A woman is being slated online after confessing she forced her vegetarian boyfriend to eat meat during a Christmas meal, so he wouldn't embarrass her in front of her family.
The 24-year-old and her partner, 28, have been in a relationship for two years, and recently went to visit her family for an early Christmas dinner, as they weren't able to see each other on the day itself.
This particular gathering was also the first time the woman's family would all be meeting her boyfriend and everything was going well, until her mum brought out the food.
"Here's the thing, I forgot to tell them that my boyfriend is vegetarian, so my mum made a turkey and there wasn't really anything else to eat, beside some snacks. When I realised that, I quietly asked my boyfriend to please not cause a scene, and just eat the food and compliment my mum on it," she wrote on Reddit's AITA forum.
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"He tried to argue back, saying that he doesn't wants to lie to my mum but I told him he would come across as rude if he didn't at least tried it, and I didn't wanted him to make a bad impression. So he sucked it up, ate an entire plate and told my mum that it was delicious, which obviously made her happy."
The woman says they had a good evening and her whole family seemed to really like her boyfriend, but during their drive home he told her it was "kinda' f***ed up" for her to expect him to eat meat, when she knows how much it disgusts him.
"I get his point and I apologised to him, bit I still don't think that it's that bad to eat a bit of turkey once, to not make a weird first impression on my family," she continued, before turning to Reddit to question whether it was really that wrong.
One Reddit user commented: "Respecting your boyfriends feelings, beliefs, and personal decisions should be more important than avoiding a slightly awkward situation, especially one that would have been your fault for not mentioning he was vegetarian in the first place."
"People who practise a vegetarian diet often stop producing the enzymes to digest meat. You care more about impressing your family than you do about his ability to eat the food in front of him," another added.
"It is pretty effed up to expect him to eat meat; many people choose to be vegetarian because of their religious practices and spiritual convictions."
A third wrote: "What the hell is wrong with you? I’m actually surprised he is still dating you. What you did is an incredible red flag."
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