Anyone who is a vegetarian has most certainly been asked many times, “Why are you a vegetarian?” This question usually arises at the worst time, when you all sit down to eat during a social occasion such as a dinner invitation, or a work-related or neighborhood potluck, and people notice that you have no meat on your plate. To go into the reasons why you are a vegetarian or vegan at this time is a mistake, because regardless of how carefully you word your answer, you cannot help but touch on the most sensitive, and esthetically unappealing of subjects. If you achieve an accurate answer to the question, the people seated at your table will be unable to eat. This can alienate more people than you can recruit to a vegetarian lifestyle. There is, however, a simple, esthetically appealing way to change the world, one or two people at a time.
One of the most effective approaches I’ve had to making the world vegan has been one of the simplest: at least once every month I invite carnivores to dinner. Sharing a meal with people is a wonderful way to open up a world of flavors. Even if you don’t like to cook, there are simple, easy to create healthy vegan/vegetarian meals that you can make. And, if you don’t want to cook, many health food stores have deli counters which sell many prepared food products. If you absolutely hate to cook, order take-out from a vegetarian restaurant and set the food up on your dishes at home on a nicely set table. Eating together is a spiritual experience, a communion. As Will Tuttle expresses, “When we eat, we are loved by the eternal and mysterious force that births all life, that makes present all who ever preceded us, that manifests itself ceaselessly as us and experiences life through us, with a love that thoroughly gives of itself to us, to we, who are this force.”
It is after people experience a meal that causes no suffering or death, a meal that is rich in flavors, varied in sauces, a meal that is just as easy to prepare as a carnivorous one, that they begin to open themselves to another possibility. Sharing a meal with people has a way of altering everyone subtly. John Robbins says, “Eating is essentially an act of communion with the living forces of nature.” Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk, and author says, “Having the opportunity to sit with our family and friends and enjoy wonderful food is something precious, something not everyone has.” Because of the generous nature of people, they will usually try to return the invitation and invite you to their house for what may be their first attempt at vegetarian/vegan cooking, or to a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. With this invitation, they begin the journey to the next step, exploration and preparation of vegetarian food as a viable option. As it was so beautifully expressed, “ The hunger that lives in the human heart is part of the kinship that threads us all together. We are interdependent beings with a profound need both to give and to receive from each other. For what one of us is lacking, another has in abundance, whether that be a bowl of rice, a skill, a wisdom, a capacity for joy, a knowledge, or a courageous heart. Our urges and our gifts, our longings and our offerings, are all needed and are all indispensable.” (Robbins J., and Mortifee, A., In Search of Balance)
Sometimes the most powerful changes in our lives come from something extremely simple. There is time for all the literature and websites and documentaries later. Sharing a simple vegetarian meal with carnivores once a month may be a powerful seed for change.
