I chose the idealistic option. I like to think that I would eat anything if it was free or if someone cooked and not eating would hurt feelings, but in reality it's not easy to never eat animal stuff and then just have a slice of pizza or whatever. It feels wrong and tears up my gut. Sometimes I decide that retaining my cultural heritage is more important than ethical or health concerns, but I rarely follow through. The times I tried to go back to gumbo and whitefish gave me pooping problems for days after each attempt, and fried chicken still smells good but looking at it in person is too disturbing. I do like cow meat, and if I have a sitter and feel crazy and get drunk I can eat that without stomachaches, but it gives me bad dreams sometimes. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable eating any animal if I didn't kill it myself. Sometimes yogurt creeps up on me and I get really okay with it and then feel horrible and switch back to soy yogurt or whatever. I don't monitor at all my intake of incidental things like gelatin in medications, and I like honey. I wear leather if I get it used. I try to just angle toward generally usually doing the right thing.
My feelings and actions about food are complicated enough that I usually try to find polite ways to never discuss the matter in person. I raise my kid to be an omnivore outside our home because I feel this is not my decision to make for her, but I don't make animal things in our kitchen and I try not to purchase foods for her that are not vegan. I try not to explain my food habits to her in emotional terms, but that's hard sometimes. Luckily I can truthfully keep it simple and just remind her that most of my blood family are struggling with diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, and that I don't want that for us.
