„Imagine what happened to me recently!“, a woman at the information booth speaks openly to me, „I go to the supermarket and need something that goes quickly because I didn’t have much time to cook and was there this pre-breaded schnitzel. Well, not much is inside, I thought, but I had enough for one meal and a salad leaf at home, you know, because of the vitamins. So, I buy it and knock it down at home. As it sizzles, I take a closer look at the packaging, just wanting to know what kind of meat is inside. And what do I discover? There is no veal or beef inside, but some kind of soy stuff. And it’s your fault vegans. You have to imitate everything by bending and breaking. I always thought you didn’t want to eat meat and then you called it that. „

“If you take it seriously and look at the origin of the word schnitzel, it simply means cuts,” I reply, “The fact that we only use it for cuts from meat is another story. But I have the feeling that you think we took something from you? „
„What is taken away?“, she asks me in amazement.
„Names for dishes that are reserved for meat eaters,“ I return.
„It’s not about that, it’s about being hypocrites. If you don’t eat meat, don’t call it that,” she says prickly.
„Look, we don’t really care what it’s called, because we’re all about one thing,“ I try to explain, „We don’t want to eat anything, harm anything or use anything that has animal suffering inside. In your veal schnitzel is the suffering of a baby who wanted to live and in my soy schnitzel there are only plants inside. ”
„And if it doesn’t matter anyway, you can call it another,“ she says energetically, „You only do so, in truth you want something that looks and tastes like meat.“
„Of course it is not easy for everyone to do without meat,“ I admit, „Then it is reprehensible to eat something that makes it easier for you to switch to a purely plant-based diet. But tasting meat is nonsense, because meat doesn’t taste, but the spices. If you actually liked meat, you would have to eat it raw and without spices. Do that?“
„Of course not. Raw meat. What an idea. It can be full of salmonella and what do I know what is unseasoned, it is always getting better,” she says gruffly.
“But this is how a real meat eater would go, raw and without spices,” I reply, “First of all, what we do is to make sure that meat doesn’t look like it comes from the dead animal, and secondly, to prepare it so that we can eat it at all. I wonder what’s really hypocritical. Preparing a herbal product as if it were made of meat, or preparing meat as if none of our fellow creatures would have to die for it. ”
„I see through your tactics,“ she replies, eyebrows raised, forefinger raised up threateningly, „you now want to talk me into a guilty conscience, because of that I eat dead animals and such.“
„I don’t want to talk you into anything, I just want to point out that an animal has to die so that you can eat meat, but it should look like it can be ignored,“ I say.
„You see, you’re doing it again to make me feel guilty,“ she says, „it sounds like you’re telling me I’m killing an animal.“
„For example a small, hearty calf?“ I throw in, „No, I don’t. But what’s the difference if someone kills so that I can benefit from it or whether I do it myself? Except to say it wasn’t me. The result is the same, the living thing that wanted to live is dead.” And so I take a brochure with vegan recipes off the table and give it to her. She flips through them thoughtfully.
“There’s no recipe with fake meat in there,” she says suddenly, “I could try something out. I haven’t cooked lentils in a long time.“
„By the way, did you eat the soy schnitzel?“ I ask.
„Yes, it was hard for me to throw it away,“ she says bitterly.
„Did you like it?“ I continue anyway.
„Yes, but don’t tell anyone else,“ she replies and trudges away, stuffing the brochure with the recipes into your pocket. Will she like the new way of cooking? At least there is hope.