I was walking on a very dark street and I assumed that the voice I heard was a guy talking on a cell phone. Apparently about a dinner party, he was saying “Remember, I don’t eat red meat.” Only a few years ago, that would have sounded strange. Of course, a few years ago a man talking to himself on the street would have been strange. He would have been assumed to be deranged, more so if he told you that he was talking on the telephone. But yesterday’s oddity pops up everywhere today. Neo-vegetarianism affects us all. It’s all described very well by Jane Kramer’s excellent review of veggie cookbooks in the April 14 New Yorker,
“…from one chili party to the next, everything changed. Seven formerly enthusiastic carnivores called to say they had stopped eating meat entirely…. Worse, on the night of that final party, four of the remaining carnivores carried their plates to the kitchen table, ignoring the cubes of beef and pancetta, smoky and fragrant in their big red bean pot, and headed for my dwindling supply of pasta. “Stop!” I cried. “That’s for the vegetarians!”
Illustration by Robin Feinman. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation.
Richard David Feinman 