Religious Perception

[debka_notion]

We had dinner with my grandmother and her boyfriend tonight- at what was from everyone else's reactions a quite nice restaurant- but which had exactly 3 regular entrees that I could have. Sort of a pain, but well- for family one does these things.

That said, my grandmother worried rather audibly over my diet- she kept thinking I was a vegetarian, and from there on to other religious topics- she can't seem to understand that I do indeed wear pants. She keeps wanting to take me pants shopping- then saying something about forgetting that I just wear "those long skirts". I've corrected her any number of times. I'm not sure why the idea is so difficult- I wear pants. ALways have, don't see any reason why I'd stop. If I can keep track of people's allergies and often a few of their strong distastes in food- is it so difficult to keep track of my dietary restrictions or similar choices? I know, I'm kvetching. But my family seems to perpetually either just forget that I keep kosher entirely, or presume that I also have all sorts of other dietary restrictions that I haven't chosen at all. I just don't understand the associations.

Comments

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

It isn't that I need to be able to eat more than one, it's that none of the three appealed to me. It was also just the definition of "DOn't worry, they have fish, you'll be able to find something you like to eat" being one fish thing and a couple of variations on pasta that seemed sort of odd. Somehow "fish I will eat" and "things that live under water" aren't yet really seperate in their minds. Oh well- they can also ask me if I'm a vegetarian while watching me eat fish, so I oughtn't complain too much...

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Some vegetarians eat fish.

I keep forgetting that fish and shellfish are not naturally distinct in the minds of most people. It depends a lot, I think, on one's frame of reference.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I've heard such people referred to as "kosher-vegetarians"- if kashrut doesn't call it meat, they don't either. I know folks who do that. But generally vegetarian means no meat by the fuller definition, as far as I can tell.

But fish and shellfish aren't distinct in the mind of a woman who kept a kosher house for her father-in-law for a number of years?