriate of times. Last week we went to east coast to meet family and the child stopped at the entrance of the airplane and declared that she wants to see inside the cockpit. She wanted to know if the pilot has a window through which he can see as he drives the plane. We were the first set of people to board and we had an absolutely PMS-ed looking flight attendant who did not find even .5% humor in the situation. By the time I urged and coaxed the child, I was exhausted and we had barely started out trip.
But know what, as luck would have it, during our last leg of the flight back to SFO, we were the last set of people to board and we were waiting for the aisle to clear. The pilot happened to open the cockpit door and and asked the girls if they would like to come in and check out the cockpit. The girls went in said hello to both pilots, asked a few questions and were relieved that they pilots have a window.
The child has already started thinking about what they see through the window. I am expecting questions about roads in the sky at the next inopportune moment.
I thought ‘lacto-ovo-vegetarian’ is the last sub category, but you seem to have found another one!
I like Meija’s categorisation of food – simple and practical.
โHow old is the earth? How do you know that? Did you go for the birthday and count the candles?โ –
– LOL!
UTBT SAYS: ๐
This post I can so relate to. There are so many things that come to mind that I probably should make a whole post out of it. We are a jumbled mix just like your family ๐
UTBT SAYS: Looking fwd to it.
This is a subject close to my heart, atleast the vegetarian part of it ๐ We, H and I eat only vegetarian, no eggs also. It is a BIG deal going out and eating out. Na has been asking tons of questions on why we don’t eat chicken and egg when everyone of her friends eats.
Love Meija’s questions. You must have really honed that patience skill ๐
UTBT SAYS: To explain to a child that what we do is okay for us and what your friend is okay for her is probably the most difficult thing. Because there is no blanket rational justification that fits all. I don’t want these two to go to school and say something offensive about the food their friends eat.
oh! forgot to ask, with a pout and a whine actually.. you were in the east coast and you did not look me up ๐ ๐
UTBT SAYS: Awww. Will send you an email.
Completely with you on having to explain “Vegetarian” … one of the reasons I don’t like sub way sandwiches …. I eat in places where they serve Non veg food too though I cannot say with certainty that they use different knives / ladles for veg / non veg food.
You are so right … its hard to explain to kids that some things like meat which is perfectly acceptable to other kids in school is not something we eat at home without worrying about offending the other kid. I always say “Their house, their rules” … not the best answer … but I know nothing more ๐
UTBT SAYS: WRT eating in a restaurant that served not just veg food – out of sight, out of mind. Subway is different, you look at what is going on and it gets difficult. Of late I am liking Erik’s Avacado s/w, but forcing myself not to peek in to their kitchen. We, as humans, come with different levels of hypocrisy :)
I know what you mean. The other day, our neighbour, a tirunelvelli muslim lady offered Na chicken inspite of knowing that we don’t eat. Na just told her that she does not eat meat and went a step further and instructed that lady also to not eat! Hopefully she stopped at that and did not say anything else. The parenting waters just get murkier with time ๐
UTBT SAYS: ๐
Wow… A couple of days back the husband I were talking about how difficult it is to find vegetarian food abroad when I read this! In fact he was telling me how he would struggle to explain ‘vegetarian broth’ at restaurants in California while he was there. (both of us are vegetarians) We still hav n’t taken V to a restaurant where both veg and non-vegetarian food is served.
With reference to your response to Choxbox, I always regret having to ‘sulk’ in the wake of V’s questions just because someone else has a PMS-ed look! Some lessons from parenting!
UTBT SAYS: ๐
omg Meija. roflol on ‘how do you know that?’. I think I have to come to you for some classes on how to handle kids and their questions. My time is coming soon.
btw.. got any weekend plans? will send you an email..
UTBT SAYS: No classes, only collaborative efforts will work.
sounds so familiar…
except that only my daughter eats non veg..when she can
(we dont cook at home)
son and husband dislike any of its form
while I eat egg…and its form…
nice word chick eat arian
UTBT SAYS: Thanks
I like Meija’s questions. Even my son is like that. His questions Why can’t we see air? Why ball come back insted of going up? Why moon doen’t fall when somebody lands on moon (he thinks moon is simply hanging in the sky)?How the town are formed? What is first seed or tree?
UTBT SAYS: Kids ๐
Hi, I have been following your blog for a few weeks now, having found you when I was looking for information on bilingual children’s books.
I have a question about vegetarianism in India. I’m vegetarian myself, but am pretty simple in the definition: I do not eat things that come from a dead member of the animal kingdom. Which means milk and eggs are both ok (as long as obtained in humane conditions).
As for not eating egg yourself, do you know why most Indian vegetarians consider egg a non vegetarian item? In the US anyway, it is very rare to find a store that even sells fertilized eggs. Most are still haploid.
It’s funny because for most Chinese vegetarians milk is an absolute taboo, but they’ll usually consume egg. That might be explained by the lack of the genetic mutation for the digestion of milk in the overall Chinese population…
More on topic: I love the story about the flights and getting to see the cockpit afterall ๐
UTBT SAYS: Hello Jenny, thanks for stopping by.
Interesting question.
My interpretation is vegetarianism in India is that, it is deeply connected to religious believes, even more so than humanitarian believes.
There is a thought that the food we eat instills certain behaviors/characteristics/qualities/reaction in people. Based on that. food is classified in to Rajack, Tamasic and Satvik food. Meat and (fertilized)egg(the only form in the past) are considered part of Tamasic food and something not suitable to attain the higher path.
Cow is considered sacred in Hindu mythology, so milk and milk products are okay. In fact ghee(clarified butter) is considered holy and is used in rituals.
Get the vegetarian bit. I am a vegetarian who also eats eggs. Husband eats all but red meat. Daughter is a bit torn between wanting to be nice to animals and liking what she eats. Son is a confirmed eater of ‘non-vegetables’.
Heard at home between the kids: Do you eat vegetables or non-vegetables? Both. So you are an omnivore? No, I eat herbs too!
[…] since I read this post at UTBTโs blog I resolved to write my perspective on this topic. Being the typical procrastinator […]
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