Vegetarians, Vegans, Halal, and More — Understanding Dietary Preferences
A new form of social awareness to avoid asking dumb questions
Food is at the center of everything we do — it provides us the required fuel to go through our lives, and is also an essential part of most social aspects of our lives.
Whether it is for a friends’ meetup, a professional networking session, a formal meeting, or any other social construct, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are often the backdrop or format for social gatherings.
Having spent the last three years of my life in Hong Kong — a country where the majority of the population, both native and expatriate, is used to a largely no-restrictions diet, being a vegetarian is not that easy.
This isn’t because you don’t find enough food and supplies for a vegetarian, but more to do with the ignorance of people about what being a vegetarian really means. With the variety of other different dietary preferences coming into play — vegans, pescatarians, ovo-vegetarians, and so on, keeping track can be hard.
After telling a waiter at a restaurant that I am vegetarian and being run through a list of the “fish” that’s available, it is indeed an annoying experience.
Another thing I hate is when…
