Mark Bittman writing about a Japanese restaurant in the NY Times stated,
"Although so many restaurants advertising themselves as such (vegan) tend to be dull or even ridiculous, Kajitsu is lovable because the cooking makes that label irrelevant."
That's what I would like to happen to vegetarian food...have the label become irrelevant. Like so many labels in contemporary society this one is controversial. People rush to take sides: carnivores v. vegetarians, vegetarians v. vegans, etc. If you are one you must defend yourself against the jabs and jibes of the other. Why? Why can't you just eat what you want in peace?
Polarization is the bane of life in the US. People can't just live their lives in peace. Everyone has to have an opinion about what others are doing, no matter what sort of shambles their own lives are in. It reminds me of when I taught middle school. Children that age are very uncomfortable in their own skins. They seek relief in the tactic of the best defense is a good offense. And boy can they be offensive! A lot of their discourse is about how inadequate others are in the hope that no one will notice how inadequate they are or feel. Apparently, many in the US got stuck in early adolescence.
I couldn't stand it then and have even less tolerance for it now. Why do we have to build ourselves up by putting others down?
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