People make dietary choices for all kinds of reasons – health, ethics, personal preference – and I would venture to guess that almost none of them (that last) are made or kept on a whim.
This girl has been dating her boyfriend for two years and he’s been a vegetarian the entire time, so I’m guessing he’s committed to the lifestyle.
Even so, when they were going to visit her family for the first time on a holiday, she “forgot” to mention to her mother that he didn’t eat meat.
Therefore there was “nothing” for him to eat at the meal.
My boyfriend (24) and I (28) have been together for two years.
Yesterday, we were visiting my family because we won’t be able to be with them on Christmas, so we wanted to drop off some presents. It was also the first time that my boyfriend met my entire family, so it was kinda important.
Here’s the thing, I forgot to tell them that my boyfriend is vegetarian, so my mom made a turkey and there wasn’t really anything else to eat, beside some snacks.
Instead of fessing up and running to get him something and/or checking the freezer, she asked him to just eat the turkey and compliment her mom’s cooking so they could avoid an awkward conversation.
He did what she asked, despite clearly being uncomfortable.
When I realized that, I quietly asked my boyfriend to please not cause a scene, and just eat the food and compliment my mom on it.
He tried to argue back, saying that he doesn’t wants to lie to my mom but I told him he would come across as rude if he didn’t at least tried it, and I didn’t wanted him to make a bad impression.
So he sucked it up, ate an entire plate and told my mom that it was delicious, which obviously made her happy.
The night went fine (for her) but when he brought it up in the car on the way home she thought he was just being dramatic and that it wasn’t that big of a deal (though she says she apologized, I can’t imagine it was terribly genuine).
We had a good evening and everyone seemed to like him, but when we drove back home he brought it up again and said he thinks it was kinda f**ked up of me to expect him to eat meat, when I know how much it disgusts him.
I get his point and I apologized to him, bit I still don’t think that it’s that bad to eat a bit of turkey once, to not make a weird first impression on my family.
AITA?
Is she wrong, she wants to know? Reddit is about to tell her whether or not her actions were actually a big deal.
The top comment points out that avoiding an awkward few minutes shouldn’t be more important than respecting someone’s long-held beliefs.
Image Credit: Reddit
This person (and others) are sure they will not be a couple for very much longer.
Image Credit: Reddit
If they stay together, she’s actually just made things that much more awkward in the future.
Image Credit: Reddit
Other people who have been there say this is gross; you just fess up your mistake and deal with it.
Image Credit: Reddit
The entire premise of her family potentially thinking him “rude” for being a vegetarian is just…weird.
Also, is anyone else wondering what sort of turkey dinner these people had that had zero side dishes he could have made a meal out of?
I could easily get full on a plate of mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and the like.
Would you ever think this was ok? Would you have capitulated if you were the boyfriend?
Let’s continue to rant over this one in the comments!
