Sunday, August 27, 2006

an interesting reason to quit being a vegetarian

my vegetarianism never ceases to amaze all and sundry in egypt
i have been declared mentally ill , a maschoist , a fool (by people utterly lacking in subtlety i.e my beloved family )
a liar (because lets just say im rather generously proportioned ) amongst other things .
i was even asked once by that how is it it possible that i am christian and the rest of my family are muslims .
everyone i know is a food missionary seeking to help me see the light and return on the straight and narrow path of meat consumption .
and the other day a rather elderly friend of my grandmas gave me a rather novel reason to once again return to the ranks of the righteous .

charming elderly friend : ya habibti why dont you have a chicken wing

me: no thank you ya tante im vegetarian i dont eat meat of any sort

cef: vegetarian (nabateya) what does that mean anyway?

me: (my lengthy explaination of vegetarian ethos and values , why i became one etc etc)

cef: (putting hand on heart and generally acting scandalized) bas ya habibiti what are you going to do when youre married arent going to cook meat for your husband

me : ummm i dont know i really havent thought about it . i really dont think so though

cef: you should . and also men like to have their wives eat with them from the same dishes and feed them . you'll never get married if you dont start eating meat . youre in egypt ya habibti you have to forget this nonsense . now eat this chicken wing (after a long and lengthy struggle i convince her that if i eat it i will be violently and painfully sick , utterly miserable and other disagreeable things )
yes dear readers i must cease this nonsense , for my marital status is at stake (so saith the virtuous chicken brandishing crone) .
seriously im already sick of my husband whoever that stupid bastard is , he is a self righteous , intolerant,petty,meat gobbling moron and the source of much of my misery. my grandmother is now persisting in giving me lessons on how to cook various forms of dead animal flesh .

it seems im destined to live in a constant state of nausea

im going to start to start EVA (egyptian vegeterains anonymous ) to deal with this debilitating desire to not to eat animal corpses . and besides id love to trade stories with other vegeterians living in our meat worshipping society

so is there anybody out there?

11 comments:

maxxedout said...

I'm not vegeterian - God forbid .
Hell i live for meat !
However .. i know someone who is ...
She's Aussie tho .. well .. born and raised anyway .
Only Egyptian by default .
I dont know if she qualifies .. should i hook you up ?

KareemFromEgypt said...

i thought humans were omnivores (right spelling??) meaning that we are able to eat both meat and vegetables

i had a couple of vegetarian friends, some i don't talk to anymore and the ones i still see quit a while ago, it's tough to be vegetarian in a country that caters to us meat gobbling morons

just what kind of vegetarian are you? like all products including leather (Vegan) or are dairy and fish allowed?

i tried going vegetarian, i lasted for 96 hours, the mind is willing but the flesh is weak

Reformed Cynic said...

I've had 'vegetarian phases' - the longest was about 4 months. But mine were not based on any noble conviction about animal rights but just on health - a desire to detox/cleanse type thing. And they were never in Egypt. Kudos to you for sticking to it in this country! Fruits and veggies are in abundant supply, but naysayers even more so! And there are no available 'meat alternatives' - the only place I've seen some is in Nature's Best - the sekem store in Zamalek - do you know where that is? It has soy burgers etc (as well as lots of organic produce).
Hilarious writing btw.

Hebe said...

maxxed out - please do! me is so lonely

k- vegan !!! yikes no im what you call a lacto-ovo vegeterian meaning i have diary products and eggs ,i do eat fish sometimes simply because if i dont my parents go a little on the zonko side worrying about my protein intake . my mother is currently convinced that im balding (not true btw) amongst other health scares

rc- no i never heard of the sekem store thank you for telling me about it will definitely check it out . it gets tiring sometimes explaining and justifying myself to people . but to be honest i dont give a rats ass about most peoples opinions . if i did i would be a very boring person indeed

Carmen said...

Heh heh heh!! I became a vegeterian not too long ago to the detriment of every single member of my family. My mother actually cuts the chicken into such tiny pieces and mixes it in my food sometimes thinking I wouldn't notice!

Carmen said...

Heh heh heh!! I became a vegeterian not too long ago to the detriment of every single member of my family. My mother actually cuts the chicken into such tiny pieces and mixes it in my food sometimes thinking I wouldn't notice!

Leilouta said...

I know exactly how you feel. I have a vegetarian girlfriend whose having a hard time in Tunisia just because of that :)

We had dinner last summer in Tunisia with an American vegan in a nice restaurant. We made it clear to the waiter that he was a vegan and couldn't eat any meat or have anything that was cooked with meat.

He found a small piece of meat inside his food!

Safiya Outlines said...

I used to be vegan, then I was vegetarian, then I became Muslim and now I eat meat. So I'm a real traitor to the cause

I admire your stance, in Egypt not scoffing at least one carcass a day is looked upon as a sign of severe illness ;)

Anonymous said...

hmmm Hi im a Vegetarian and i did not ate a single meat or whatever since i was born till now and now im living healthy and a happy life as some of us in this world do believe in recarnation yeah and to me i think that if u eat them just imagining people eating your flesh and imagine that ! how painful it is..well being a vegetarian ? to me ? i think it's good and best of all (: seriously to u! if people around u they do love you they will be willing to give you their support and might even try being a vegetarian ? but this needs time and all.

Anonymous said...

im a vegan and people always seen to feel really sorry for me when i tell them, or start giving me grief as if iv offended them or tried to criticize them before iv even told them why i personally chose to be, i love it and have never felt better physically or spiritually, hopefully im going to be travveling in egypt soon but the promise of eating out doesnt look good :(

Anonymous said...

I actually ran a google search on "going vegetarian in egypt" and came across your blog entry. You have my sympathies, one thousand times over.

I've been trying to go vegetarian for a long time, but owing to a liver condition and amino acid/protein deficiency I find myself HAVING to consume some form of meat at least once a week. Doctors here have taken it personally.

And again, the only reason I relapse is NOT because of poor willpower - anything but. I've never actually had meat as part of my diet - my mom's vegetarian. Sure I appreciate a good juicy steak as much as the next person, I have taste buds, but I always feel sick afterwards. I consume any type of meat and I can't function or think clearly for a while to come. It's just not natural - for me.

The real reason I have trouble keeping the veg up is because there AREN'T ENOUGH protein alternatives here in Egypt. Where do I get tofu and other soya products? Where do I find kale and collard greens? How can I have a well-rounded, healthy, effective and balanced diet if I just cut out the meat and have nothing to replace it with.

After all, I can't eat 2 kgs of green beans every day. I hate Egypt.

Many, many sympathies. If you've been to the Zamalek store your friend mentioned, or know where it is, or if you've since found out about other shops that sell vegetarian options... please reply!!!!