OK, this is a rant that I wanted to share with vegetarians. Don't read if you are
(1) offended when vegetarians rant or
(2) easily grossed out.
***
I do not expect meat-eaters to change their eating habits around me. But this experience just grossed me out, and I don't know what to do about it if it happens in the future.
Last week, my parents were in town, and we went out to eat at a restaurant. My family and I were sitting at the table. I had ordered vegetarian food, and everyone else at the table was eating steak. Normally, watching other people eat meat doesn't make me nauseous. This time, however, looking at my mother nearly made me ill.
She had ordered mashed potatoes with her steak, which was cooked rare. Of course, blood was seeping out of the steak. Well, my mom didn't keep her potatoes separated from the blood. Instead, she used her fork to move the mashed potatoes over to the blood and soak it up. I could not watch... my mother was eating bloody mashed potatoes!
She was sitting directly across from me, happily forking up piles of bloody potatoes and putting them in her mouth. She was talking to me, and was oblivious to the fact that I was utterly sickened. (No pun intended...)
How am I supposed to handle this situation???
I could barely look at my mother. How was I supposed to carry on a conversation with her? Where was I supposed to look? Should I have said something?
Blargh. I definitely have become more sensitive now that it's been a few years since I've been vegetarian. At first, when I gave up meat, meat was just a slab of substance that people cut with knives and then picked up with forks. Now, when I watch people eat meat, I perceive them as carving animal muscles, chewing on roadkill, and swallowing decayed flesh.
Obviously this change in perception is due to the thoughts that I let run through my head. I can change those thoughts, so shouldn't I be able to deal better when I see people eat meat? Any advice?