As a vegetarian, you get used to being called self-righteous and preachy. You come to expect that family, friends and dining establishments will somehow feel threatened by your choices, even when you suffer silently through their gleeful lack of accommodation for fear of being labeled self-righteous and preachy.
In that vein, it is somewhat amusing to see chef David Chang of momofuku, addressing himself as “Captain Fucking Pork Bun,” explain that even with the rising costs of meat production, “my restaurants still won't kowtow to vegetarians.” OK. Fine. Whatever.
I get commerce. Sell what you like. Obviously I won’t be eating at momofuku, but Chang’s the wunderkind darling of the foodie mags, and there are enough committed carnivores out there that he’s not going to go out of business by refusing to cook for vegetarians.
But does the guy have to be so damn smug about it? Especially when—acknowledging his depression and hypocrisy—Chang concedes that the rising cost of meat production require a necessary shift in our eating habits:
Let's allow these harsh new realities to force us to do something that Alice Waters has been advocating for decades: Let's finally embrace the truth that food is not something to be taken for granted. As a culture, we need to be more curious about where our food comes from. We need to buy from farmers who are trying to do things the right way. We need to think before we eat.
So Captain Fucking Pork Bun, while I’m sorry you’re a self-important—albeit wildly popular—drama queen, and that cooking without your beloved pork makes you feel like you’re kneeling and touching the ground with your forehead, it seems to me that some vegetarians are, in fact, “curious about where our food comes” from and tend to “think before we eat.”