- A little stack of cooked zucchini.
I didn't realize being in this video would make me angry.
(rockabilly music)
- I've been a vegetarian for about 10 years now.
- I decided to be a vegetarian in high school.
I was like walking in the woods with my friends one day
and we were just like, let's not eat meat.
And it stuck.
And then little did I know,
she was eating hamburgers secretly.
- Whenever anybody talks to be about being vegetarian,
I just tell them I don't eat anything that has a mom.
- People often are like, oh you're vegan,
so you must be like really healthy.
I'm like unfortunately they're not synonymous
'cause french fries are mostly vegan,
and you can survive off only french fries
for a long time, let me tell you.
- It's definitely second nature.
Like I always look, is there gelatin?
Is there chicken stock?
- So I have some horror stories I feel like
throughout my life.
And I'm gonna be pumped to read these today,
'cause I feel like I'm gonna be able to relate
to a majority of them.
So, let's start.
- My dad and brother offered to cook the dinner
for my wedding, wow.
We had a pretty set menu that he came up with
that had a vegetarian option.
Day of, my dad hands me a plate of rice and was like,
oh yeah, well, that's all I made vegetarian.
- Then my brother grabs a plate and said,
"He cooked all the rice with chicken broth."
- After 10 years, my dad still thinks it's a phase.
On your wedding?
- Why do dads have such a hard time understanding
that this is a life decision?
- I feel like this is so common too.
People will hand me a beautiful dish of pasta
or rice or gumbo or a medley and they're like,
yeah we cooked it in beef broth though.
But that's fine right?
And it's like no that's not fine.
- That's a big part of the reason why a lot of us
go vegan or vegetarian is we don't want the animal involved
in any way.
Ya fools.
- Our school had veggie burgers
but they just added lettuce and tomato
to a regular hamburger?
That's just a regular hamburger.
That's not a veggie burger.
- That's not a veggie burger.
- They tried.
I think I remember I went to like a fast food place
and asked if they had anything vegetarian
and they just handed me cheese on bread.
Which was fine.
- It was my 10th birthday party
and we were at an amusement park to celebrate.
My parents had already told them that I was vegetarian
and couldn't have meat
and they said they had a vegetarian option.
- Come lunch time, they brought me a hot dog bun
with nothing on it except ketchup.
- At my own birthday party.
- That's sad.
- I'm just wondering if like the amusement park had planned,
oh this is the vegetarian option.
It's like a bun, or if they forgot.
- I was invited to a military ball
and I was told that there would be a vegan option.
- Turns out the vegan option was four cheese mac and cheese.
- I ended up eating Tic Tacs.
- Super relatable.
So often people are like, so fish?
I'm like, if it has a face, I can't eat it.
Dairy doesn't have a face but it used to.
- Oftentimes, the vegetarian or vegan option ends up being
like sugary or worse for you,
and generally trying to be like a little more healthy
and then you end up eating a Tic Tac.
- I hope they were orange and not like a mint one.
- I ordered veggie lasagna at a restaurant.
- I frickin' love vegetable lasagna.
I knew the meat lasagna had noodles and layers, yeah,
so I was expecting the same thing, just with vegetables
and without meat.
Nope, I got a literal stack of cooked zucchini, no noodles.
Ugh!
- Been there, I feel your pain, it's bull.
That is not a lasagna.
Lasagna has noodles!
Noodles!
- I mean I hope the zucchini was cooked and not soggy.
'Cause that's a common issue for vegetarians.
You get the soggiest vegetables.
- I went to lunch at a restaurant
and ordered the vegetarian soup.
When it was served,
I noticed something that looked a lot like
meat floating around.
- And it turned out to be pieces of chicken.
I brought this up to the waiter who told me,
"Chicken isn't really meat because it's a bird."
- Oh, thank you.
Thank you for that information, I had no idea.
- So this is not that surprising to me.
You couldn't ever really trust soup.
No one really knows what's in it.
It's been reheated for days.
- I just went to a banquet
and the only vegetarian options included mushrooms
which I also can't eat.
I ended up eating cake for dinner (laughs).
So not all bad.
That's relatable, you just go,
there's nothing for me to eat so I guess I just have to
just eat dessert for me.
- It's really hard to be vegetarian or vegan with like
other dietary restrictions, like if you're gluten-free, or--
- I mean at least you had cake which is cool.
- And I'm eating a lot of sweets, if that's the only thing
that doesn't contain meat.
(soft music)
- I feel like, what was cool about these stories is that
they were all so different
and all so many different circumstances
but they're all so relatable.
I feel like I've been in every single one of these.
- A lot of people who do eat meat don't think about
these different products that they just
automatically incorporate into something.
And I know a lot of people like to laugh,
like oh you're being difficult, but like,
for some people, this is how they eat,
just like if you're a carnivore and you need meat every day,
you've got that for yourself.
- I grew up eating meat.
I loved cheeseburgers, even today.
I didn't give up meat and dairy because
I don't like the taste of it.
In-N-Out, I miss you every day.
But you just eventually make a decision
that you don't want to be part of an industry
that seems to be doing so many bad things.
- In my past, I've had partners who
weren't supportive of me being a vegetarian,
and so sometimes when we would go out to dinner,
I would order a salad and a side
and we would get in arguments 'cause they feel like
you're not eating enough, you can't be a vegetarian.
Which was very bizarre.
- (laughs) It's sad how seemingly little
so many people know about being vegan or vegetarian
but I also know that it's a privilege in a lot of ways
to be able to eat vegan or vegetarian
because it's more expensive and if you live in
a food desert or you don't have a ton of extra income,
it's harder to make that decision.
- Be thoughtful all around for people.
It's not hurting you.
People like to poke fun at us,
but we're all about not hurting you, not hurting me,
everyone can do their own thing,
even though I think everyone should be a vegetarian.
Eventually, we'd have to face off.
(soft music)