Last Monday, I ate a lot of vegetarians.<\/p>\n
Excuse me, I mean, I ate with <\/em>a lot of vegetarians.\u00a0 And one other vegan.\u00a0 We went to Taj Mahal, a restaurant which promotes itself as being an Indian\/Italian restaurant, but is actually just an Indian restaurant that happens to also make and sell pizza.\u00a0 I ate a bowl full of mushrooms drowned in some kind of red paste.\u00a0 I realize that doesn’t sound<\/em> appetizing, but it was surprisingly delicious.\u00a0 Also very spicy, which was a welcome change from the normally bland food served here (compared to Germany, food from the Sub is spicy!).<\/p>\n Last night, Gunnar and I argued about whether or not to use spices.\u00a0 I told him food is boring when bland, and he claimed that it isn’t possible to taste the actual food when one uses spices, just the spices.\u00a0 That can<\/em> be true, but spices can also enhance<\/em> the flavor of the food (broccoli or potatoes or whatever).<\/p>\n But this is about Monday, and the Taj Mahal, and the “Greifswald Vegan” Verein.\u00a0 They mostly exist just as a FaceBook group, but once in a while, on a sort of monthly basis, they go out to eat together.\u00a0 This was my first time eating with them, so it was nice to be able to finally meet in person!\u00a0 They are all very nice.\u00a0 Carla, who lives 4 floors down from me, pointed out that when people try to form friendships based on similar diet choices, they may not have that much else in common.\u00a0 She offered the example of making a group for people who like chocolate– many people would want to be a part of that group, but how much else in common would they really have?\u00a0 I definitely see her point, but I also think it is not the best analogy, and let me explain why.<\/p>\n When people choose to become vegan, it is usually not because they think tofu is the best thing ever.\u00a0 It is not a matter of liking or disliking a certain kind of food.\u00a0 Becoming vegan or vegetarian requires making major changes in lifestyle.\u00a0 It requires a commitment to principles which are more important than the convenience of eating whatever, whenever, wherever.\u00a0 There are many reasons for not eating animals, but they generally fall into one of these categories: environmental concern, ethical concern, personal health concern.\u00a0 These reasons require the person to think beyond the moment, to consider the bigger picture, to consider what is “right”.\u00a0 Right for the environment, right for the animals, or right for their own health.<\/p>\n (Please don’t read into my words that non-vegetarians don’t<\/em> care about the environment\/animals\/their health, or that they aren’t<\/em> intelligent, principled people.\u00a0\u00a0 I mean only to point out that, given the kind of commitment veganism takes, you don’t see that many people doing it just for kicks.)<\/p>\n Anyways.\u00a0 That all being said, people who choose vegetarianism usually have more in common than just tofu.\u00a0 They tend to share similar beliefs<\/em> and values<\/em>.\u00a0 And those are things you usually (subconsciously) look for in friends.\u00a0 Of course, that being said, most of my friends aren’t vegetarian, let alone vegan, and Paul is a very happy omnivore.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last Monday, I ate a lot of vegetarians. Excuse me, I mean, I ate with a lot of vegetarians.\u00a0 And one other vegan.\u00a0 We went to Taj Mahal, a restaurant which promotes itself as being an Indian\/Italian restaurant, but is … Continue reading