I've been doing this 1.5 years now and expect it to continue as a lifestyle choice. I just got back from two weeks traveling with family and friends where I ended up going to at least 15 restaurants and abstaining, so I think I'm ready to throw down the gauntlet for others who might like to try this but are afraid of society. :)
My rationale is that restaurants are:- expensive, if I'm to spend money, there's always a more generous way I could use it to help others
- luxuries that many people I care about can't afford anyway, so I'll show solidarity
- wasteful of earth's resources (the restaurant industry is very inefficient, with huge amounts of buildings, real estate, parking, goods etc that is wasted most of the week)
- impossible to track where ingredients came from, what's in the food, is it ethical
- supportive of industries I don't want to support (big oil, big food, big restaurant chain, etc)
Even the most ethical of restaurants, that are locally owned and use all local organic ingredients, still aren't the best IMHO for the first two reasons above.
The basic rules I follow:- don't buy food in restaurants (when a wait[ress/er] asks what I want, I just smile and say "nothing for me, thanks")
- don't suggest going to restaurants, and when possible suggest alternatives -- "let's cook food at home, or in a park" or something
- when you do go to a restaurant because friends are going, don't have someone split their dish with you.
The gray area is eating others' leftovers at the end that will otherwise be thrown out. I do this sometimes if it's something I actually will eat, but if I did it always, people might buy extras for me, which I don't want to encourage.
Tips:- learn to cook, learn to eat more kinds of food, especially raw foods
- shop at local food co-ops, they are in many american cities now, get bulk food in your own containers that you can take with you while traveling. I traveled two weeks eating mostly raw fruit/veg, raw oats, and nuts/seeds.
- participate in food not bombs (
foodnotbombs.net) to get free food yourself and also serve others
- when questioned, if you don't have a thought-out ethical explanation that feels appropriate at the time, just say "it's an experiment." This seems to work for all the weird things I do, as it doesn't come across as judgmental of others, and it doesn't sound like I'm saying I will do this forever (even if I might!)
Happy violating of norms!
