I’ve been a vegetarian, the ovo lacto variety, for most of my life, since I was twelve years old. So that means quite a few decades.
Mother thought i should be a member of the Vegetarian Society. I don’t know why I resisted, maybe she was expecting me to stump up my own membership fees out of my meagre pocket money. I think that must have been it, or otherwise she would have just signed me up anyway. But whatever the reason, I never joined.
I had a look at their site a while ago and thought it looked quite good, but couldn’t see any advantage in becoming a member. That changed on Saturday evening. I’d been working in Westminster and at the end of the day I was in Parliament Square. So were lots of other people. There had been a demonstration that ended in a rally. Corbynistas, anti-austerity protesters, anti-Theresa May protesters, and probably people who regard themselves as affiliated to other causes and groups were, by the time I was there, singing and dancing along to Bob Marley songs. Good for them. It all seemed very good natured and well behaved. I am all in favour of peaceful protest, of people taking to the streets to express their views. Had I not been working, who knows, I might have been there with them.
But I was tired. I wanted to go home. The streets were closed to traffic; the buses were diverted away from the area; we were told the tube stations were rammed with people. Having been on my feet all day I had no option but to start walking. I did manage to get a bus for the second half of my journey home, and it was then that I decided I was going to visit Marks and Spencer and try to get one of their £10 meal deals.
If you don’t live in the UK, these meal deals will be foreign to you in more ways than one. The deal is three courses plus a bottle of wine or an non-alcoholic drink. I always get the wine. I had tried earlier in the week. tried twice in fact. The first time they had sold out of the vegetarian option. This is not unusual. The second time, the vegetarian main course was available, but the pudding choice was limited. The trouble is many of the puddings contain gelatine, then there are others I don’t like. So I passed again. Still, I knew there would have been further deliveries, so there was a chance.
It was not to be. Neither the vegetarian main course, nor the fresh fruit pudding was available. Tired, and somewhat disappointed, I turned and saw a shop manager about three feet away. Why, I asked him, when the vegetarian option sells out so quickly does not the store receive more of them. I should say I was quite calm at this point. Resigned, even. He shrugged, said the store had requested more, but hadn’t received them. I then asked a subsidiary question; why is there only ever one vegetarian option, when there are several meat and fish options. He pointed to some salmon fillets. There are these, he said. I looked at the fillets, and then back at him. They are fish, I said, stating the obvious. Yes, he said. Fish is not a vegetarian option, I said. It’s considered vegetarian, he replied. Something in me snapped. That’s nonsense, I said sharply. Then, Marks and Spencer doesn’t deserve my custom if that’s its attitude.
Maybe he had a long day. He shrugged again. I left, fuming, but not before I had relayed the conversation to another member of staff who had opened a till to serve me. Complain, she advised. I’ll go on Twitter, I told her. She laughed and said she’d look for my tweet. Thanks to her, my mood was already lighter by the time I got home.
So it was a while before I did go to Twitter. I posted two tweets. In the second I attached a link to the Vegetarian Society‘s page giving a definition of what it is to be vegetarian.
By the time I went to bed, two further things had happened. Marks and Spencer had replied, apologetically, and I had belatedly joined the Vegetarian Society. Since Christmas the lacto bit of my vegetarianism has slumped. I am now more or less ovo, and my egg consumption is of eggs laid by hens who will not be killed when their laying days are over. The rest of my diet is vegan. I can’t tell you the last time I bought cheese. I don’t like milk anyway, and the cream I have in my morning coffee is made from soya, as is the yoghurt I often have for pudding. Vegetarianism is far more widespread than it was when I was twelve, alternatives to meat and fish are more widely available. So in many ways I am rather late to join an organisation that campaigns for greater understanding and awareness of what vegetarianism means. But people claiming the vegetarian label when they eat fish, or even, in some cases, chicken, have irritated me for many years. Those shrugs by the manager showed me there are still battles to be won.
I am now ready to become a militant vegetarian. To paraphrase William Blake:
Bring me my soya of burning gold!
Bring me my chickpeas of desire!
Bring me my asparagus spears! Oh cloudberries, unfold!
Bring me my chillis of fire!
I will not cease from lentils’ fight,
Nor shall my soy beans sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.
Where does Jeremy Corbyn stand on vegetarianism by the way?
Isobel (and Cat)'s Blog 
I assume he must like vegetables from his allotment but that doesn’t make him vegetarian…
I think we should be told!
Pausing for processing by the non-Brit brain…Ha Ha, now I get it.
I suppose it is never fast enough but I am continually amazed by how retail operations are willing increasingly to provide a vegetarian or even vegan option. Even in Iceland, home of the Meat Soup and the Lamb flatbread. M&S may be taking your comments very seriously.
I was a bit puzzled by your comment at first as I thought it referred to Iceland the supermarket. Then I realised you were talking about the country. Yes most places offer a vegetarian option, but some are very complacent; the option never changes, as though vegetarians should be grateful and pleased to eat a defrosted lasagne every time they visit. I understand the number of vegans is growing rapidly, so I imagine vegan choices will be more frequent as businesses woo that market. My problem with the one vegan recipe book I had, and with some vegan products I have looked at, is that much of it apes meat. What’s wrong with lentils?
Tweet him to ask?
A quick internet search showed a report saying he became vegetarian a few years ago, also that according to a YouGov report, his core supporters are depressed vegetarians, leading the Telegraph to write that Corbynism was the embodiment of joyless vegetarianism. Whereas I suppose Theresa May is the embodiment of joyless meat-eating. You might like this joyless site https://www.facebook.com/DepressedVeggieCorbeans
Til we have built Jerusalem Artichokes,
In England’s green and pleasant land
well done for complaining on Twitter!!
Do you fancy working on the first verses? The thing is, tweeting about an issue often yields much faster results. My broadband supplier can be very relaxed about complaints made via email or by phone, but complain by Twitter and it gets back to me almost at once.
Love your paraphrase of Jerusalem – it will come to mind now whenever I hear it! Well done for complaining – that is shocking at M &S. Will be interesting to see if their apology translates into any action at the local store.
Octavia, perish the thought! Can’t abide Jerusalem Artichokes! though the flowers are very pretty.
As a fellow vegetarian, I found this especially delightful. When I tell people I’m vegetarian, I would guess that about 90 percent reply, “Well do you eat fish?”
Vegetarianism is NOT a fad. And if we look beyond the religious mandate and moral diktats, it does make sense to feed less on flesh and bones. It is a matter of food Security for all.
Another Vegetarian Society member saying Hi! 🙂
Now I like this very very much. I have just written something similar my fellow veggie. An ex pat I live in New Zealand and it’s a whole new conversation.
Funnily enough I plan to visit NZ next year and have already been warned that it’s a meat eating culture…