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Strange Offerings: Memories of Non-Vegetarian Dinners

© Tara Gillet-Liloia

It's the holiday season again, which means festive meals out at the homes of friends and relatives. As a guest in someone's home, it is extremely important to be polite to your host. What do you do when you find yourself at a dinner and no one there knows that you are a vegetarian? Let's just say that I have sipped at my share of shark's fin soup and picked at plates of Chicken Marsala when the situation called for it.

One of the first times I can remember being at a dinner that I didn't want to eat was when I was about twelve. My family and I were invited to dinner at the house of an official in the Chinese government. We were living in Hong Kong at the time, so it was a short trip to the man's town...or should I say village. As we toured his village, all of the inhabitants came out to witness the odd American family. They were especially curious about my brother, who had blue eyes and bright platinum blonde hair that only a two-year-old can have, and myself, with curly red hair. Ironically, our turn to stare at alien creatures was to come in a few short hours.

At the official dinner, we were offered the usual unsweetened Chinese tea and plain rice. I thought I was safe. Then the main courses were brought out and placed on a large lazy susan in the center of the table. I could see that this was going to be an interesting evening. Of the dishes that I could recognize, there were plates of shark's fin soup, turtles, whole roasted sparrows (feet and all), piles of eels, and several platters of fish and prawns.

I was not a declared vegetarian at twelve, however, I already had a strong aversion to eating meat or fish. When you're a child and you don't eat meat, you're just a picky eater. Meatloaf was a stretch for me, so you can imagine the sinking feeling in my stomach as I eyed the plates in front of me. This was real Chinese food; not the cold sesame noodles or General Tso's chicken that you love to get from Wong's Kitchen down the street. It was the best that this village had to offer and we really couldn't refuse.

For a short time, I was able to distract the adults at the table by attempting to speak the small bit of Chinese that I knew. They were quite amused, but it was becoming apparent that I wasn't eating anything. I bravely pulled a fried bird onto my plate and picked at it with as much false enthusiasm as I could muster. Luckily for me, I was only a child and after a time, no one was paying much attention to me anymore.