I asked DH what he was in the mood for, for dinner tonight (I'm the cook in our household). DH's Response: How about veggie-burgers? :) Both vegetarian AND easy! :) :) :) Plus, he gave the same response one other time within the past couple weeks. Makes life eaiser when hubby, even though omni, not only gladly eats meatless meals I prepare for both of us several times/wk, but suggests veggieburgers on two evenings when I would've been willing to make meat for him! :) Even if he never actually goes veggie, I'm thrilled that he seems to be meeting me more-than-halfway!

Now...I haven't told anyone else yet. Partly b/c I want to be meatless long enough to consider myself vegetarian (just 1wk w/out any meat, 1wk before that w/ some fish), but also b/c I want to have my explanations straight. I haven't had to explain to anyone; been to 3 different buffets where there were enough meatless choices to fill my plate w/out calling attention, but haven't been hosted at anyone's house or for a boxed lunch where I've had to make special requests or obviously decline something. How do you do that for the first time?

Here's what I got as a start, for my explanation (to be given only when asked): I've always been compassionate about animal rights, even moreso since becoming involved in animal rescue, and it's always been at the back of my mind that I wish I could be vegetarian. But until I cut a lot of meat out of my diet for cholesterol purposes, I thought it would just be too difficult. I lowered my cholesterol 50 points by eating less meat, except fish, and more beans & soy products. So this was plenty of a change for health purposes. But in this process, I saw how many meatless choices were so tasty & easy, and read up on nutrition at the same time, and decided maybe I COULD be vegetarian. I haven't been at it long enough to consider myself Vegetarian yet, but I'm trying to head that way, and you should be aware that I won't be eating any meat.

like you, i waited until i was ready. in fact, i had an interesting transition.

for me, i was researching vegetarianism and my feelings and i would be vegetarian at home or at restaurants (when there were vegetarian options available). Then, while eating at someone's home or whatever, when i wouldn't want to make waves, i would eat meat.

over the six transitional months, i'd only eaten with family roughly once a month (so only ate meat once a month). Then, i decided that i just couldn't do that anymore. So, i decided to "try vegetarianism." the next month, when i was invited over, i told my parents that i was 'trying vegetarianism.' this made is safe for me to fail; it also made it comfortable for them to ask questions and not worry, because i was just 'trying it.' and i assured them that if it 'didn't work' i would not continue being vegetarian. These, of course, were all vague, but they helped. after that, i went wholly into vegetarianism and told everyone as need arose.

it's ok to take your time and to make the 'rules' that you need to make in order to make this transition work for you. if you want to wait weeks or months before telling people that you're vegetarian, then that's ok. it's entirely up to you!

[QUOTE=zoebird] i decided to "try vegetarianism." the next month, when i was invited over, i told my parents that i was 'trying vegetarianism.' this made is safe for me to fail; it also made it comfortable for them to ask questions and not worry, because i was just 'trying it.' and i assured them that if it 'didn't work' i would not continue being vegetarian. These, of course, were all vague, but they helped. [QUOTE]

I'd thought of explaining myself as "trying it" at first too, except that I wondered if I that'll make it seem like I'm not committed. Maybe that would be OK....

And it looks like I'll have my first opportunity to explain myself to my parents. My mom asked for help in planning the menu for a family party mid-June. She first suggested steaks. :-/ I countered with eggplant (& chicken for meat-eaters) parmesan. She said not summer-y enough. Then we decided to both think more about it.
Maybe I'll suggest a trio of salads: from 3-bean to broccoli or slaw, to a more standard potato salad (or chicken if she insists). Anyway, we'll be discussing food...so it may be a good time to suggest something substantial that's meatless b/c I don't eat meat anymore....

i love it how you want to wait until you woud cosider yourself a real vegetaran. hug* i love that about you. in my mind, just because of that, you're more of a vegetarian than lots of others that have given up meat for a longer amount of time then a week. .... i dont know if that makes a lot of sense, but, that's the way i feel.

i realy hope you stick to it, but i dont think it'll be that hard for you- like you said you truely believe that you can do it.

power to you! good luck. XD

Just tell them that you don't like meat. That way you avoid the having to explain yourself thing, because that can get old.

i always have to explain myself - so i agree wth the how it gets old fast. wheni dont feel like explaining myself, i say so. and then people think that i dont kow what i'm talking about andthey say somethin like oh, well then if you had to explain it so often,you must have it down. it's annoying.

i love it how you want to wait until you woud cosider yourself a real vegetaran. hug* XD

Thanks. I'm not sure exactly how long I'll have to be at it before I call myself a "Vegetarian", but definitely longer than a week. :think:

But in the meantime I appreciate the recommendations that I can "warm up" by saying that I don't like meat anymore, or am trying a vegetarian lifestyle, or am trying to become vegetarian....

And as I re-read my explanation above, it sounds pretty good after all; I look forward to trying that sometime soon too.... Also found the thread about stupid things omni's say, and think I'll be prepared for many of the common responses. :deal:

To a degree, I haven't really come out. My husband knows, of course, but with family stuff, nope. The first meal I had with my family after I became vegetarian (and from the moment I decided to tottally cut meat out of my diet, I described myself as that), was at my sister's. She was having a family party for her and her husband's daughter's (and only child) second birthday. I wasn't worried about what she would serve. I was kinda expecting it. She had deli-style meats and cheeses, bread (white, wheat and whole grain) and plenty of fruit--melon, grapese and strawberries. I made myself a cheese sandwhich on whole grain and filled up on the fruits. The chips she offered were Sun Chips, so I had some, but not many. The junkies thing she offered (other than the meat), was the bakery cake, of which I had a small piece.

My family and I ate together the night before where I ordered a veggie burger and a salad at Friday's. I did look longingly at the Buffalo wing on the appetizer plate, but I didn't take it. (I miss wings. More accurately, I miss the sauce.)

With my in-laws, I haven't said anything overall, except to my SILs. When I told my older one, she thought I was weird. (However, I long thought she was weird for practically living on fast food and junk food and this was before I started paying more attention to what I eat.) She also thought I was weird when I told her I never liked potato chips. (I thought, well, when one isn't exposed to soemething much as a kid, one probably isn't going to develop a taste for it.) She did think it cool when I told her I quit smoking and have been smoke free for six months. Two out of three isn't bad. (My SIL is almost a poster child for poor health habits.) My younger SIL thinks it is cool and has even said that maybe she should go vegetarian. I honestly dont think my husband's parents have noticed. They're not the most observant of people. We were there on Friday and my MIL ordered pizza. Ever since we started dating she would get me mushroom because that's what I like. Therefore, it wasn't anything unusual that I took the mushroom (or used two paper towels for the mushroom slice and one for the cheese to degrease them).

Overall, with my in-laws, it just hasn't come up. We went to a buffet restaurant recently. I filled my plate up with lotsa veggies. I looked at some of the meat options everybody else was eating and was disgusted. It wasn't too long ago, I realized, that I, too, would be eating some of them. (Actually, I was more disgusted at my husband's large helpings that he was just polishing off. Most of his immediate family is overweight with health problems and some of the actually wonder why....) They've always known that I like salad and veggies.

When asked, I have no problem saying something to the effect of, "For me, it's become a natural outlet of my faith; A natural choice for me." So far, it's not been a problem, in the past six months. A month ago, I went on a three day retreat. The pre-retreat information form asked about any dietary restrictions. I put down vegetarian. The kitchen people went all out to make sure I and the other vegetarian (who is also a Laura) were happily fed.

Anyway, Ive gotten a bit off track. I've been going between this and my LiveJournal because my husband keeps coming in. (He doesn't know I have the LiveJournal, if I told him, how could I vent about him?) So I've been getting distracted.

Anyway, I hope I've helped.

Laura

PS:
My husband is supportive. However, he won't eat veggie burgers or anything like that. Recently, though, he did try something of mine (I don't remember where or what) and I think he did it just to humor me and becasue I gave him a deliberate hurt look I think he actually liked whatever it was. Fine. Just wait until I have more money to buy more food I want. He he. He can start cooking his own meals. I'm not even comfortable with touching meat anymore. He can do it himself.

I think it's really cool that your husband is at least sharing in your food. I'm actually kinda jealous.

Laura

You can also say, "I'm just not eating meat right now." You don't have to make some huge permanent statement. There are lots of people, for example, who cut dairy, wheat, or whatever out of their diets for awhile.

But I personally like your explanation where you talk about yourself more i.e. animal rescue and compassion, etc. I think people appreciate knowing where you're coming from.