do you allow meat in your home? thoughts?

[texmati]

I was reading on another thread about vegetarians bringing a dish so they would have something to eat. I would retch if someone tried to bring a meat dish into my home; although i would eat in someone elses home where meat was served.

I can't really find a rational explenation for this, except to say that it's my house!

Does anyone else have thoughts on this. Also, how to make it clear to guests that meat food is not welcome?

[Ianthe]

We don't allow anyone to cook or store meat in our house, but if for a special occasion, like Thanksgiving or Xmas, if a friend or family member brought their own- already cooked and in it's own container and utensils, and used paper plates, I would allow it.

Everyone who knows me, knows that our house is meat free, but my dad, for example, gets really annoyed if he can't have turkey for a holiday. We usually have holiday dinners at someone else's house, though, so it's never really been an issue. And most everyone is OK with our no meat rule (some have attitude about it, but I don't think they'd disrespect us over it).

[bandgeek]

I have a small apartment and don't really host anything anyway, so there's been no meat in my home for a while. If I had a bigger house and hosted a potluck or something....ehhhh...I'd probably be ok with it, I'd just ask people to label food with the ingredients (especially helpful with so many people with food allergies anyway). And I'd make sure it had it's own serving spoon.

If you are totally against it, I'd just make it clear that you are vegetarian/vegan home and would not like have XYZ in your house. It's kind of blunt, but it gets the point across. If it offends someone, they can just not come. Most people going to potlucks don't take a main dish anyway (which to omnis usually means meat).

[texmati]

I guess it hasn't been an issue in a while. Most of our family is veggie, and it's been ages since I had a friend over.

[PoetryLover]

DH is an omni who is newly trying out a vegetarian diet on his own initiative. Even when he ate meat, he typically didn't eat it at home. But we had my DSDs and MIL for the summer and had a LOT of meat cooked in our home (much of it was barbecued), but it made me very sad to have people talking about how they like their meat cooked at my dinner table. I didn't say anything this year, but I'm making different plans for next year. Not only is eating meat against my values, I don't want DS exposed to animals being eaten in our home. So I have a lot of work to do in the interim regarding the planning of veggie meals that everyone will like. And I'll let DH communicate the new understanding to MIL.

I'm normally not too offended at meat being eaten in my home, as long as it's not excessive (like this summer) or insensitive. Right after I gave birth to my son and was recovering from having hemorrhaged and losing 4 pints of blood, among other complications, MIL visited to "help out" for a couple of weeks. She decided to host a family gathering in my home, in which the main dish she planned to cook was lasagna with more meat than any lasagna I've ever seen. She gave no thought to me, to my physical weakness or how uncomfortable this might make me feel. After I said something, she offered to make a small plain cheese lasagna for me to accompany the main lasagna.

I have to say, though, that I'm nearly as offended by dairy these days. At MIL's last visit, she insisted on cooking meals heavily laden with dairy, even though she knew my son is allergic to it.

Going forward, I'm having more of a backbone when it comes to these issues.

[love2all]

I would not allow meat in my home.
My parents are coming to visit for 2 weeks- we will see how this goes!
The other day I was babysitting for a friend and I had her kids eat their sandwiches on the deck- I cannot fathom the thought of someone eatting it in my house, on my table, YUCK.....

[ambereva]

I do. My diet choices are mine, not anyone else's, and five other people live here.

[ShadowMoon]

I do not allow meat into my home. We are ethical vegans, it is my house, and those are my rules. That is a rational enough explanation for me

[lovepiggie]

I'd like to have a vegan house, but we live with our BIL, who is not a vegan. He is very considerate of us, though. He rarely brings non-vegan things into the house, and when he does, he cleans up after himself immediately after.

But as for guests bringing things in? I think I would try and make sure it was vegan, but, if they wanted to bring it pre-cooked, in it's own dish with it's own utensils, I guess I wouldn't complain.

[FitMOmmyOf2]

Originally Posted by ambereva

I do. My diet choices are mine, not anyone else's, and five other people live here.

Same here. The only thing I will never allow is lamb or any other baby animal! It might sound hippocrite to some of you, allowing meat otherwise, but that's a big difference for me!..

I actually got into an arguement with DH (omni!) about it a few weeks ago when a friend of ours (Italian) wanted to bring lamb and prepare it here with DH together on the grill! I usually let DH eat what he wants.. but for that I told him that I won't have it and after a short discussion he accepted my point and they made some shrimp instead...

Sad to say, when I first became vegetarian, DH was all with me, only wanting occasionally a piece of meat which he'd eat out and not at home. But over the past years that we've been living here now, pieces of meat crept more and more into our household again... I'm not happy about it and in my ideal world my entire family would be vegetarian.. but as it is I need to respect DHs choice and hope one day my kids will follow my lead!..

[KimL]

no meat in our kitchen. I simply say that we "keep a vegetarian" kitchen. For our health and out of respect for our ethical and moral beliefs.

[laohaire]

When I was vegetarian, I did not want meat cooked or prepared in my home. I did allow people to bring meat in from the outside, though, already prepared. While not everyone would see my logic, I felt it was infringing on my home to touch my cookware with meat. But I was ok with someone getting a sub from the sub shop and eating it. (Not thrilled but ok). I never felt like it was my place to dictate dietary choices for anyone, but even permitting the sub being brought into my home affected my house (smelly garbage, for instance). It's sort of like allowing someone to smoke in your home, in a way. If you don't permit that (I don't) it's not about preventing them from smoking, it's just protecting your space. However, I can and do see how omnivores feel very restricted. It's a very awkward situation. Thankfully our family was very respectful, and if folks had a major meat urge they'd just take themselves through the drive-through or something.

[katroshka]

I've had non-veg roommates and so on, and in that case I don't feel like I really care about meat in the house, or that I NEED to have veggie roommates or anything. That being said, we now have our own house that we spend a lot of time and energy making into our home, the way we want it to be, and meat is not part of that equation. No one has ever asked to bring any meat here, or cheese or anything. But when my mom lived far away and would visit she would sometimes buy non-vegan bagels or something for breakfast, and I didn't care about that. As long as it doesn't get juices (ugh, shudder) on my counters/ fridge/ etc., or make my house smell like meat, eggs, cheese, I'm not too picky about minor ingredients.

It's just kind of a respect thing. Like taking your shoes off in homes where the residents do. I don't take my shoes off in my house (even though I know I should), but I do if the people who live there do.

[Mama2mc]

I do, since my husband isn't vegetarian.

[Adaline'sMama]

DH is now omni (former vegetarian), so we do have meat in our home. For a long time, I would not buy it for him. If he wanted it he had to make his own trip to the store to get it. Now that I am at home and he works, Ive backslid and I am even buying it for him. I am a former chef, so I have no problem touching it or preparing it, but I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Pretty much no one but the family brings meat here. Most of our friends are Omni's, but we try to keep dinners and potlucks all vegetarian with a couple of vegan options.

In the house I lived in before, we didnt allow meat, and therefore we never hosted any family events. I got tired of having to go over to someone else's house for every holiday, so now we have a seperate grill for meat.

[veganfox]

Our home is meat and dairy-free (we are all vegans in my family), and we haven't had issues with that yet. Our extended family and friends completely understand and respect our wishes.

[Spring Lily]

I didn't allow it for a very long time, although for a few family gatherings we did allow one person to bring in premade meat in its own container.

Then we started hosting Christmas for both sides of our family. I knew I couldn't ask my entire family to have a vegetarian Christmas dinner, although they're fine with the rest of the meals being vegetarian. So I allow my parents to cook meat in the oven on that one day a year. They bring their own pots and pans and serving plates, so I don't complain.

Sometimes a compromise is necessary to bring the family together, and I'm fine with that.

[dziwozony]

We have a vegetarian-only kitchen, meat is not allowed in our house. This is the one place where I should not have to be around meat, my own little bubble where I don't have to turn away when someone is cutting into a bloody piece of flesh. The one place where I don't have to be viligent about what my boys are eating or carefully watching to make sure no one is slipping them meat. It's a place to relax & enjoy being vegetarian without being put on the spot or having to defend myself.

Do I expect others to make their houses vegetarian when I come over to visit? Of course not, just as I don't expect restaurants to always cater to me...I know most people do not have the same dietary restrictions that I do. But my own home is a totally different matter. I am not telling other people what they should do in their own lives, but entering into my private sphere is a totally different matter.

[BF124497]

.

Edited by BF124497 - 6/1/12 at 8:21pm

[PikkuMyy]

My husband and I are vegan and live alone but we keep a vegetarian kitchen. Guests are welcome to keep milk/egg products in the refrigerator but we like to keep our pots and pans vegan, and we don't want meat in the house.

It's never been a problem as our family is considerate of our dietary choices when they visit and almost everyone eats vegan when visiting.