Sunday, July 12, 2009

To Date or Not To Date... Omnivores


(thanks to my pal Craig of DoodleBlog for the cute photo)

VegNews, my favorite magazine at the moment, had a fantastic article with that title last issue. Hopefully I don't get slammed for copyright issues by titling this blog the same. I'll change it if so.

The writer (a vegan) was so amazing. She shared stories of dates she went on from an online dating site. Most of the men were omnivores (she said carnivores but I'm sure that those men did not only eat meat exclusively or they would've all looked like John Wayne.) She gave a decent account of the inner-dialogue that went through her head on each date. It seemed like the guys were cool too. She would ask them about their eating habits. The one said he only ate fish. She felt like she could deal with that. He couldn't. He emailed her an hour after the date and said that eating meat would feel like cheating on her. Oh well. Next date said that he would never change and not even be flexible enough to not eat meat in front of her (which was what she asked for, not to quit eating meat all together.) X off the list.

So, I'm on Match.com and I'm having a tough go of it. I joined in October, met a fantastic guy in November who is vegetarian. He's a great guy but we live four hours away and decided to keep it casual. He's younger and still in the college life. I'd never dated a younger guy and it took a lot of getting used to. I could usually deal with that because he was so awesome and intelligent and compassionate towards animals and people alike. He was European which meant a great accent and NO obsession with American football (my least favorite sport on the planet.) He's a great guy but I'm not sure of the long term possibilities. And that's where my luck dried out with Match.

They used to have an option of displaying your "Daily Diet." I think that what people put into their bodies shows a great deal of how informed they are, and how concerned they are for themselves and the environment. The options for the Daily Diet display were Meat and Potatoes, Vegetarian, Keep It Healthy, or Fast Food. And you could actually SEARCH for those who clicked Vegetarian. One downside was that it was actually possibly to click all three, which makes it kind of hard when someone is checking Meat and Potatoes and Vegetarian. The two lifestyles cannot co-exist. Yet, Match.com left it that way. I emailed them about it and got an automatically generated response to the tune of "thanks for your concern on our website but we're not changing anything just because you're a stuck up snobby vegan." Not exact wording, I paraphrased it.

Then, my world on Match.com collapsed. They completely removed the Daily Diet option! So now, I had no idea how these men eat! I mean, that is serious business for me! My world and job revolve around food and I couldn't see at a glance what their lifestyle is. So, I emailed them again. Automated response ensued. I'm pissed.

So, now I'm stuck on Match.com with no possible way except by the "search words" which really aren't helpful anyway because I lot of people don't add them to their profile, to find fellow Veg-lifestylers. Grrrr. I've found a few possibilities that I hope to meet at some point but it's just so hard now. I've met a few that eat meat but I've stopped even doing that because I know that it's such a turnoff for me that I can't even try to be understanding about it. I can't date an omnivore. I could maybe make out randomly with one at a club but that's where it would stop. Sex is better when you're at least vegetarian. There's a lot of reasons behind it but I'll just leave it at that. I've gotten pickier since I've gotten older and I just can't handle the thought of kissing a mouth that has consumed meat recently. It's gross. I need someone that lives the same lifestyle as I do and for a girl in Central Pennsylvania, even in a city, that is a hard feat. Someday, my Vegan Prince will come. He doesn't even have to be a prince, just a vegan and not stupid.




How about you? As a vegan/vegetarian, would you date someone that ate meat? How would you handle it?

1 comment:

  1. You need to come with me next year when I move from this God awful state to California - where you'll meet a larger percentage of informed people who care about what goes into their bodies. I am not a vegetarian, but I do want someone who eats healthy...and recycles, for God's sake. Even that's hard to find in Central Pa. Oh, and could I please meet people who know how to dress fashionably? Okay, I'm ranting now. Never mind.

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