I could never be a vegetarian. I’m not saying that I have to have meat in every meal, but I could never declare myself a vegetarian and then stick with it for more than maybe a week at a time. 

Although, I guess peer pressure can occaisonally play games with my brain. Especially considering my general support for unity, and my mother that is super allergic to peanut products. I just don’t like the idea of singling a person out because of what he/she eats, and (to an extent) I try to accommodate for people with nontraditional diets in a fashion that won’t make them feel secondary or uncomfortable. For example, I try not to eat loads of meat right infront of my vegetarian friends.

My best friend from high school is a vegetarian, and we used to spend enough time together that I occasionally forgot that I wasn’t. Every once in a while after ordering something with chicken in it I would have a minor panic attack and think, Oh, crap! I’m not allowed to eat this! Of course, an instant after completing that thought, I’d remember that Megan is a vegetarian and I am not, and the only damage done is to the respect for me, once held by the people who just saw the strange series of expressions fly across my face.

Now that I’m in college, I have learned that it will take a long time for me fully recognize the vegan diet. Now, before you stop reading to think some mean and snarky comment, I’m not telling you that I don’t know what the vegan diet is. It just isn’t quite second nature for me to remember. In an attempt to correct my general absent-mindedness, I have had to ask myself some embarassingly silly questions.

• When have eggs ever been a part of a bread recipe?
• Does the lack of meat, butter or cheese take away the properties that make speghetti food?
• Are fruits and grains inferior in any way, just because the name isn’t plant-based-products-only-arian?
• What kind of cow would you have to milk to be able make peanut butter?
• Which animal was raised inhumanely so that we can have Dr. Pepper?

… I don’t think I could ever be vegan either.