Tuesday, February 16, 2010

That's not a vegetable

So I spent this afternoon playing with the neighborhood kids. When we were finished playing, a mom invited me over for dinner.

Before she even starts cooking, I give my standard I'm a vegetarian explanation, that it's not that I hate the culture or the meat (I really like both), it's just that I can't eat the meat for a religious reason.

I was very clear to explain that I don't eat any kinds of meat, that includes chicken. She said that she understands. She says that she rarely eats meat, maybe once a month.

She said not to worry about it. She was making noodles and rice (carbo-loading is very common around here, a daily occurrence for most). But as I watch her throw the chicken in one of the pots, I remind her about me being vegetarian.

She reassures me that she understands.

Well, she serves the first plate to me. Chicken and rice.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Ian, you've lived in Ecuador long enough to expect this kind of thing.

At this point, I wasn't the least bit surprised.

Then, she gave a plate of rice and noodles to her rson, without chicken. She explained that he can't eat any meat.

Actually, I probably shouldn't be surprised. I have learned to expect the unexpected.

3 comments:

Avery said...

Maybe you should use the kid's excuse…

Beth said...

Maybe the chicken was a vegetatian

Jazzel258 said...

I love your blog. I've had a simular story to that. I'm deathly allergic to peanuts. So I explained it to all my friends and family. My girl friend invited me over for Christmas one year. So I explained to her mom that I was very allergic to nuts. She said she understood cause her son was allergic to soy. That night when we were hording all the deserts I felt a reaction happening. I had a epi pen and went to the hospital. The following day my girlfriend's mom explained that she made the peanuts real fine, almost into a powder. She didn't understand and still doesn't. Poor thing.