Are YOU the only vegetarian you know?

Is anyone in the same situation I am? I'm the only vegetarian I know, as matter of fact I'm the only vegetarian I've ever known (at least in my state.) Do you guys find this cool or weird? It doesn't bother me or anything but it'd be nice to meet folks in real life who don't think vegetarianism is wacked up.

My husband and I are both vegetarians.  We are the only ones we know.  We're in Michigan and people here like to hunt and grill.  They think we're odd and question what we eat all the time.  Most of the time they ask out of curiosity, but sometimes I think they're being plain rude or think our way of eating is entertaining.

We don't care, though, because we've learned how to live with having a different eating pattern than our friends and family.  We don't expect people to make special dishes for us, and we don't make special dishes for anyone else, either.  Being vegetarian has helped my husband and I become super healthy eaters and we pay attention to everything we're consuming now.  It's a great way to lose weight :)

No :) My mum was a vegetarian for the first 4 years of my life (living by the rule that if she couldn't feel ok killing it herself, then she shouldnt eat it!) but she quit obviously...
But also, my second oldest sister, one of her long time friends is a vegetarian!... even though i only heard of it this year.

... Whats more annoying though is that my mum thinks its silly that i want to be a vegetarian and consider becoming vegan... even though she did it herself.
Silly silly silly :)

I know one other vegetarian here at work and I know of one of the guy's wives here at work is a vegetarian.  There are a couple.  I thought that was pretty good since I live in Texas and there isn't much support here for a vegetairian lifestlyle.

I've had lots of friends who were at one point or another but all (like 5 of them) ended up getting boyfriends who weren't supportive of it so they gave it up (wth, right?)

I currently have one acquaintence who is a veggie and I've loved it the few times shes been with me when a group of friends have gone out. I finally had back-up when the vegetarian bashing came about.

Other than potential back-up, I don't mind being a loner.

I am also the only vegetarian I know.  I've been lacto-ovo since I was 8 years old and have almost always been the only vegetarian around.  In Mass where I grew up there were a few vegans here and there but now I'm in Miami and it is almost completely unheard of to be a vegetarian here.  Being Cuban makes it even more difficult because most of the cuisine revolves around meat especially holidays where whole pigs are roasted.  My husband (also Cuban and an extreme carnivore) loves that i'm a veggie.  He says I'm the cheapest date he has ever had plus I dont eat off his plate. 

If you don't make a big deal of it most people wont even notice you ordered the veg dish or you're eating substitutes.  Actually, I feed veggie crumbles to friends that come over all the time and they don't even notice unless I say something.  I've learned just to keep my mouth shut and everyone is happy (plus its fun to trick all the hard core meat eaters LoL).

Well I know two vegans, and one aspiring pescetarian.

But that's cool that you're the only vegetarian you know. It shows you don't follow the crowd :]

i don't know any vegetarians or vegans in indiana. there used to be a lot of them in richmond, virginia.  i miss the vegetarian friendly restuarants there.

I know my husband and he is also vegetarian.  ;)  Also one of my co-workers is vegan.  Other than that we didn't know anyone that was, but we have joined some Veg*n societies (there are 2 in San Antonio) so met a bunch that way.  San Antonio is way behind Austin as far as being veg friendly, but we're getting there.

It's so hard for me to imagine living somewhere without a strong vegetarian presence.  I've been living in the Pacific NW for almost 12 years now, and I only have 3 friends who aren't vegetarian or vegan.  All three of them have veg*n partners, so they eat veg most of the time, just not at restaurants.  Even when I lived on the east coast, I had lots of friends from India who were vegetarian, so I've never tried it alone.  Kudos to all of you who eat vegetarian in areas without the resources we have here.  You guys rock!

One of my sisters, both my roomates and alot of friends.
Toronto is very vegetarian/vegan friendly, though. There are alot of vegan restaurants.

hahah same!

and if you go to california theres like vegan resturaunts everywhere

 

just ask around and kep looking i'm sure you'll find many vegetarians :]

 

ps- have you hugged a vegetarian today?

In a word, YES. I mean, I've met a few other vegetarians, but I don't know them nor have I heard from them again. It can get a little lonely =[ My friends have this weird obsession with hiding their meat from me. As if I'm going to yell at them or faint by seeing it or something =/ I NEVER, EVER get angry at people and I've never tried to impose my views on them, so I don't really know what they're thinking. In fact, they're the ones who try to convert me. I don't understand why some omnivores find it necessary to badger veggies and vegans =[

i live in a pretty rural part of missouri (about an hour outside of st louis), so being veg is definitely not a common thing out here. (there are farms everywhere you go.. you will even see cows in fields while driving down the interstate......) but somehow i still have about 5 friends who are veg (we call ourselves the "veg crew" haha) my boyfriend (an omnivore who eats my veg cooking without complaint) also has 4 family members who are veg, and i even have a co-worker who is veg. it definitely makes it easier to have support!

I just moved to Tennessee from California... basically I get the impression that Nashville and well, most of Tennessee is BBQ central. I went to dinner with my family and ordered a hamburger with out the meat and when I told her I was a veg she was soo stunned she actually had to sit down and stare at me for a while.... she had never met a veg before. needless to say I didn't get my meat-free hamburger until everyone else was done with their dinner... I've never gone back...

But yeah I feel like I'm the only veg around...unless I have visitors from Cali.. and that's pretty rare in itself because I only have about two to three veg partners

I know only of 2 other rather distant acquaintances, so I know exactly how you feel. But it's all going to change soon hopefully, because I want to start a vegetarian/vegan club at my college. Then we can all meet each other and help each other out! I have lots of hope for this.

I know a few other vegetarians.

One of my closest friend has been vegetarian for three years, but she had no influence on me discontinuing my meat-eating habits. The weird thing is she got mad at me for becoming vegetarian. I think she liked her individuality, which is completley ridiculous. I know another girl who is a very strict vegetarian and tries to impose her beliefs on other people (in a positive way).

My friend also went vegetarian for a month or so, but she has gone back to eating meat.

Well, I'm the only vegetarian in my family (recently became one today, haha) but not in the state (California). I'm sure you've heard of the hippie thing in California, animal lovers and whatnot, so there are probably lots more veg*ns out there in the state. It may be the state with the most veg*ns, but I don't know. I know this one girl in my school who is a vegetarian. She seems to make a big deal out of it because she is the only one, but I can see why. Anyway, I don't feel discouraged of being a starter vegetarian, so I'm feeling quite neutral. You shouldn't feel that way too.

YES. It's awful, especially when you want a boyfriend that is a vegetarian too.

:(

I've known vegetarians in the past... who weren't really vegetarians. They were just "vegetarians" because it was a fad a few years ago. I was really bummed.

I want to fall in love with a vegetarian. :)

I used to have a lot of friends near me who were vegetarian, but they are all meat-eaters now. Only one friend of mine in a different state is a vegetarian like myself. :( We are few and far between it seems.