The flexi-tarian brigade

Me - So what else is new?
Dad - I'm thinking of turning vegetarian.
Me - You're WHAT?
Dad - Thinking of turning vegetarian.
Me - REALLY??
Dad - Yeah. It's generally healthy, I think.
Me - Hmm... that's good.
Dad - With some exceptions, of course.
Me - Haha! Thought so. Like what?
Dad - Singapore's chilli crab and mutton curry cooked by my niece.

At first I laughed at him, but the more I thought about it, the more okay it seemed to me. These days the whole definition of what constitutes a vegetarian has changed and selective vegetarianism is a very practical option for people who want to change their diets but not too drastically. In any case, non-vegetarians are not exactly carnivores, are they? But it's nice to see the line that divides people on the basis of food blurring out. Gone are the days when vegetarians were only of three kinds - vegans, lacto-vegetarians and lacto-ovo-vegetarians. There are a lot more preference-based options now available to people who are not religious about vegetarianism, and want to follow it for health reasons.

So I have decided to make a list (you guys know how I have a thing for lists) of the different types of these selective vegetarians or flexi-tarians as I call them.

The certain-days flexi-tarian
These are people who are vegetarian on certain days. Some people don't eat non-vegetarian food on Mondays and Thursdays. I believe it has some religious reason behind it.

The I-won't-eat-cute-animals flexi-tarian
These people do not eat animals that they find cute. I'm not kidding. Perhaps the selection is based on which animal soft toys are common and which aren't. I guess the ugly animals have it tough, yeah?

The I-won't-eat-certain-meats flexi-tarian
This is perhaps the largest group of non-vegetarians and the best rebuttal against the belief that non-vegetarians will eat anything that moves. These people avoid certain meats either for health reasons for personal preferences. A friend of mine does not eat land animals. I think I kind of fall in this group. I don't eat squid, octopus and a lot other animals abundant in the Singapore diet.

The don't-ask-and-you'll-never-know flexi-tarian
These flexitarians prefer not to know what's in their food if they can help it. Logical, as once you know, you'll start thinking of all the times when you had the dish in the past and all the times in the future that you can't have the dish because "now you know"!

The if-I-don't-see-it-it's-not-there flexi-tarian
These are people who do not care if there's non-vegetarian stuff in their food as long as they do not see it. A typical example would be vegetarians eating prata with chicken gravy.

Sometimes I wonder why certain people are vegetarian and why certain people are not. I wonder if I should ever switch - since I'm fairly health-conscious, don't particularly fancy meat all that much and totally love the vegetarian food (the kind you get in India). I guess it has something to do with Singapore then. I have lived on vegetarian food in India for prolonged periods and loved it too, but there was this time I resolved to be vegetarian for a month in Singapore - I nearly starved to death. Not that the non-veg food here is mind-blowing or anything but I believe that if it boils down to a daily basis, I'd rather eat salted newspaper than the kind of everyday vegetarian food found in Singapore. :/

Ah well.

Maybe, like Dad, some day, somewhere, somehow, I will feel like turning vegetarian.

With the chilli crab exception, of course.