Hello World! may peace fall on you like confetti in a gay parade! I am not gay, i am a vegan and I can feel how alienated a homosexual would feel in the Middle East. afraid, secretive and haunted. but to take the extra step I would like to say that gays are happier than vegans in the big ME. hold that stone, both groups have defied community by choosing a different life style. but here is why I think they are doing better:
1. there are more homosexuals in the ME than Vegans and Vegetarians combined.
2. it is easier to find a gay mate than soy milk in Egypt.
3. as a vegan you are forced to come out of the closet, being invited out to meals or refusing a treat from family or work colleagues.
4. people don’t take you seriously. one man once asked me “so you don’t eat meat by choice? really, you can but you wont?” and this is how we, at least Egyptians, sanctify cows. we sanctify them in so many ways; grilled, boiled and fried, grinded, shredded, stuffed, dried, backed, we stuff their bowels with rice, eat the lining of their stomach, neck, tail, feet, head, eyes, tongue, brain – may be not ears – and the list goes on and on.
we love meat so much its is a class of its own. tell me how often you eat meat, i tell which class you come from, what education you had and how many times you go to the bathroom. meat represents money, in a way it is a social commodity and a great social indicator. i believe that this meat worship arrived with the Ottoman occupation of Egypt in the 16th century and was over when the british took over from there (thanks for the tea with milk BTW)
the butch Turks changed our cuisine in the most horrific way, brought with them the delights of Kabab and Kofta as well as the sweets that keeps dietician and moritition in business.
away from our beloved neighbors and how much they are to blame and back to me!
this blog will chronicle how my life style choice have made my life hard but enriched it in ways that both indescribable and exhilarating.
these chronicles will also answer and expose stereotypes of animals rights such as the thought of animals being unworthy of mercy in a third world country/ies ”because people are starving” that alone speaks for it self.
again may peace and compassion fall upon you from heaven like confetti in a mardis grais.
BIG V
A very interesting perspective. Good post. My wife is vegetarian – by choice.
When I met her I tried to convert her to my meat eating ways and we made progress over the years but I find as the years go on and as our kids get older that we eat almost no red meat and my kids prefer chicken to beef / steak 100% of the time.
It is true that you must “come out of the closet” as a vegetarian so it is convenient that a bunch of our friends are veggies or veg-friendly too.
Good luck!
I really enjoyed that first post. I put you on my news reader and will put you on my blog roll of course. The only thing I wondered about was the sudden lack of capitalisation somewhere mid way. See you soon in Cairo,
Moritz
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