Labels

So I've been further considering my stance on vegetarianism. Two of my favorite foods are corned beef and caesar salad. I know that corned beef is bad for me, but the caesar salad is not bad, though the recipe does include anchovies. Being a true vegetarian would require me to retire my salad.

I was talking with Holly about vegetarianism and what I'd have to give up, and she revisited the idea of moderation, as pointed out in my comments from my last post by another Livejournalite. If I became vegetarian, I would do so for health reasons. If I had a caesar salad, I would hardly consider that to be bad for my health. Certainly, a corned beef dinner would be much worse for my health than a caesar salad.

To be honest, I don't subscribe to philosophical vegetarianism. I've been raised as a meat-eater and I don't have any remorse for it. Even if I became a vegetarian I would not be sad if I accidentally ordered a salad that had some small bits of ham in it -- I'd eat it anyway or eat around. I'm not a big fish-eater anyway but I don't suppose I'd mind eating fish at all -- fish is actually pretty good for my health, as long as I avoid sources prone to mercury poisoning.

So how do I label myself?

Vegetarian? I wouldn't want to label myself as that because people would think me a hypocrite as I do not fit the mold perfectly.

Pesco vegetarian? I wouldn't want to label myself as such because everyone would try to feed me fish for every meal, and I'm not a big fish-eater.

Mostly vegetarian? Sounds weird, reminds me of The Princess Bride, but is largely accurate.

No label at all? Hard to think that this would work because I need to communicate my eccentric eating habits to others if food is going to be served.

I've been making a lot of unintentional progress towards becoming vegetarian. While I'm officially still a meat-eater, whenever I eat out I have been ordering vegetarian alternatives -- veggie burgers, salads, stuffed potatoes, etc. I've developed an affinity for spinach over the last few months and once I add in some other staples I'll be giving myself a better variety of the different nutrients I'll need for the "switch", if there is any such drastic change. It seems that I've already switched my philosophy without realizing it -- the rest is just completing the package.