The chicken sandwich question

 

After about a month of being a “vegetarian who thinks it’s OK that others eat meat and will only eat free-range hormone-free meat myself on occasion but not too often [and actually didn't end up eating any],” I’m left with the question: where do I draw the line? Years of vehemently denying my proto-vegetarianism were exhausted by the puzzlement of others at my “no I’m not a vegetarian but I will NOT, repeat NOT, eat your meat” line. Basically, it offended people and confused me: why should I eat a succulent rueben when I feel like it (read: comfort food) and other times eschew cheese and eggs? That’s a wishy-washy philosophy if ever there was one. I don’t want to be a vegan just because it’s trendy, nor am I prepared to fully break up with cheese (my one true love), but vegetarianism doesn’t have the high ethical standard I require to do something as a rule. I mean, free-range eggs can hardly be trusted, and cheese is produced in the same horrible conditions meat is. Not to mention that hormones are especially prevalent in milk products. 

What is the ethical way out of all of this? Bottom line, if food is going to waste, I will eat it. Such is the case with a chicken sandwich I was offered the other day. I managed to give half of it away, but not before, frankly, relishing it. Wasting meat is worse than eating it, but I don’t know how much farther I can ride this slippery-slope argument before a clearer ethical position becomes necessary.