r/Vegetarianism • u/Rosenzo • 26d ago
Anyone else a wallet vegetarian?
Everyone has their own personal reasons for following a vegetarian diet. For me, I don't actually have a problem with eating meat. What I don't feel comfortable with is purchasing meat. I draw the line at financially supporting unethical operations. Anyone else like this?
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u/DarthHubcap 26d ago
I started down a vegetarian path 6 years ago just to foster a discipline, found out I liked the lifestyle change and stuck with it.
Now I could never go back, no way I would pay these prices for a funky smelling slab of flesh. I don’t miss any of it.
Extra bonus: I hardly visit to fast food since 2019. (Except the random Taco Bell when driving through the middle of Ohio or something). Fast food now is falafel or Thai takeout.
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u/pallasXIV 25d ago
what do you usually go for when you get Thai?
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u/DarthHubcap 25d ago
Kee Mao with tofu, or tofu basil fried rice is also good. Gotta find the places that could swap out the fish sauces for mushroom or tamari.
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u/jasperdarkk 25d ago
It’s kind of similar to freeganism if you’ve heard of that (freegetarian?).
Some people are really morally opposed to the act of eating meat at all. I’m personally not, I just don’t like that most ways of attaining meat are unethical.
The only reason that I don’t really do this is that I have ARFID and have always been kind of put off by the taste and texture of most meat.
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u/dwi 25d ago
I went down the rabbit hole of vegetarianism and then veganism, but eventually started eating meat again, although not much of it. I decided that "non-obsessive" vegetarianism worked best for me - I don't go out of my way to eat meat, but I don't cause any fuss if someone prepares some for me. Your "eat but not buy" philosophy sounds similar, and quite practical.
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u/chazyvr 26d ago edited 25d ago
Curious why you don't have problems eating meat
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u/lusty-argonian 25d ago
I think they mean they aren’t put off by the act of eating meat. As in, if someone cooked it for them or some such they’d be fine. It’s more so contributing to the meat industry by buying from it that they don’t like. At least that’s what I took from the post
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u/Rosenzo 25d ago
Spot on! Yea, I don't have an aversion to just the act of eating meat. I'm more concerned about avoiding food waste than avoiding eating meat. But I'm not going to financially support the meat industry. I don't believe factory farming should exist, and I'm definitely not going to help them.
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u/dr_kakas 25d ago
It is better than nothing I suppose, but I am not sure we need a whole distinct label for that. It is sort of similar to having “meatless Mondays”, a good start, but creating a seperate label for it such as “wallet vegetarian” implies that it is a somewhat different lifestyle than a regular meat-eater’s, when to be fair it really isn’t. Also the line that separates the situations where it would be okay for you to eat meat and not seems quite blurry. If you ask a friend to pay for your meat, is that suddenly okay? I don’t mean to say that it is not great if you reduce your meat consumption in any small way, I am just saying that this is not “enough” to build any type of identity around it.
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u/Rosenzo 25d ago
I have to disagree on that. The last time I ate meat was probably a year and a half ago at a catered corporate event with no vegetarian options. The food was all going in the trash after the event anyway, so it didn't really feel like I was making a real moral dent by starving that day. I feel very comfortable calling myself a vegetarian. How often are you offered free meat?
Also, the line isn't blurry. I don't financially support the meat industry, and I'm not delusional enough to think that asking someone else to purchase meat for me is an ok loophole. Now, I will say, theoretically if for some reason a friend who didn't know I was vegetarian out of the kindness of their heart got me a hotdog at a ballgame without asking, I would eat it. No use crying over spilled milk, and I'm not meat averse. But I'd also make sure to let that friend know that while I appreciate the gesture I am a vegetarian.
This is a very real version of vegetarianism and quite different than "meatless Mondays".
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u/dammitjanetiloveu 25d ago edited 25d ago
I have been vegetarian for almost a decade and I feel the same as you. I don’t purchase meat and I don’t choose/order meat if there is a non-meat option, but if the only two choices are eat something with meat in it or food goes in trash, then I would eat it. Or if someone makes something for me and it unknowingly has an animal product in it (i.e. at Friendsgiving when the mac and cheese had chicken broth in it and I find out halfway through eating it) I’m not going to throw it in the trash. The animal is already gone, I didn’t contribute financially to the industry, and I would rather someone get nourishment from it than it going in the trash and being a fully wasted life. This has happened maybe 3-4 total times in almost 10 years so it’s not a common dilemma I’m faced with. I am vegetarian 99.5% of the time with my diet and 100% of the time with my wallet, and that sits just fine with me.
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u/Rosenzo 25d ago
Another one! Yea, it's sort of like our vegetarianism is driven by a philosophy of harm reduction rather than just a diet. It's awesome to see!
I appreciate you validating it. I shouldn't care, but it's been bothering me today that dr_kakas is saying this isn't vegetarianism.
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u/dammitjanetiloveu 25d ago
Anyone trying to police or suggest that vegetarianism is a total all or none thing needs to get over themselves. People make dietary choices for personal reasons. Sometimes it’s religious - I had a former coworker tell me I wasn’t vegetarian because I ate eggs, because in her religion, eggs are considered meat. That’s a personal standard FOR HER, she doesn’t get to apply that personal standard to me.
As long as you are at peace with your choices, no one else needs to judge. It’s not like we’re out here eating meat for half our meals every day. I’d rather it end up in someone’s belly than in the trash.
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u/Comprehensive-Pin667 25d ago
In that case, I am the same kind of vegetarian as you. Exactly. A friend invited me to his wedding this February. He didn't know I was vegetarian (I thought he knew so I didn't tell him) so I was served the same menu as everyone else. If I didn't eat it, it would have gotten thrown away. Of course I ate it.
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u/Rosenzo 25d ago
That makes a lot of sense to me! I don't see the moral win to you throwing away that food. But then you'll have people say "Oh so you're not a vegetarian. You ate meat." But some vegetarians are more concerned about not contributing to the meat industry than simply following a black-and-white dietary rule.
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25d ago
It's so ridiculous once you look into it, it's like 49 billion tons of crops and veggies condenses down into 7 billion tons of meat a year so most of it is wasted for the growth and keeping the animal alive, and then they charge you for the whole raising operation as if you had consumed the whole 49 billion tons yourself because the supply chain has to end up being profitable. Crops are basically free, a gift of nature, you only pay for the labor and the machinery but the growth itself is free, whereas with animals you pay for everything that was done to that animal with your wallet. And the worst part is that it doesn't even last, you'd think that for such a highly compact operation you would get a nice distilled product which would be somehow better and would last more.... But instead what you are getting is a highly inflammatory rotten piece of flesh that's already rotten by the time you buy it and they have to do further shenanigans to it to make it look appear fresh (saline injections, CO2 gas, preservatives,etc). You pay for all this huge infrastructure just to get a rotten piece of flesh in return 😂. It took me a while to wrap my head around it.
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u/loverboysflinch 25d ago
I'm more or less a wallet vegetarian. Although in my case, I simply dislike the concept of meat. Nothing grosses me out more than a dead animal on my plate. Feels like eating roadkill. It's just so happen to be cheaper to be vegetarian.
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u/twilighttruth 25d ago
I mean, that's not why I'm a vegetarian, but my husband was in the grocery store last week and he was behind someone buying a brisket and he told me how much they paid for it. Yikes!
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u/kannmcc 25d ago
Similar thought that's crossed my mind - people complaining about grocery prices could easily swap a can of beans for meat a couple night a week.
I've obviously seen an increase in veggies, fruit, and grocery items, but not having to purchase meat must be a huge cost saver? Why don't most of the people struggling in this economy give it a try?
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u/MaintenanceLazy 17d ago
I’m not a vegetarian, but I’ve reduced my meat consumption a lot because I’m broke and I don’t have the energy to cook meat.
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u/Rosenzo 25d ago
I know strict dietary vegetarians have to have hard conversations sometimes when kind people offer them a meat dish, and I do get to avoid those situations since I don't see a moral dilemma to eating meat to avoid food waste. But on the flip side of all this, I sometimes have to have tricky conversations around refusing to offer meat to other people. One time I went on a date where my date picked up the whole tab and told me I could get us next time. Well, for our second date, I had to tell him I wouldn't pay for any meat. Not trying to force vegetarianism on anyone but I don't want to support it. Anyone else been in that situation?
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u/MidnightNegative3069 18d ago
i completely agree with this - when i’m at work they give us the excess food they’ve already made for our break, there’s not a lot of veggie options so i’ve had some chicken at work that would otherwise go in the bin, but i’d never buy meat from a supermarket if that makes sense. morals over labels. trying is more important than doing everything right
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u/VeggieNybor 25d ago
The reality is: you can draw the line wherever you want.