While I do think it’s hypocritical for a pacifist to want play Street Fighter, I’m okay with that human foible.
In my opinion, being a vegetarian comes with the loss of desire to eat meat and that translates into a lack of interest in meat substitutes. At any rate, that’s what happened to me. Two things contributed to that I think: 1, I was married to a vegetarian already and in her past life, ran a vegetarian restaurant. and 2, I changed for personal ethical reasons. I began to equate meat with death and realized that nothing HAD to die for me to eat. When I made that internal change, meat lost it’s interest.
I used to describe it as a thought experiment: if you learned that bacon was made of human babies, you would quickly begin to equate that taste with horror. it wouldn’t taste good if you knew that it killed human children. And on some level, that’s what I experienced, and it made the transition easy. I don’t look for meat substitutes. There’s enough non-meat food out there that I am satisfied and full anytime I go to eat.
But some people will always pine for the comfort food, regardless of what it is. And that’s fine too! The Buddhists are the ones that invented the seitan and multiple versions of meat substitutes. So yeah, that’s okay too. Whatever works for you.
However, there is still a part of my brain that thinks it’s hypocritical, which brings me back to my initial sentence. I think it’s fine to be a little hypocritical. Especially when you’re dealing with a big life change. As they say: The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We all have to deal with that, so figure it out on your own terms. If that’s eating veggie versions of meat meals, go for it.
