The Trials of Faux-Vegetarianism

Some time ago in the past couple years I pledged to try to only eat meat that is sustainably raised. Because I'm grossed out by the idea of eating meat from an animal that spent its life in a dirty crowded small space pumped with corn feed and antibiotics grosses me out. And because thoughtful, ethical, sustainable farms leave less of a trace on the planet. However, try is the key word there.

I keep my pledge in my own home by only buying meat from the farmers market. I keep it by eating out at restaurants that source their food from local and organic farms.

BUT I run into trouble when circumstance forces me to eat from places that don't give a f* about the meat they serve, which would be most eateries. Because most of the time, the vegetarian options are unappealing and are usually limited to one or two lines on a menu, and outside of NYC sometimes none! For some reason, they often involve mushrooms, which guess what, not every "vegetarian" likes mushrooms and wants to eat them every time she goes out! Or the options are a grilled cheese sandwich or a plain salad, which I'd rather not spend my hard-earned money on something I could just as easily make at home, thank you very much. Or fries, which is not exactly a "meal."

So this is why I slip up. Because when vegetarian options just don't do it for me, I'd rather eat meat because I'm not a vegetarian and I do enjoy eating meat.

Which leads me to my question for the vegetarians out there, don't you feel offended by the scant options you're given? How do you deal with this??