by Ann Miller

Created on: November 27, 2010

I'm squeamish. As a nurse I can deal with anything, the bloodier or pusier the better. When it comes to food, however; ask me to put something in my mouth that bleeds and I want to vomit. Even as a child, my mother had to disguise meat products, mince them up or cut them up very small in soups and casseroles, that sort of thing.

Living in Japan though finished me completely. There, they have grill restaurants where the chef stands in front of you and grills your food. The night I sat and watched a live prawn being put on the grill and a mesh cover put over it so it couldn't get away, was the night I gave up eating anything with a face, forever.

We were living and traveling abroad extensively in those days, so it wasn't easy to be vegetarian. We had to entertain a lot, and being the 'good wife', I continued to queasily cook meat for my husband and guests and cook something else for myself. I soon learned to cook multiple servings of my vegetarian dishes since everyone wanted to try them or to have them as compliments to their meal.

Even in England at that time it was difficult to get a vegetarian meal when you went out to eat. You would be offered a salad or an omelet and that was it. Being abroad though, was a nightmare. Living with a family in Albania, when I said I couldn't eat meat, I would be served the exact same meal with the meat removed after cooking. This is a country where hospitality is important to them, and trying to explain that wouldn't work for me, left me feeling guilty and ungrateful. I did, however, manage to get by with a little humor and by offering to cook. They didn't mind my meals and settled for their meat – on the side.

I remember telling my mother-in-law I had become vegetarian, giving her plenty of notice before we visited, just to give it a chance to sink in. We arrived and I was presented with a plate of tongue salad - she thought a nice bit of tongue would be just right. Where she thought tongue came from I have no idea.  The fact that I had never eaten tongue before didn’t seem to register with her either.   I had thought saying ‘I eat nothing with a face,’ would answer the question, “what do you eat?”  Obviously that had to be adapted to ‘nothing that has, or has ever had or has come from anything with a face.’

At the time I overheard my husband tell her it was a phase, I would get over it. Well the phase has lasted over 30 years and there is no sign of it ending any time soon.  I tell people it is easy to be vegetarian and it is.  Eating out as a vegetarian is something else entirely.  Only recently at a buffet I asked which were the vegetarian dishes and was pointed to the cheese, eggs and tuna.  I patiently explained tuna was not a fruit or a vegetable to be told, “that’s a new one to me.”  Friends still panic when inviting you to dine and most restaurants still have very few vegetarian options. However, I've found if you ask the chef what he can provide for you, most are very willing to show their skill in turning out something delicious. Friends? I'm still working on that one.

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