How do you go Vegetarian when your Significant Other does not?

I make dinner half the week, and he makes it the other half. He's not going Vegetarian, and he makes meat with every meal. The other parts of the meals he makes are insufficient health-wise. Also, he won't be happy if I make meatless dinners.

How do you do it?

I don't happen to be black, Hitler.

I went vegetarian when my significant other insisted that I shouldn't. This was after watching Baraka ( http://www.vegtaste.com/main/posting.php... ) and seeing how cute the baby chicks are. We both watched it but my boyfriend didn't want to give up meat. He just avoided eating chicken for a few days.

After many conversations and cooking and trying delicious vegetarian meals, now we're both happy vegetarians. This happened exactly four months after I became a vegetarian.

So, it is indeed possible, but it requires some understanding on the significant other's part. If your significant other is at least a bit open minded about your stance on vegetarianism, I believe he will accept eventually. It just needs a little time and good veg cooking.

Until then, what you can do is cooking veggie meals, but if he wants to, he can add some meat on the side. When it's his turn to cook, hopefully he will do the same.

On more information on how to become a vegetarian, please refer to How to become a veggie!:
http://www.vegtaste.com/main/posting.php...

And recipes here:
http://www.vegtaste.com/main/archive.php...

Good luck! :)

My girlfriend is also a meat eater but she's a really good sport and since I do nearly all of the cooking, she eats what I make. I think the key is to find recipes that they love and veganize them. I found that when I did this, my girlfriend became more open to eating veg/vegan and even stopped eating meat at home and asks me rarely to make her something involving meat. She only eats meat when she is visiting family or we go out to a restaurant (which is rare). It's all in how you present your beliefs and ideas to them. And sometimes, you have to come to a middle ground. There are times when I've cooked her fish because that's what she wanted. I don't enjoy cooking it and I think that it smells horrible but she deals with my diet all of the time, why shouldn't I deal with hers once in a while?

my husband eats meat and i am a vegetarian, and here is how we used to work this problem out:
i would cook every night, and if he wanted meat he would cook it on the side and add it to his plate. that way i could make sure i got a nutritious meal and he could have the meat he wanted.
actually, it worked really well. he got sick of cooking and now only eats meat when he grills outside or at restaurants =)
HOORAY!
he actually has been really happy with this arrangement and hasn't complained a bit. if he's the one who wants to eat it, he should have to cook it.....especially if you're preparing the rest of the meal.

I'm vegan, my husband is an omnivore. If my vegan meals are tasty enough, he'll eat them. but when he insists on meat, I'll make sure I have nuts handy, for me. Tofu is such a mockable item, I don't like to deal with it. I get my protein from whole grains and nuts. Almonds and sunflower seeds on my salad, cashews in my stir-fry, and I can eat a handful of nuts while I'm cooking if they really don't go with the meal.

first things first, not sure of your relationship level but make sure this is really something you can live with in the future... that he won't eat meals without meat sounds very stubborn on his part... it's like picking people as mates with similar religions... make sure you can work this out...

on from that... how bout the veggie "meats"? my bf, once a carnivore, now eats this stuff allll the time, on his own, voluntarily... you can make a lot of the same meat dishes just subbing these in instead... he happens to love the morningstar farms "crumbles" (like ground meat) bc you can do so much with them... (burritos, tacos, pasta sauce, veggie "hamburger helper", etc.)... i made stuffed peppers the other night using the sausage crumbles and he loved it... how about eggplant? eggplant parm? grilled eggplant? veggie lasagna? i made a veggie shepards pie once too and that was really good using the crumbles in place of ground meat...

i think that might be a good path for you to try out as well...

We compromise..that's what married people do. My husband has his meat dishes at work and at home, we cook vegetarian friendly dishes. He's a fan of the Boca crumbles and quorn so we use those once or twice a week in place of meat. We also make vegetable lasagna, omelets, veggie kababs, veggie chili, vegetarian paella etc etc.

About once a week my husband will cook himself some meat if he wants it.

You may have to be the one that cooks all the time at home, - but really thats small thing if you are really serious about being a vegetarian.

I have been with my husband for nearlt 6 years. I cook all the time. I make heavey grains, beans and other healthy vegetarian foods. - There are lots of varity of dishes, so he never gets bored.

My hubby eats meat when he is at work, or when we go out to resturants.

Plus there are many many dishes that allow you to add the meat at the end or on the side.

http://www.vegetariantimes.com

As a meat eating cook, I simply can't go out with veg*ns anymore. But I do have a good friend who is a meat eater who has been living with a veggie for six years. You shouldn't have to cook meat and he shouldn't have to cook tofu.

Maybe alternate days so you can both have leftovers from the day before. Microwave to the rescue.

Tell him to respect your decisions and talk more about it...make an agreement to make meals that are both meat and non-meatless when each of you is cooking. That way both will agree...give him some advice about what a complete vegetarian meal is and ideas about how to prepare a meal for you....
hopefully this helps..

Well you make 2 different dishes of course and just fix what you like and he will make what he wants if you dont want to cook meat for him tell him straight up that you wont do it and you have to respect him as much as he has to respect you remember you arent the first and last person to ask that qusetion and there are many people who are in non-vegetarian relationships

That is a problem...my daughter cooks two different meals, one for her and one for her honey...fortunately my husband gladly eats what I give him...he is a sweetie...and if he wants a hamburger, he gets it out, while he is at work...

Good luck...

The only way to do it is for both of you to make your own dinners.

The best way is to each cook for yourself.

If you are not careful, this could break you up.

Hey!

Im kinda in the same boat as you.

I am super low in iron, I take the top quality iron supliments. I can eat a little chicken and bacon. But that is as far as I can go.

My boyfriend is a HUGE meat eater.

Can you both come up with some new recipes? For arguments sake, tacos. If you cook up all the sause for the filling, and then make half meat and the other half tofu or a similar substitue? There are quite a few things you can use as meat substitute. If you look at starting out by doing something like that it might not be as painful as expected.

I have found that my boyfriend can't resist massive stuffed (with all sorts of veges) and grilled / baked mushrooms with yummy tasty cheese melted across the top! Ohh yum.

Good luck, where there is a will there is a way!!

If you are serious about your vegetarianism, and he does not seem like he is going to move towards it despite you educating him, this relationship might be doomed for failure.