Several months in, I can now say it hasn’t been excruciating. Of course I miss meat. A few nights ago, I awoke in a cold sweat from a Jimmy Buffett-style dream about a cheeseburger in paradise. Only, paradise quickly turned hellish when, halfway through the burger, I started to imagine a big-eared Jersey cow staring at me with its sad eyes.

After that, I asked my friend Kenny, who also recently became a pescetarian, if he ever misses meat. He didn’t even skip a beat.

“I was in Stamp [Student Union] the other morning, and the smell of bacon was everywhere, and for a minute I didn’t think I’d be able to resist it.” Now there’s someone who knows what I’m going through!

It must be the herbivore connection. The carnivorous reaction to my dietary adjustment has been largely mixed.

When I told my friend Christine I was cutting out meat, she exclaimed excitedly, “Well, Julie’s a vegetarian too! You guys should share recipes!”

Julie turned to me uncertainly. “I don’t really have any recipes … It’s mostly just pasta and vegetables.”

And then there are people like Tiffany who have pledged their support up to a point. “I’ll support your vegetarianism! I’ll even cook a vegetarian meal when you come over,” she offered enthusiastically. “But before you go vegan, you better make sure you know where you’re getting all your nutrients.”

Some people seem alarmed when they find out I’m a vegetarian. Their backs stiffen over their plateful of ribs as they say, “Are you going to tell me an animal suffered and died for my meal?” Or sometimes, “You’re not going to try to recruit me, are you?” as if I’m some sort of door-to-door televangelist.

When I told my roommate Jen I was still eating seafood, she looked at me skeptically, hands on her hips. “So fish don’t have feelings?” Well, there is one reason why I leave seafood on the table: crustaceans. As much as I hate that horrible scratching sound on the side of the pot, I could never give up Maryland steamed crabs (if I did, I would likely risk being disowned by my Baltimore born-and-raised family).

I figure I’ll just have to work extra-hard to prevent myself from imagining the crabs scuttling blissfully across the ocean floor with their crab families. OK, maybe I will become a full-blown vegetarian sooner than I thought. Let’s hope I’m still invited to Christmas dinner next year.

Rachel Hare is a senior French language and literature and journalism major. She can be reached at hare at umdbk dot com.