It ' s interesting to me the different attitudes to vegetarianism between the UK and USA . In the UK I ' d say vegetarianism is pretty mainstream and most people are pretty accepting of it as just a simple dietary preference . There is plenty of vegetarian food options available in most supermarkets and many meat eaters often swap in a meat free alternative without it being a big deal . My experience in the US was very different , when I told people I was vegetarian , it became the major focus of conversation and meal times were dominated by a usually well meaning panic that my hosts would do or say something offensive . It feels like vegetarians are relatively rare and those that do exist are vegans who seem to be held as some kind of outside group of nutjobs who pose an existential threat to people ' s way of life . Do vegetable eaters in the US engage in some kind of offensive behaviour ? I never met another during my 3 years living in the Midwest , so I can ' t really draw on personal experience . It just seems weird to me how vegetarian is short hand for weird in some places .