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I'm veg and my girlfriend isn't, but she's (of her own accord) slowly changing her diet. I think that when we move in together, she'll turn veg.

I suspect that her current diet is influenced by the people she lives with. When she's with me she always eats veg.

I can relate to the above comment. I'm a veg while my boyfriend is not. The joke is that, he becomes a vegetarian whenever we cook together.

Although he's a strict vegetarian and I'm not, I generally don't eat meat, and care strongly about where my food comes from - moreso than he does where sugar, veggies, etc. are concerned sometimes! Fundamentally, our motivation is similar.

I was, but now I'm not. I used to eat meat, but now I'm fully ov-lac vegetarian and so is my wife (who was vegi from the start).

In the past, when out (e.g. work), I would eat meat, when home, I would eat vegetarian. Simple enough solution.

Anyone who would refuse to eat vegetarian at least one meal a day for a relationship is just as ass and not worth it in the long run.

My boyfriend of 4 years is a raging carnivore (pork-based life form), and I am (usually) veg. He gets me to eat meat sometimes, and I get him to eat less meat and drink more beer (I can no longer drink him under the table). He has tempered my can't-hug-a-tree-too-hard spiraling recently and I've convinced him to buy organic free range milk and eggs. Together we've decided on our own approach to env-friendly life, which incl living close to the land, no foreign oil and raising a few happy animals for meat as a supplement to the diet only. Little does he know I'm going to name them all so he'll end up not being able to kill them. Who with a heart can kill Sparky the cow?

My boyfriend is an onmivore and i am an ovo-lacto veg. Generally, the only meat ever in the house is breakfast sausages (he loves them) and cold cuts for his lunch. Generally, I do all the cooking, and he just eats what I cook. He's not the kind of omnivore that believes that a meal isn't a meal without meat, which is a good thing. As long as it's tasty, he'll eat it, especially if someone else did all the work :-).

I'm vegetarian; hub isn't. He's free to eat whatever he wants outside of our home. If he wants meat at home, he'll have to cook it himself. Since he doesn't cook, it works out pretty great for me. He used to be a carnivore, but now loves tofu!

My fiance is non-veggie. He eats whatever he wants, and I eat whatever I want. It doesn't really get complicated. If we make a meat-based dish together, we often just divide it in half, add the meat separately to one half and tofu or tempeh to the other half. Panang curry is delicious and easy to make, and we both agree, it's all about the sauce.

I'm a vegetarian who once lived a short time with a meat-loving boyfriend and it became a big problem... especially since I don't like to have meat in my home. I now live with a vegetarian boyfriend and it's fantastic.

My wife is vegetarian; I'm your basic omnivore. We cook vegetarian stuff at home, and I generally eat things with meat in them when we go out.

I'm a vegan, he isn't. His fridge has slowly morphed to be stocked with vegan food. He knows I don't like to see him eat meat, but it's the milk that bugs me. Dairy is the worst product for humans and the environment, despite what the dairy council says. I won't get near him after he drinks milk. Otherwise, we eat what we want and it has never been a big problem.

I'm mostly veg, with a bit of fish on the side. My g/f is, as someone else stated so aptly, "a raging carnivore." Meat and potatoes all the way. She's slowly been exchanging the meat for veggies, and although she normally can't stand the texture of tofu she actually likes it when I bake some (must be my recipe). Now if only she'd take a liking to espresso...

How to do it?

LEARN TO COOK!

Most people don't know how to cook as it is so it's not surprising that "mixed" couples have problems.

If you know how to cook you can cook for anyone without too much inconvenience or extra time.

No excuses!

Learn to cook!

And no whining about not having enough time.

My boyfriend is a half veggie (no beef, pork, etc. Eggs are ok in moderation and fish is fine). He's teaches martial arts (chinese internal boxing, mainly) and that's his reason for being a nn-meat eater. I'm an omnivore (love a good rare steak). It's prety easy to deal with... I'm a chef. What I cook is generally healthy easily tweaked to fit his needs.

My girlfriend and I are pretty much vegan but we still had arguements over food. She misses fish, and wants to eat it occasionally. But I believe fish is one of the worst foods environmentally, with the oceans being plundered and a shrimp farms displacing mangroves, etc.

BTW: check out the Veggie Challenge. It might inspire your non-veggie partner to forgo meat for awhile.

This counts to me, but may not for others. I am vegan, but my partner is not.

Sadly, we deal with this by living across the country from ea. other. (We are doing the long-distance thing for now.) When we are together, she will eat vegan occasionally, but I do most of the cooking and don't really mind putting cheese on stuff for her or using when I make her coffee.

After a while you just get used to it.

Yeah, I'm a strict vegetarian and my husband is... well, I'm not sure what he is. He mostly lives off of cow's cheese, cow's milk, broccoli, tomatoes, white rice and white bread, and cookies.

We not only eat entirely different things, but we eat at entirely different times, too. He likes to eat dinner at about 10 pm. While I'm more of a 6 pm kinda gal.

As FDG said, it's the dairy that he consumes volumes of that really worries me. He's constantly got a cold, and I tell him that he'd have a heck of a lot less mucus is he stopped eating the cow goo (and he'd lose a ton of the fat hanging around his gut, too). But he's addicted, so I can't expect him to give it up easily. And he does make lots of really yummy veggie cakes and cookies for us all the time, so I'm happy enough for the time being.

The thing is, by the time my husband finally decides to go strict vegetarian like me, I'll probably have moved on to going raw.

I recently went vegetarian for a month. My friends have always called me the activist and kind of dared me to try it. This might not have much to do with the post but I found it interesting how my friends didn't make it harder like I thought they would but rather kept me to it! While they were eating ribs I ate a gardenburger! Everyone wants to try it and improve their health sometimes we just need to step up and help them make the changes necessary! Most of my frineds have cut back on their meat consumption and I am trying to incorporate it fully into my life.

My husband will eat almost anything you put in front of him, literally. But when either of us is cooking for the both of us together (his cooking included), we usually make meat-less dishes because otherwise I would not eat it. He occassionally will have some meat on the side.

Living at home with my parents since my job has taken me back to NY for a short while is entirely different. I think it is harder for them to accept the new. Although I've been vegetarian for 3 years now, they still offer me meat... rudely. Now I cook my own meals and sometimes for them, which they love, a feat that seems to shock everytime. Yet still, they are addicted to blue steaks.... shutter.

My boyfriend's vegan and I'm omnivore (mostly vegetarian with occasional organic meat & fish). I don't know, what's to deal with? we both respect one another's dietary choices, and it's not hard for us to be able to accomodate each other. It probably helps that I'm happy eating vegan food.

I'm not sure what the comment a few posts above is about... "Learn to cook..."

in any case...

Im a vegan who must be good at this love-conversion thing because ive transitioned my last girlfriend to being vegetarian, and my current one to vegan.... both from sparsely omnivorous lifestyles. Both were also fairly soft-sold as well... no ultimatems or soapbox moments. Lots of yummy dining and cooking though. Last night we made smoothies.

I'm vegan, she is not. She respects what I do and I when she is with me she will eat vegetarian. I don't know how it will work in the future, as things get more and more serious but she seems willing to work with me.

My boyfriend understands why i eat the way i do (no meat, only the occasional organic meats/fish i.e. fresh deer, quail, gator, pond fish)...when we go out i j/ order meatless...when i cook i'll either cook w/ no meat or w/ meat on the side (it depends)...when we eat out we usually try to eat at places that have vegetarian/vegan menus

Ive been a veg for 6 years. My girlfriend of three years wasn't. she always called me selfish for not eating meat and would rant about what i jerk I was at parties where food I couldnt eat was served. In such situations I never said a word quietly ate crackers all night and no one would have even known i didnt eat meat if it wasn't for her.

there were underlying issues.

we dont speak anymore.

My girlfriend is mostly vegetarian (she's fishy) and I am mostly, well, not. The only difficulty we have with our differing diets is how incredibly picky I am, not that I eat meat and she doesn't.

The differences are easy enough to settle, because we actually respect one another. We tease about our differences and then eat whatever the heck we want! Easy solution. If I could get over my pickiness, I would probably try to adapt my diet to hers more, but until then, its no biggie.

I´ll eat anything that tastes good and my girlfriend is mostly vegetarian, eats fresh fish though but not shellfish. With most people here that´s extreme behaviour. At family dinners and parties her tastes are catered to and her "special needs" addressed. The funny thing is that "her" dishes are usually the most popular. I love a steak but it seems that a lot of people eat meat because of habit but not out of need or want. It´s also quite handy for our measly student income to skip costly ingrediants such as meat.

I have been a veggie all my life. I have been in relationships with pseudo-vegs, i.e. they ate fish,and some convinced meat-eaters. However, since I enjoy cooking, and am rather good at it, I allways become the cook in the relationship. And, ofcourse, I won't cook dead animals. I never had any complaints about missing the meat.

My fiancee eats fish, but no chicken or red meat. I'll eat just about whatever. We get around this because she's a great cook and I can eat bacon cheeseburgers for lunch with my work buddies. I find myself eating a lot more vegetables, though, and even find myself liking them.

My wife was a vegetarian when we met in college and I have been an omnivore my entire life. We're both omnivores now.

When it comes to food, we enjoy non-meat dishes as much as meat-based meals and make a point as to not evangelize our eating habits or segregate our protein sources. But for the most part, we use meat as a means towards supplementing our diet.

However, we're both pretty keen on not eating any animal that comes from a wild sources like the lakes, oceans, or woodlands.

My wife is vegan, and I am not. I do all the cooking, but that usually entails a vegan dinner. I had dated a vegatarian before her who got me into tofu, so it hasn't been an issue. I cook meat sometimes, which set the dog off completely.

I read something from Charlie Trotter in his book Raw, and he talked about how as he's gotten deeper into vegatarian cooking, he's expanded how he expresses himself through food. I look at it the same way, though not through that sort of artistic perspective that he does.

I'm a senior in high school in the USA, and just going over to vegetarian, but slow at it since I have a corn allergy and my dad is an omnivore who is addicted to processed foods (corn syrupfor sure, other things: very likely). My mom would vegetarian if we could get the meat out of the house, and she also has problems with processed foods. Due to the corn allergy I cook alot, and generally in a Japanese style, and mostly organically (no milk, occasionally organic cheese, quite a few organic eggs, and a little fish).
My girlfriend, however, has been raised on heavily processed foods, like chicken patties, bologna, and bleached white bread *shudders at teh thought*. She also doesn't cook, but would like me to teach her. Since meeting me she has begun to pay alot more attention to what she eats, and is expanding what she eats in terms of veggies. We both have a long way to go still, but we hope that after heading off ot college next year we'll be able to do alot better.

I was a vegan for 10 years. Then a ovo-lacto. Now I continue to back slide to eating fish and fowl on occasion. My wife, who was an omnivore went vegetarian once we were serious. Once she was pregnant, you could catch her eating beef 2 meals out of three. Now our kids are definitely interested in animal sources of protein which is the majority reason I occasionally eat meat. Fortunately, I can get them to eat quite a few vegetarian foods - but they recognize green vegetables and definitely do not want them based on visual appearance.

I was a vegan for 10 years. Then a ovo-lacto. Now I continue to back slide to eating fish and fowl on occasion. My wife, who was an omnivore went vegetarian once we were serious. Once she was pregnant, you could catch her eating beef 2 meals out of three. Now our kids are definitely interested in animal sources of protein which is the majority reason I occasionally eat meat. Fortunately, I can get them to eat quite a few vegetarian foods - but they recognize green vegetables and definitely do not want them based on visual appearance.

Why should you learn to cook?

Simple: negotiations are much easier when you know how to make a wide variety of dishes.

Successful couples from different backgrounds and cultures have to negotiate their menus and keep an open mind to the many possibilities of food.

As all other attributes of people's different backgrounds and cultures meet so do dietary ones. Mature and understanding approaches are the best way. Ignorance of one's partner's diet (including preparation skills) is as bad as ignorance of that partner's other background and culture.

Simply said, relationships take work and learning to cook is an element of that, albeit a labor of love.

We eat vegetarian at home, but my partner orders or eats what she wants to when we're out or visiting others' homes. It works out fairly well for us.

I'm ov-lac vege, girlfriend was omnivore. As i do most of the cooking since we moved in together, the house is essentially veggie. When we go out we go our separate dietary ways

I am vegan and my boyfriend is omni. As with many people who have already commented, we eat veg*n (occasionally he'll have cheese) at home and he eats whatever he wants to when we are outside the home. I do most of the cooking and make sure to create substantial and familiar meals which are veganized: sloppy joes, stir-fries, lasagna, tacos, scrambled tofu with veg bacon, etc.

A bonus: he already liked soymilk and tofu before we even started dating :)

i'm vegan and my boyfriend isn't. But he eats lots of veggies and likes to steal from my plate when i let my gaurd down- the perfecct opportunity for him to find out he likes the way vegan chik'n patties taste better than actual chicken. Now he buys vegan stuff to stock at home so we have a meat free coexistence, but he still eats meat when he goes out to dinner.

My boyfriend is an omnivore. I choose not to eat beef and pork, but I occasionally eat poultry and fish (1-3 meals per week). We respect each other's diets and because we're both health conscious we subsequently eat mostly an all plants, whole grains and legumes diet (with some animal proteins- him meat and dairy/ me usually only dairy). I think I'd have a problem with him eating red meat if he were eating an unhealthy amount, or getting sick from it (which he's not). Per an earlier post, we've never experienced any sickness due to consuming diary products and in fact he consumes a few large glasses of 2% milk per day and rarely is sick (and extremely fit)! In fact, we've noticed we have more energy when we include some animal protein in our diets. We've had a very positive experience with our diets but we also have many good vegan and vegetarian friends and we try to stay as informed as possible, most importantly eating a variety of healthful foods.

I guess I have never been "meat focused". It does not bother me to go with out it or go with it. My partner eats fish so that helps... I push for protein, but it does not matter what form it is in. (beef, pork, chicken, fish, shellfish, or tofu)... love them all... I guess we eat a lot of tofu and shellfish... Besides I have found that the less I eat beef or pork, the more I find my food refreshing. Beef and pork are really heavy and not that good anyway... (unless I am raving it then yum!)

First, I'd like to know where all of you vegetarian men have been hiding all my life! (*whaaaa*)

Once lived with a bf who was omnivore, while I am ov-lac vegetarian. Same deal as with others. I did most of the cooking (only vegetarian), so he ate as vegetarian at home, but not so away from home. But, I tended to cook heartier meals (pasta, veggie pot pies, etc.) and more food to satisfy his appetite. ...Now, when he briefly went on the all-meat Atkins diet, I was pretty disgusted.