Are Meat Eaters Really More Judgy Than Vegetarians?

[Cafe Amber]

Are Meat Eaters Really More Judgy Than Vegetarians?

Posted by Adriana Velez on July 5, 2012 

Vegetarians get pegged as intolerant jerks all the time -- with their holier-than-thou eating habits and their "I can't eat anything with a face." But look who the real intolerant jerks are. USA Today and Match.com surveyed some single vegetarians to see if they would be willing to date meat eaters. And they asked meat eaters if they would be willing to date vegetarians.

Almost all the vegetarians said they'd be willing to date a meat eater! Only 4 percent said they wouldn't. But carnivores? A whole 30 percent of them said they would reject a vegetarian. Meat eaters, where is the love?!?

Well, well, well. Look who's more open minded: Vegetarians. As someone who likes to poke fun at vegetarians every so often: OUCH. All this time we've been giving veggies crap about being so self-righteous and persnickety. What meat eater hasn't secretly felt judged by vegetarians? We just assume that if a vegetarian makes a choice about her food based on her ethics (or other strong feelings), she's going to disapprove of anyone who makes the opposite choice, right? And that's why meat eaters are so wary of vegetarians: They're afraid of being harshly judged.

It's a pre-emptive strike. Meat eaters reject vegetarians before vegetarians can reject them.

Well it turns out vegetarians are a bit more flexible than that. They're in the minority, and that tends to make you a little more compassionate towards people who are different from you. They're constantly making accommodations, meeting you at that restaurant that has only one vegetarian dish, making do with just the corn and salad at the barbecue. Sure they complain sometimes -- but you would, too, if you were living in a vegetarian world.

I'm not a vegetarian, but many of my friends are veggies. And they couldn't care less what I eat. Most of them care way more about their relationships with friends and family than how most folks get their protein.

Oh god. I hope vegetarians don't start getting all judgy and self-righteous about being less judgy and self-righteous than carnivores...

Did the survey surprise you? Did you know meat eaters could be more intolerant than vegetarians?

[shivasgirl]

 I have been a vegetarian for 34 years, I married a meat eater and now he is a vegetarian...our kids are being raised veg...my son (6yrs) is a militant veg and refuses to even sit at the table with a meat eater...his twin sister doesnt care what you eat as long as she doesnt have to eat meat

[Harris06]

I don't get all of the hype and hoopla. Ok, so you don't eat meat. Who cares? You like meat? Big deal. Seriously, I think it is ridiculous. Eat what you want. You want to go on a dog food diet? Please, by all means. I don't care. I don't know why people care what other people do so much. Your convictions and ideas are yours. Just worry about yourself. It's really just ridiculous. 

[VisionSeeker]

 LOL, I didn't know that!

[PoehlerBear1983]

It doesnt suprise me

[nngmommy83]

interesting LOL

[nngmommy83]

never knew there was a name for that =)

Quoting shivasgirl:

 I have been a vegetarian for 34 years, I married a meat eater and now he is a vegetarian...our kids are being raised veg...my son (6yrs) is a militant veg and refuses to even sit at the table with a meat eater...his twin sister doesnt care what you eat as long as she doesnt have to eat meat

[abra]

We are compassionate carnivores, and while we don't judge others for eating factory farmed meats, we do get a lot of snarky comments about our choices, even though we aren't super public about them. I think, honestly, it comes from guilt. People who eat a lot of ff meat have told us they don't want to research the topic because they just don't want to know what is going on because they know it is bad. It's like a toddler who closes their eyes in hide and seek instead of hiding, you know? A sort of, "if I can't see it, it isn't there". I think it is irresponsible, but everyone has different priorities and just because we are convicted about the topic, doesn't meat a ff meat eater doesn't have other things we need to learn about in other areas.

[timon95]

Quoting nngmommy83:

interesting LOL

[batjmom]

 I'm not surprised... I always get asked how I get protein if I dont eat meat.  Its getting better and even my dh is seeing the benefits of not eating meat

[sarah824]

This seems silly to me, but I get it, kinda... As someone who loves to cook it is MUCH harder for ME to cook for a vegetarian than it is for a meat eater. We had a friend dating a vegan for a while and that was hard because I was never sure what she would or wouldn't eat.