2/5 Vegetarian

People who have had eaten with me the last year probably noticed my newfound commitment to not eat beef. The decision was met with a lot of inquisitive eyes when it was first told because I don't "look like" a vegetarian. Most vegetarians they come to know are elderly women who don't eat meat for religious reasons. And when I told them my decision to forgone the mouth-watering wagyu (和牛) and its kind was for the sake of the environment because cows fart a lot and therefore produce a lot of CO2 gases, they thought it was a joke.

And lately, I have become fond of eating fully vegetarian, a progressive step of my no-beef diet, though by no means I am committed to be a vegetarian... yet. Maybe I am more health-conscious than before, but it just feels "right" to strip meat (of walking animals, not swimming ones) from my diet as much as possible. As I contemplate becoming a vegetarian, I have also come to aware that there are certain stigmas associated with being a vegetarian. Some that I can think of myself is that vegetarians tend to be more sophisticated, hippie-ish, drive a Prius, care about animals/earth more than living human beings and basically everything a macho American man is not. Hm... I will probably buy a Prius if I need a new car. check. I am cold to a lot of people and yet, people who have known me for long know that I am passionate about bigger causes. check again. Sophisticated? depends on the benchmark. Hippie? not quite. Oh, and I love watching football.. that would qualify as a "macho" trait I suppose. So 2 out of 5 in whole.

I can't help but question if I am falling into the vegetarian mold and whether I will reinforce this prejudice if I decide to become one. But I don't want to be categorized into any groups - in fact, I take pleasure in when people tell me that I am not Asian enough, not Hong Kong enough or not engineer enough... groups that people automatically assume I am part of but nevertheless I myself cast doubts on.

I want my decision to be reduced to the most genuine motive, but most of the times the decision-making process is marred by unnecessary concerns such as the projected public image of the decision.
The truth is I do care about the environment. And I care about my body as much, if not more, than the environment. With all that said, chances are I will become a 2/5 Vegetarian at the most because among the 5 major kinds of meat (Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish and Others), I can only quit beef and pork.


Reference:
Eating beef more destructive to environment than driving
Vegetarian Stereotype