Meat

For a good solid chunk of time, I ate nothing but vegetables. I had very little desire for any meat products. Recently though, I told my family that I would eat fish. Their reaction to this was rather unsettling. I now think that I'm eating exorbitant fish. I think they heard "I want fish at every meal" when I said "I'll eat fish sometimes too." Every time my dad has brought home fish, he has informed me of the treat he is bringing me. I really could care less about this fish. However, if I don't eat it soon (he literally says soon every time) then it will go bad. Then I eat it, so he buys more because he saw how much I liked it. I keep telling him to buy fish less often. I really don't want it. Stop it. This is annoying. This much fish is actually giving me more of a distaste for it than did not eating it for a year.

I think the idea stems from the common current human idea that meat is the substance in a meal. My dad actually one time told me to cook enough for two, but leave his portion in the pan. Then while I was eating he added chicken. I asked why. He said he needed substance. Did I not eat anything substantial? This is kind of offensive. Even more offensive is my brother "welcoming" me back to the realm of human when I had chicken wings.

I don't eat meat very often. In fact, I rarely order something with meat at restaurants. It's just another ingredient. It would be like saying that a dining room is needed for a house to be a home. I can't remember the last time we used our dining room as something other than a hallway. My dad continually packs junk on the dining room table, and then tells us how messy it is. I'm constantly trying to get stuff off of it so we could eat there, if we ever ate anywhere other than in front of the television. What I'm trying to say is, no room is essential to a home, as no ingredient is essential to a meal. We don't need meat, and we really don't need it as much as we have it. I'm not telling you what to eat or that you're a terrible person. What I'm trying to say is that I don't want it forced upon me. It's like I mentioned in the libido article. I know I'm the strange one. I won't even pretend I'm not. I just don't think that's enough of a reason to pick on me or judge who I am.

The real reason that I eat meat so little is the same reason that I do most of what I do. I like to do what my friends do and hang out with them. I don't want my eating meat to make my vegetarian friends feel awkward and I don't really think it affects my meat eating friends at all. I feel like it's just easier.

Also, I will eat other kinds of meat if it means people are less willing to shove fish in my face. Fish does get kind of boring after 3 months of constant fish dinners.