It is Tough to be a Vegetarian in US
If you are in US and you are a vegetarian you may yourself have gone through at least one of these experiences yourself.
A: I'm looking for vegetarian options. I don't see anything on the menu.
Waiter: We have lots of vegetarian food.
A: Can you suggest something?
Waiter: For vegetarians, I recommend the fish.
By the way there are lots of Americans who think fish is vegetarian. It seems it is related to something in the Bible. Does any one know the story behind it in Bible?
Another one
A: Is the soup vegetarian?
Waiter: Absolutely. No meat what so ever.
A: Excellent. What is in the soup?
Waiter: It's really good. Made with fresh cilantro, onions, carrots and chicken broth.
Here is another story narrated to me by one of my friend. I could easily relate so many of my vegetarian friends in this story. Here is the story.
A group of vegetarians from There are so many things out there whose names mislead us to believe it is a vegetarian dish. How many of us know that most of the Pasta has egg in them? Ask the manager at Olive Garden and he/she will tell you that all the pasta in Olive Garden except their whole wheat pasta has eggs in it. I have seen so many of my pure vegetarian friends eating pasta in Olive Garden not knowing it has egg in it.
There are salad dressings with anchovies in them. On a passing glance, you would not really stop to think if there are any meat products in something as simple as a salad dressing. On closer look however, you can find many such products on the shelves of a supermarket, including 'vegetarian' noodles which have beef extracts in the tastemaker powders. Finding that out after a couple of yummy meals may be a shocker!
The main difference being a vegetarian in US and India India
I remember an incident narrated to me by a friend few years back. This friend of mine while he was coming to US for his Masters, his father made him to promise two things. One – never eat meat or egg; Two – never fall in love or marry an American girl. My friend readily agreed to both of them. At the time of giving that promise to his father he was not sure if he can keep the promise of not falling in love with an American girl but he was so sure that he can keep the other promise - remain as a vegetarian. Few months in US he realized – it is almost impossible for him to make an American girl love him and also impossible to survive in US eating vegetarian food. He changed to eating non-vegetarian in six month time but he is happy that he could at least keep the other promise – he married an Indian girl couple of years back.
Are you a vegetarian in US and have some unique experiences? Do share.
[This blog post is written after getting inputs from my friends Miles and Sriram who have remained vegetarians against all odds in US.]
[Photo Courtesy Click Here]
Labels: Desipundit, Food, India, US, USA, Vegetarian
