Interesting. I was having a discussion with a non-vegan friend earlier about my upcoming road-trip to/stay in NYC with my non-vegan sidekick. I’ll be cat-sitting for vegan friends and we’ll be staying in their home, so any food we slap together at home-base will definitely be free of animal products. I’ve also been mapping the wide variety of vegan restaurants in NYC which have been recommended by vegan friends there. There are so many of them that we could easily have most of our meals in a place that serves no animal products whatsoever and eat in a completely different place at least once every day while there. So my friend asked me: “Doesn’t it feel weird to be imposing your views on him?” Me: “Huh?” Her: “Well, he’s not vegan. Shouldn’t he be allowed to eat what he wants, too?” Me: “I don’t get your point.” Her: “Well, you seem to be trying to go to nothing but vegan restaurants. Wouldn’t it be more fair if you picked out some non-vegan restaurants so that you could both have choices?” Me: “Choices? You mean like at a non-vegan restaurant where I may end up with 1-2 things to have off the menu, not counting so-called ‘veganized’ dishes where they just remove half of the ingredients from a dish? Like every single other restaurant where I get to eat 98% of the time? Whereas at a vegan restaurant, we can *both* pick from the whole menu?” Her: “But he wouldn’t be able to have meat – or cheese, at least.” Me: “Tsk. You make it sound as if that would be so awful.” Her: “Well, if it were me, I’d want to be able to choose. No offense. I just thought that maybe he might resent having his options limited.” Me: “So in choosing restaurants where *both* of us can have anything off the menu, restaurants where no animals were killed to make some of the most scrumptious dishes available in NYC, you’re saying that I would be doing something wrong? That I would be depriving him?” Her: “I hate it when you twist my words around like that.” Me: “What if I told you that he told me to go ahead and plan everything?” Her: “I still think it would be nice of you to think about someone other than yourself. No offense.” Me: “So by bringing him to some of the best vegan restaurants in NYC–possibly in all of North America—where he can have whatever he wants off a menu… by bringing him to eat at restaurants where no other animals were enslaved or slaughtered for either of our meals, you think I’m only thinking about myself?” Her: “Never mind. It just doesn’t seem fair.” Me: “Fair to the guy who’ll be able to eat at some of the best affordable restaurants in NYC? Fair to the animals who’ll be spared? Fair to me?” Her: “Look, if you want to impose your views on someone else, go ahead. I was just trying to help.” Me: “And if I told you that he already knows that I’m planning to drag him to all of these joints and is actually very much looking forward to it since he’s curious about veganism?” Her: “He’s just saying that to make you happy.” Me: “There’s really no winning with you today, is there?” Her: “Probably not.” Me: “I figured. Want to come over for dinner? Her: Ha ha! Maybe.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 21:38:10 +0000
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