{"id":38307,"date":"2015-01-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/38307\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon"},"modified":"2015-01-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T00:00:00","slug":"what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/38307\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"What It&#8217;s Like to Be a Vegetarian in Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"<b><big><big>If there\u2019s something that the Lebanese love, (other than politics, gossip, and bragging about Amal Alamuddin) it\u2019s meat! So it comes as quite a shock to the meat-loving citizens of Lebanon when they encounter a vegetarian in their midst.<br \/>  <br \/>  Every family gathering turns into that scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding where Aunt Voula is visibly stunned when she finds out that Ian\u2019s a vegetarian. <br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/fHGZvPK.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  <br \/>  Even as you try to keep your vegetarianism on the down-low, that long lost aunt that you haven\u2019t seen for ages notices all the vegetables on your plate and says, \u201cShu? 3amle regime?\u201d \u201cUh\u2026\u201d \u201cEh eh mnee7, shaklek nas7aneh.\u201d <br \/>  <br \/>  Every time you meet someone new they say: \u201cbut you NEED PROTEIN\u201d. And even after you rationally explain that you\u2019ve already planned your diet so that you get enough protein from other sources they say, \u201cbut PROTEIN\u201d and you practically have to stab yourself with a pencil to stay sane. <br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn2.crushable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Lucy-Hale-awkward-face-and-nod-in-Pretty-Little-Liars-GIF-PLL.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  <br \/>  Lebanese family members adore bringing home any type of Lebanese dish and proclaiming, \u201cI brought you your FAVORITE!\u201d You then proceed to sprint to the kitchen, grab a bunch of dishes and sit down unabashedly awaiting your fattet 7ommus.<br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/38.media.tumblr.com\/2941705b43275746614c4245ebffe03c\/tumblr_mjakuqXyVg1rl52wjo1_500.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  <br \/>  Only to have your sister pull out six plates of kafta, la7me ba3jeen, and a platter of taouk. After seeing the pityingly depressed puppy look on your face she says: \u201cOh\u2026 I forgot\u201d <br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mrwgifs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Stitch-Crying-In-The-Rain-With-Super-Alien-Sadness.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>   <br \/>  You thought you loved animals BEFORE you were a vegetarian, but now you love and appreciate them all so much more that you wish you could just adopt every single one of them. <br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/grist.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/05\/hugging-chicken.gif?w=320&#038;h=320\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  <br \/>  When you calmly stroll up to the shawarma place with your friends and they all look you pityingly and say, \u201cyou\u2019re missing out,\u201d but then you find out that the place serves vegetarian potato shawarma. And it\u2019s\u2026.HEAVENLY.<br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img2.wikia.nocookie.net\/__cb20120108193305\/adventuretimewithfinnandjake\/images\/f\/f7\/Jake_sparkly_eyes.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  <br \/>  At first it\u2019s hard to find someone who isn\u2019t completely horrified at the thought of experimenting with vegetarian cuisine. <br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/24.media.tumblr.com\/2905bdb6d1f51b2373dc063a3b84886f\/tumblr_mtpc8w1ZQ81r631d4o1_500.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  <br \/>  But you eventually realize that behind all the jokes, your friends and family are super supportive of your vegetarianism, and would be the first people to attack the next person who says to you: \u201cbut you need PROTEIN.\u201d <br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.tumblr.com\/tumblr_ltwmf2Oi5u1qen75u.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  <br \/>  Fun fact: Peter Dinklage is a vegetarian, so cheers to that!  <\/big><\/big><\/b><br \/>  <br \/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn2.crushable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Peter-Dinklage-as-Tyrion-Lannister-raising-a-glass-on-Game-of-Thrones-GIF.gif\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>      <figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"191\" data-id=\"419185\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/38307-250x191.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-419185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/38307-250x191.png 250w, https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/38307.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><\/figure>    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b><big><big>If there\u2019s something that the Lebanese love, (other than politics, gossip, and bragging about Amal Alamuddin) it\u2019s meat! So it comes as quite a shock to the meat-loving citizens of Lebanon when they encounter a vegetarian in their midst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":419187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-38307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"authorship":[36],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What It&#039;s Like to Be a Vegetarian in Lebanon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If there\u2019s something that the Lebanese love, (other than politics, gossip, and bragging about Amal Alamuddin) it\u2019s meat! So it comes as quite a shock to the meat-loving citizens of Lebanon when they encounter a vegetarian in their midst.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/38307\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What It&#039;s Like to Be a Vegetarian in Lebanon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If there\u2019s something that the Lebanese love, (other than politics, gossip, and bragging about Amal Alamuddin) it\u2019s meat! So it comes as quite a shock to the meat-loving citizens of Lebanon when they encounter a vegetarian in their midst.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/38307\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beirut.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-26T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/38307-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"What It&#8217;s Like to Be a Vegetarian in Lebanon\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-26T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/38307-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/\",\"name\":\"What It's Like to Be a Vegetarian in Lebanon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/38307\\\/what-its-like-to-be-a-vegetarian-in-lebanon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/38307-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-26T00:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"If there\u2019s something that the Lebanese love, (other than politics, gossip, and bragging about Amal Alamuddin) it\u2019s meat! 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