I got a pleasant surprise today!

I've been with my boyfriend nearly 6 years - I was veggie before I met him, and he's a meat eater. It's never been a problem for us. He's totally supportive, and I've never nagged him. He'll eat organic chicken and beef at home, which I buy (though he cooks it) but will eat veggie mince if we have a chilli or something. He's also happy for his son to eat veggie hotdogs etc.

We've often discussed vegetarianism (though never argued about it) - he's sworn he'll never go veggie, but he understands my reasons. We often talk about HIS reasons for not going veggie - he is respectful of animals, and loves our pets. He admits that, even though he understands the horrors behind the meat industry, he just LIKES the taste of it. On the one hand, I'm glad that he is aware of what he's eating, but on the other hand I hate the fact that he can know what happens and still eat it. We talk about this a lot, because I'm just fascinated at what's going on in his head.

Never nagged him though, like I said.

Last week he shared a quorn roast with me instead of having chicken - it was unusual but I didn't mention it. Today he asked me what I'd like for dinner (he's the cook!) - when I said a veggie pie, he got one out for himself too. Then he said that he's "going off meat" - I didn't say much (getting excited would definitely turn him off!) but jokingly said "hope that's nothing to do with me", to which he said "well, you must be influencing me somehow". We left it at that. He enjoyed his pie, so I was happy!

I'm not under any illusions that he'll ever go vegetarian, but I'm hopeful that he might eat less and less meat now that something seems to be clicking in his head. I know that he also had a vegetable pastie thing for lunch instead of a meat sandwich.

Sorry, it's a bit dull to read - but I'm amazed and happy!

Whoo-hoo! :)

I have a similar experience... The boyfriend, when I met him, lived off of chicken and french fries, as far as I can tell. He supports my veganism, but isn't vegetarian himself. Alas, he'll do really cute things. For instance, I introduced him to the Gardenburger riblets. He now has a freezer full of them. :) He'll say "I've eaten a vegan lunch today." It's great - One vegan meal a week is better than none, yea?

I read the whole thing. Thanks for sharing it. Amazing what time, patience and love can do. People have to come to stuff in their own time.

Very cool!!

And they act like we don't need to change them! :)

I'm just kidding, guys.

:vebo: Woo hoo! :bobo: That's so wonderful! I think leading by example is the best way to convince anyone to reduce their consumption of animal products. Way to go, Jessica! :up:

wooooooo hoooooooo

great post :up:

reducing is definately better than nothing - YAY! :bobo:

At first I read the title of this thread as " my boyfriend is going off ME" and then of course I was surprised when the first sentence was "I got a pleasant surprise today!"

That probably wasn't very relevant.

But I agree with anyone else - That's great about your BF!!

At first I read the title of this thread as " my boyfriend is going off ME" and then of course I was surprised when the first sentence was "I got a pleasant surprise today!"

That probably wasn't very relevant.

But I agree with anyone else - That's great about your BF!!

Ha ha ha! That made me laugh!

Of course it depends what kind of mood I'm in as to whether him going off ME would be a good thing or a bad thing!

Wow I can only hope that happens to my boyf lol.

Coolness! :bobo:

My husband is also a meat eater, I haven't nagged him to be vegetarian.It's my good cooking that's convincing him! :D Although he is slowly but surely coming around. He told me the other day how he prefers Boca Burgers to "real" hamburgers now. Maybe it's a first step.

I think this is great news for you...I would do it too if I were him because actually, sharing someones life means that you want to share everything along with them...To me commitment means that you are interested in everything about them and agree with what they believe in...
To truly love someone is to want to give unconditional support to them, this is what I have always believed...And I think by not nagging your bf, you were doing a great job supporting him emotionally...He obviously he loves you very much...:)

So it's been two days, Jessica...Is he a veggie yet??!!!

Cool! I've had something like that happen, too; a few days ago, my boyfriend told me that he hadn't eaten anything with meat in it all day. That trend has continued each day since then! And he keeps telling me how he feels so much better, and how he can't even imagine eating meat anymore, that the thought just repulses him and he sees it for the poor animal it once was than as a food.. It's actually kind of cute the way he goes on about it :) The best part is it was totally on his own.. I hadn't even said/done anything to even *imply* I had a problem with him eating meat (because I, uh, didn't), and it wasn't like we had had some big discussion about it or anything, he just one day was randomly like "I didn't eat anything with meat today, aren't you proud?" :up:

well I know he had a ham sandwich for lunch at the pub yesterday because he saved some and brought it home as a treat for my rats! (bless him!) But he had another meat-free dinner last night (chilli with veggie mince). I guess it's true that every meat-free meal is a good thing.

Mayuko, that's great about your bf too. Unfortunately mine isn't quite as enthusiastic as yours! Lucky girl! I can never imagine him saying meat repulsed him and he'd laugh if I suggested he might eventually go vegetarian. But I suppose that even if every few months he has a couple of days where he goes off meat for whatever reason it might mean that it all finally clicks into place one day. I'll just keep leaving the odd Viva leaflet showing shackled chickens or ill-treated pigs hanging around........ (I'm so messy, can't ever file anything away, lol !)

The way I came to vegetarianism...

I just, ate vegetarian occasionally. Whether it was bean chili at a friend's place, the veggie ball spaghetti I got randomly on campus, the hummus so and so offered me...

Eventually it clicked in my head. "Hey wait, this ain't bad."


So there is hope. I mean, wasn't it a journey for most of us? Who knows, after two or three years, the boyfriend might say, "hey, wait a minute!"

that's great jessica! :)

my husband has reduced his consumption and become more picky about origins, and is considering being MORE veggie and raw and less meaty. . .

and i do "nag" or rather "harass" him about it. LOL

essentially, every time we pass our local farms and see the beautiful beef cattle that he loves (we call them "cow babies"), i always say "beautiful cow babies. too bad they die and go in ryan's belly. so sad. poor cow babies." of course, it's mockery, but he's not untouched by it.

he also likes chickens. we went and visited steve (formerly my egg guy) and he has lots of pet chickens. "The Girls" are so cute. Ryan loves how they share boxes and love to cuddle together and some of them follow him around--he loves that.

And i say "poor chicken babies. going into ryans tummy!" whenever he eats chicken.

i'm so mean. i mean, i do respect his decisions, but i'm reinforcing the connection.

My best guy friend has sworn up and down that he´ll never be a vegetarian. If I pack us a picnic lunch because I´m going to his softball tournaments all day, then he´ll bring lunchmeat for his pita or whatever I brought.

We were talking online a few weeks ago, and I mentioned that I had just realized that when I go back to the States, I´ll have to live with my omni family. I´m having so much fun living with other vegetarians here. His immediate response was, ¨Don´t even think about making me go vegetarian.¨

All in good time, all in good time... first let´s work on you not eating meat around me.

The same thing happened with my boyfriend! He was always a big animal lover and I was vegetarian when we started going out. He was fine with it, supportive even. But he swore he would never even try fake meat stuff. About 1 year after we had been living together, I urged him to try a veggie bruger and he loved it! Said he liked it more than hamburgers (he got a BIG "I told you so!" for that)! And he never ate meat again...And this was right before Thanksgiving even :) Then, around the end of the year, out of the blue, HE suggested we go vegan! I was so excited! And it's been bliss ever since :)

I also never nagged, teased a little maybe, but never nagged ;) He just came to his senses all on his own...what a good boy, now sit, roll-over, goood boy :whip:

This thread is funny. So many conversion and near-conversion stories.

I, too, have an omni boyfriend. I recall several months ago I'd been considering vegetarianism for a little while, trying to figure it out. Someone on the street had given him a flier - I think it was a PETA flier or something. Anyhow, he was rather distraught about the animal torture (he's also an animal lover, through and through), but was convinced he could never convert to veg*nism. He says he loves chicken too much.

I take this as a good sign though. He does have some conscience about eating animals and I think if/when we live together, he's likely to convert eventually. I asked him if he was just exposed to more vegetarian meals if he would convert and the fact that he didn't say "NO! Absolutely not!" outright, to me, is a good sign. He was just contemplative. Let's see what happens...

BTW Jessica, that's great news. Yay! :hamster: