being vegetarian isn’t hard

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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onto today’s topic: being vegetarian isn’t hard 🥬 

(it isn’t hard for ME.)

being vegetarian has never really been a huge struggle for me personally. yes, i do have to sometimes be more intentional about my protein intake, and yes sometimes the lack of vegetarian options on a menu is annoying, but all in all, it has never been a pain point. 😵 

3 reasons related to my specific circumstance come to mind as to why being vegetarian isn’t challenging:

1) i was brought up vegetarian. 👶 
my whole family is vegetarian, and a lot of my friends/relatives were also vegetarian growing up. it’s hard to be the only person in a family on a different diet — grocery trips are a hassle, the fridge isn’t always stocked according to your needs, and you eat separately from your family in a sense. a lot of my ease being a vegetarian comes from it being so normalized in my community.

2) the punjabi diet / cuisine is originally vegetarian 🥒 
i’ve never felt like i’m missing out by not trying meat, because my cultural food is so delicious. it’s unbeatable, and not a single traditional dish is meat-based. sikhism, my religion, was founded in punjab (region of india) and one of the religious practices is vegetarianism. as a result, there is a large correlation to traditional punjabi food being vegetarian. after all, sikhs make up 60%+ of punjab’s population. growing up with this amazing food, i already experienced what yummy food tastes like without there being any meat, so i never felt tempted by the flavour i was missing out on.

3) i was never banned from trying ❌ 
i think being strictly banned from trying any meat would have made me more inclined to indulge, but since my parents believed in me making my own decisions as a child, i had the option of trying — i just never did because i wasn’t interested. i didn’t feel incentivized enough to uncover the secret, since it wasn’t being guarded.

diet choices are really hard to stick to, especially if your circumstances don’t align as well as mine have. i’m happy i was brought up vegetarian, and will continue to stick to it. veganism might be too far for me though, i love cheese & ice cream with my whole heart. 🍦 

have you tried going vegetarian?

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