TURN THE TABLES

Here's a HuffPost column by Kathy Freston making the email rounds, dealing with getting meat-eaters to stick a toe into the meatless world.

Not a lot here that will surprise any readers of this blog, but one conversational gambit stuck out to me: If someone says they can't become vegetarian because "I could never live without [animal product X]," tell them, "Fine - keep that one and give up all the other ones."

One friend told me that he just loves burgers too much to give them up; I suggested that he give up all animal products except burgers. Some of my friends can't give up ice cream or cream in their coffee or whatever - so give up everything but that. That's a huge step forward, and I suspect that after eating mostly vegetarian for awhile, you'll decide that those burgers or that ice cream aren't so tasty anymore. And you'll probably find that you enjoy the faux meats and dairy-free options just as much.

It could work! At the very least, it will catch the no-can-do types off guard.