We’ve written several times about problems that arise during the Meat Pledge experiment (keeping a period of less or no meat for 4 weeks) both in reactions from others around them and within the participants themselves. But we have also been hearing about good strategies; ways to really OWN what you are doing in this process. Sofie is very unabashed about her pledge of no meat at lunch, freely requesting alternative possibilities with restaurant staff, etc.:
When I am at a place where they make the food themselves and a vegetarian alternative can possibly be arranged, I do indeed ask for it. At Parkhotel they were serving beef hash and I asked them to leave out the meat, so they made a hash with asparagus instead and it tasted fine.
Rather than requesting any changes, Malene has laid a fairly straightforward course of making most of her own meals, and when eating out, just avoiding meat:
It’s easy enough to eliminate meat when you’re out somewhere, although what you can get to eat can be pretty uninteresting.
But Anne is finding it difficult to talk about her pledge and is looking for the best way to carry out the final couple of weeks.
Several times I’ve felt relieved at NOT being invited to dinner with friends because many of them don’t understand why I’m so committed to only eating organic meat. It’s as if they think I’m crazy to be worried about such an unnecessary thing. My future resolve could be to really be vocal in saying; “I’ll only eat a bit of meat if it’s organic”. But if it gets too hard for me to make this kind of announcement, I might just choose to be vegetarian.
Why is vegetarianism more readily acceptable than insisting that meat be organic? Both diets can be based on environmental or ethical reasons, and yet one seems get more negative reaction. Let us know what your experience or your opinion is about the difference, and we promise to discuss it here on Meaty Matters!