Warning: this is a bit of a vegan rant. If you don't like or are intimidated by an angry vegan, then you should probably stop reading. But if you want to explore a different perspective, read on.
So. We had some family over for dinner last night. They're all loud, funny, opinionated Jewish New Yorkers. My kind of people. Normally.
My mom and I had a good time in the kitchen during yesterday's rainy afternoon. We made jambalaya, roasted zucchini and eggplant, baked spaghetti squash with olive oil and spices, cornbread, and chocolate peanut butter brownie cake. We took a lot of time and money planning the feast, trying extra hard to blow our carnivorous guests out of the water with some decadent plant-based eats.
Our guest arrived and we started off with some drinks and snacky things. Delicious aromas wafted out of the kitchen. A cousin walked in and proceeded to ask my mom what we were eating tonight. The conversation went a little something like this:
Cousin: Wait, so what's in the jambalaya? Did you find some good andouille sausage?
Mom: Nope, just some vegan chorizo.
Cousin: You know what we call what's in your sausage? Salad! Hahahahahaha!!
Ok, so maybe it was a little funny. I can take a joke. But clearly no one was even curious about a new kind of food. They just wrote it off, no questions asked.
Dinner was served with more sniggers. Another cousin exclaimed, "Ew! I don't even want to know what's in vegan sausage! Gross!"
That's what really set me off. I wanted to shake her and scream DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?! Because the nastiest thing in vegan sausage is probably a little fake food coloring, and that's only if you're using a cheap brand.
Plant-based sausage is made out of vital wheat gluten or soy, some fat, and plenty of herbs and spices. Animal-based sausage is made out of a corpse. It is decaying flesh, a dead thing. PLUS oodles of antibiotics, arsenic, feces, cholesterol, bacteria, steroids, pesticides, and parasites. YUM!
I do understand that it's hard to think about food as what it was before it was on your plate. I'm not so brain-washed to think that people will immediately associate a steak with a cow, or a hot dog with a pig. Hell, I used to be carnivore myself. I knew what I was eating, but some part of my brain chose not to consider the idea that I was eating a dead creature. Ignorance is bliss, right?
Some people don't want to hear a different view. They just aren't open to it. They like their way of life and don't want to consider alternatives. I'm not going to preach to anyone who doesn't want to listen. But next time I'd hope that they could be better dinner guests and at least save the rude comments for after they leave. Any cook, meat-eating or not, wants to be appreciated for the food that they lovingly put on the table. I don't think some common-sense manners are too much to ask for.
Also, thinking before you open your mouth is generally a good idea.
By the way, Bill Clinton is officially vegan. If that doesn't say something for my so-called "alternative" lifestyle, then I don't know what does.
Love and jambalaya for breakfast,
Suzannah
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