As a vegetarian of five years this November, I am very offended by the Oct. 2 column "Columnist Makes Oct. Meatless," in which the author promises to follow a vegetarian diet for a month, "just for the hell of it."
First of all, vegetarianism is not something you can choose to dip your toes in. To a lot of us, it's not a choice.
We were born to be vegetarians. It's insulting to me that the core of my lifestyle, something over which I have little control, is thought so idiotic that it is subject to the passing whims of others.
I wouldn't have been nearly as offended if the author were more open-minded going into it.
It is self-limiting to consider something to be "ludicrous" just because you've never experienced it before.
In fact, this implication is a personal mockery my intelligence, as well as of that of millions of people around the world.
The truth is, Americans should be embracing vegetarianism, especially in the midst of the obesity epidemic.
On average, vegetarians have lower BMI (and no, were not wasting away into nothing), lower cholesterol and a longer life expectancy than those who eat meat.
Colin Dyroff
junior-microbiology
