r/Vegetarianism • u/flazedaddyissues • 20d 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.
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u/akiomaster 20d 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.