Even though his wife was strict about their family’s meat-free lifestyle, he couldn’t resist craving meat. He secretly ate it as a way to push back against the rules he felt were forced on him. This is the story of how he dealt with the struggle between his own desires and the rules of a vegetarian household.
He explained what happened.
I want to start by saying I (38M) love my family and wife (35F), and I’ve never done anything like this before.
A year ago, my wife stopped eating meat. The whole family, including me and our two young boys, supported her, and we had a vegetarian-only dinner that night to show our support.
For about 8 months, things stayed the same; the boys and I ate meat, and my wife didn’t. But after about 8-10 months, things started to change. Along with not eating meat, my wife no longer wanted to be around it. That wasn’t the only change. She started replacing things in the house with substitutes.
First, she swapped pork with Jackfruit, replaced eggs with things like Just Egg, bought only eco-friendly clothes, and even switched deodorants to more natural options.
This caused a lot of tension, and I eventually told my wife that while we fully supported her choices, I didn’t think the boys and I should have to change unless we wanted to. My wife argued that her values had changed and that it was hard for her to be around meat and other things, and she wanted us to support her.
For the next 2-3 months, the house was very tense. It got so bad that the boys had their friends bring them meat since we didn’t have any at home.
About a week ago, my wife went on a business trip for a few days, so I was taking care of the boys. I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but the boys and I ate mostly meat every chance we got. We had a great time — until my wife came home and found out what we had done. I’ve never seen her so disappointed in us.
After the boys went to bed, we argued for hours. She said I was setting a bad example for the boys and that I should respect her decisions, even if they’re “tough” and “inconvenient.”
It’s hard to argue because I understand her point of view, but in the end, I just don’t want to be vegetarian or vegan, and neither do the boys.
People stood on his side.
- “She said she got rid of it because she couldn’t be around it… well, she wasn’t around it.
- “Your wife is the bad guy for FORCING her family to follow the same beliefs as she does. You can’t control what other people do around you. This should be a unanimous decision between the two of you, and your kids are old enough to choose for themselves.
- “Her diet, her choice. Your diet, your choice. She is quite within her rights not to cook meat if she doesn’t want to, BUT SHE HAS NO RIGHT to dictate your opinions.”
