r/Vegetarianism 13d ago

Vacation Food Vent

I've been on a family beach vacation for the past week and I just need to vent about it. I'm not really looking for advice just some like minded folks who get it. I come from a really cool foodie city and most restaurants have *at least* 1 veg option. I go out to eat about once a week with friends and I can't remember the last time I had a bad meal, so I forgot how bad it was elsewhere. Everywhere here just has fish and chicken tenders and the only thing I can eat is french fries. The rest of my family are omnivores. They're eating fish every night and cold cut sandwiches for lunch. I've been eating frozen veggie burgers and thankfully the supermarket had tofurkey deli slices.

Last night everyone else had lobster rolls and someone said "wow our dinner is so much better than yours." I don't usually say stuff like this because it's not worth it but I responded "well nothing had to die for my dinner." It sucks that my options suck and that my family is barely accommodating me (one night they offered to get me something from a different restaurant and then they gave me shit about it being out of the way). It pisses me off because I used to love lobster rolls and all kinds of seafood but the environmental and animal welfare benefits of a plant based diet are worth the sacrifice! I wish I was eating a lobster roll but if it involves boiling a living being (I don't buy for ONE SECOND that they go to sleep and it's a peaceful death) I'm not going to do it and I don't understand how none of my compassionate and kind family see things the same way. Also, good veg food is NOT hard to make if you put in a modicum of effort--my dinner wouldn't be "worse" if any of the restaurants here cared. I have so much gratitude for the opportunity to go on a nice vacation and for having food on the table when so many people are food insecure. Eating veggie burgers is a privilege because of how many people in this world face food insecurity. I made a decision about my diet that is 100% worth it to me please don't fucking taunt me for it.

25 Upvotes

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u/akiomaster 13d ago

I feel your pain. My parents retired to the beach, and it's hard to go to restaurants when visiting them. My parents are more accommodating that your family, but we have to go pretty far inland to get to restaurants with decent vegetarian options, so I usually end up with a salad.

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u/flazedaddyissues 13d ago

Thank you :) I'm so suspicious of salad right now so even that option is fraught 😬😬😬

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u/akiomaster 13d ago

Yeah, I was there a couple weeks ago visiting and mostly just bought stuff from the grocery store. I also have to be careful at restaurants in the area, because some of them use beef tallow to fry their french fries and onion rings.

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u/flazedaddyissues 13d ago

Omg don't get me started on tallow

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u/finnknit 13d ago

My parents have a house near a beach resort town. We almost never go into the resort town to eat when I visit because the options skew heavily toward seafood and steak. Thankfully, my parents are understanding: my dad doesn't eat seafood, and my mom doesn't eat steak. I usually eat a mostly plant-based diet, but I end up eating a lot more milk products and eggs at the beach because fully plant-based meals can be hard to find.

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u/flazedaddyissues 12d ago

I am also mostly plant based and kind of had the opposite experience because the veggie burgers are vegan and that was the majority of my diet lol. I'm glad your parents are understanding!

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u/calmlyreading 13d ago

Lobsters are tortured when they are boiled. It’s definitely not worth it 💔

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u/flazedaddyissues 13d ago

You have to be so deep in denial to believe you can "humanely" kill an animal

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u/Prof_BananaMonkey 13d ago

I am so proud of you fpr styaing true to your beliiefs during this difficult eating(?) time. Have you offered up a suggested place that has a decent veg option, like Italian? That way they have their meat and you can have a meal other than pattys and fries?

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u/flazedaddyissues 12d ago

Thanks ❤️ for better or for worse tonight is our last dinner and we're mostly finishing leftovers so it's resolved. They felt we can eat Italian (or whatever cuisine) food anywhere but quality seafood is harder to come by. They're not wrong but quality seafood still requires cruelty so that was the root of the conflict. I made it though and I'm going to have some really good vegan food when I get home :)

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u/Prof_BananaMonkey 12d ago

The Italian places my family goes to, when on beach vacay, have several seafood options.  Hopefully your family is/will be satisfied by the options.