Many people consider themselves to be vegetarian, yet also eat fish every day. Some also eat
chicken. Some also eat
pork. Some also eat
beef. Some people who do not consider themselves to be vegetarian primarily eat
rice,
misho shiru,
natto,
tofu,
yuba, seaweed and vegetables. Some people cannot exist on a vegetarian diet because of the allergies that
Jinmyo mentions, and yet their basic approach to eating is vegetarian. Many women become
aenemic on a vegetarian diet.
Perhaps some people think that being a vegetarian is cool just as some people think that being a Buddhist is cool because Richard Gere hangs out with the Dalai Lama. I think it is insulting and shallow however for it to be assumed that this is the motivatation behind someone such as Jinmyo to speak of themselves as a vegetarian. The quality of her nodes, the obvious time and effort that she has put into them, shows that she is not someone who is to be dismissed so lightly as Mr. fustflum has.
I have noded many vegetarian recipes because vegetarian food can be wonderful if protein and carbohydrates are in balance, the ingredients are fresh and are cared for and presented as well as one can.
I think that it does not matter who is or is not a vegetarian. I also think that it can be confusing to eat ethics. Instead of taking up a stance I think it is more worthwhile to pay attention to what we eat and why. I think it is important to look into what we eat, what is involved in it becoming our own skin, meat, bones, and marrow. There is much suffering in this world. Some of it can be prevented. Most of it cannot. I think that how animals are bred, raised, transported, slaughtered, butchered is something that someone should look into and then do whatever seems appropriate or possible to them to do.
Perhaps you think differently.