My family (minus my sister and I) doesn't really understand what being a vegetarian means. When vegetarians say they don't eat meat, my mother thinks that they only don't eat pork, beef, lamb--all the red meats. Chicken is not "meat." Chicken is chicken. Fish is fish. Seafood is seafood. Those things are not meat. They are their own food groups. But most definitely not meat. An example of a common misunderstanding is shown below:
Mom: Oh, let me feed you and your friends the foods!
Viv: Okay, but X doesn't eat meat.
Mom: That's okay. I will make clam chowder.
Viv: Clam chowder has clams in it.
Mom: That's not meat.
Viv: Yes, it is. Clam is meat.
Mom: No it's not! It's seafood!
Viv: Meat is anything that's alive!!
Mom: But clams are seafood!
Viv: Okay, X doesn't eat seafood!
Mom: Oh, okay.
It's not that my family (and a lot of other Chinese families) don't understand what vegetarianism entails. It's more like, there are different terms in different languages that define the different types of "meat." Whereas in English, meat encompasses poultry, red meat, seafoods, and whatever other living things, in Chinese, the word for "meat" is rou, which--even though it is translated into "meat" in English--is processed in Chinese people's minds as red meat. Or, maybe it isn't? This is something that confuses me as a 2nd-generation ABC. I sometimes understand Chinese terms in the context of English, which gives me a warped and sometimes incorrect idea of what certain words mean. I think everyone in my family who was actually born in China (Mom, Dad, grandparents, etc.) thinks of rou as "red meat," but in my and my sister's mind, rou is synonymous with all meat. There's also separate words for chicken (ji), fish (yu), and seafood (haixian). Whereas in English, all those subcategories fall under the larger category of "meat," in Chinese, they seem to me to be distinct categories, and not necessarily all falling within the umbrealla term "meat."
That's my explanation for it. It has to do with language, but a lot also has to do with miscommunication and misunderstanding.
Food is generally an uncomplicated pleasure, but in the context of being a 2nd-generation Asian American, one can't help but run into awkward or confusing situations with language and consequently, foods.
At least it still tastes the same in all languages. =)
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if the chinese use of chinese is at all like the korean use of it, I feel like some of the identifications associated with the character for meat comes from words that use it. For example, you would never ever refer to broth as just plain broth, as in it could be from any meat, you'd identify it as beef broth. likewise you just refer to different dishes with pork or beef in it as "meat" (though when I think of the chinese character I think of beef. . . bc there was a pic of a cow next to it. . ) or you could go with the whole asian cultures are into balance. Birds fly in the air, seafood live in the sea and meat lives on land? Hope some of this makes sense. . .
another part of the problem is that "vegetarian" is sometimes used indiscriminately to refer to different dietary restrictions (ie vegetarian (ovo-lacto) vs vegan vs pescatarian).
There was a time when I tried to introduce a girlfriend to my grandparents who was a vegetarian. When they expressed confusion, I attempted to play my trump card: "Just like Cousin Debbie, Tim's wife. She's a vegetarian too." Only Debbie ate seafood, apparently, and so not eating shrimp (in addition to not eating meat), was considered completely crazy.
oh my goodness viv, i remember bookmarking this a little while back but i took the time to read it all today... i love it! you have another fan! ohhhh i miss you. i am very used to seeing you all the time. mm.
looking forward to the next post
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