How do I explain being vegetarian in a culturally sensitive way?

I will be living in a rural community in central america for 2 months..how do I explain this?

I always find myself thinking that "you shouldn't have to explain it to anyone, it's a personal choice." But, that of course is not realistic. Situations do arise where you need to explain yourself, whether it be to a nosey aquaintence or a truly interested friend.

There is a great book titled "Being Vegetarian For Dummies" (yes - it's like Excel For Dummies or Windows For Dummies lol) which has a whole chapter dedicated to your particular situation. How does one explain it without being pushy, preachy, or ignorant?

It's not easy but it can be done. I have a few simple lines that I say when someone quizzes me. If they ask why, I say "I read a lot about it. I read some books and websites, and I just lost my appetite for meat."

Or, you can be simple and say "It's mainly for [ X ] reasons," Then change the subject.
(**Insert health, environment, or ethical - your own choice)

I don't really go into detail, it helps avoid debate. If they are genuinely interested and not just picking on me, then I will recommend some good websites or books.

Good Luck!

You could tell a small fib and say that you can't digest meat properly. For me, that's actually true and it's one of the reasons I went vegetarian.

You could say that you believe feeding grains to animals to eat takes grain from the mouths of hungry people. Of course, the problem of starvation is a lot bigger, but it might trigger understanding.

You could say that the destruction of the rainforest for cattle grazing land bothers you.

You can find ethical reasons that do not involve animal cruelty, which is something you probably don't want to mention.

And you can also mention your health--that your body functions better when you don't eat meat.

Just say that you just watched a show with cows being well u no and that it showed people stuffing their faceful with meat and poultry

you have more than one choice! some are good and some are bad!

you can lie: tell people you were at the doctor's clinic and he/she told you you should stay away from meat in any kind, shape, size, or color! because you have too much protein in your body

and you can tell the truth: by saying that it's good for the environment, the animals, and yourself, and that meat actually gives you cancer because it cannot be digested well and it turns into tumors in the colon and it leads to prostate and breast cancer not to mention high blood pressure, obesity and other things!

I live in a stupid society that thinks meat is the only way of living and some people force you to eat me! and I'm vegan!
It's not being rebelious or anything! I just don't want to eat your meat!

Best Wishes!

okay, to make things simple, say that eating meat makes you sick, like your tummy has a hard time and it does not agree with you. This way, its your health that you are talking about and taking care of. So no one can ever argue or be offensive about that.

Now if you get to know someone more, you can go into more details, as you get to know them more, you can tell them the more detailed reasons you do not eat meat,