I didn't know if I ever said this in this blog but... I have a confession to make.
Vegan is not the same thing as vegetarian.
If I haven't mentioned it before, I am a vegetarian. Been one since second or third grade of elementary school. No, I am not a vegan and, yes, vegetarian and vegan are two different things.
If you wanna know what's the difference between the two, google it up, honey.
No, you're not a vegetarian if you still eat fish.
As usual, since this is posted in Soft Spoken Strong Word, it's gonna be a rant. I've been a vegetarian since second or third grade... So... basically... Fourteen, fifteen-ish years? I am not gonna say that I've been 100% pure and clean vegetarian because I accidentally ate meat here and there. I always spit something out if I realize something in my mouth is meat but, who knows? I might've accidentally swallowed a particle of chicken or something.
Like, usually accidentally because I would never eat meat deliberately and also, ever since I arrived in China, I am pretty sure a lot of food I ate was made using non plant based oil, such as pork oil (the Indonesian for that is minyak babi and I really don't know the correct English for minyak babi).
So, anyways, I make do. It's not the cooks' fault for not cooking with ordinary canola oil or other plant-based oil. I really, really don't know where this post is going. Anyways, I am vegetarian by my own choice and so far it works for me, I am generally healthy and hey, if it ain't broken...
I am not gonna say that being vegetarian is easy even after doing it for 10+ years. There are times when I feel a bit down because socializing is a little hard. So far, people around me when they wanna socialize, they eat. Guess what they eat! Meat. Guess what vegetarian means? People who do not consume meat in their diet.
There are times when I just sat there awkwardly, making everyone sure that "no, it's okay, I've eaten before we went out. No worries!", sipping on my drink or nibbles on the token vegetarian dish: French fries--which I am 80% sure was not fried 'cleanly'. When I said 'cleanly', I meant was: did they use a freshly washed frying pan? did the pan they were using to fry the French fries was not used to cook/stir fry anything with meat in it?
I am not saying that Chinese restaurants are not clean but when it's rush hours or when it's busy, is the kitchen going to have time to wash the pans in between making dish?
Did I regret becoming a vegetarian? No but I am not gonna lie and say yeap everything's super easy! I am happy being a vegetarian, I don't see any reason to start eating meat anytime soon. I am not trying to say that vegetarian is the only legit and the healthiest lifestyle out there because it is obviously not. You always need to make sure that your diet and you're lifestyle suits you as a person; your financial stability, your medical history, and all that.
Not to mention the somewhat passive aggressive jabs I've experienced. I've been called wet towel for ruining our socializing because I don't eat ribs, I've been left out from being called to hang out because I don't eat pizza if it has pepperoni on it, I sat out of a couple of hang-out sesh because I know they're gonna go to K-BBQ place that exclusively serves meat, and I've been called horse, goat, cow, rabbit because I only eat plants.
I used to got so offended when someone called me a horse because I only eat plants but now I embrace it. Yeah I am a goat, I'm gonna kick you in the teeth, bitch. I've become so used to it now I can smile casually as if I don't mind being left out and all and brush it away when people apologize they didn't call me out because they knew I wouldn't be able to eat. I appreciate their effort but, not gonna lie, it stings a bit. I mean I don't mind if I can't eat K-BBQ as long as I get to hang out with you guys-
ANYWAYS.
Like I said, it's hard but I regret nothing. HOWEVER, I just need to get this out of my chest. Just let me say this with my whole chest.
Why oh why must people add bacon or chicken on a perfectly good salad?!
Why can't you choose another source of protein? Egg? Tofu? Beans? Dear god, your menu is already drenched with meat and meat juice and grease, please give your menu a token non-meat option like a simple salad with no bits and pieces of chicken or bacon or tuna.
Like, western restaurants is my only hope so when people ask me to go to a western restaurant I'm always down even though they're expensive as f-ck BUT OOOOOOOOH MY GOD, I just don't understand why people have this primal need to sprinkle literally everything with pieces of bacon. Some days, I just look at bacons on supermarket and mentally flip them off.
Which probably beats the point of vegetarianism because we care about animals being slaughtered and bacon is slaughtered animals--
Next time I am gonna flip off the capitalism instead.
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