October 8, 2015

Drunken Vegetarians Are Sometimes Secret Meat Eaters

<a href="http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/man-eating-steak-10544064?st=87343e0"> Robert Ingelhart</a>/iStock

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A lot of people do things they regret when they are drunk. Maybe it’s getting tanked and then incoherently divulging secret feelings for a colleague. Perhaps it’s the slurred, eyes-shut karaoke rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Or it could be that after being sucked into an alcohol-fueled gluttonous rampage, the favorite option is diving face first into a meaty meal—even if you happen to be a socially conscious vegetarian. 

According to a new study conducted by VoucherCodesPro.com, a discount code company based in the United Kingdom, more than one-third of vegetarians have become nonvegetarians after a night of drinking. When Drunk Hungry hits, they are quick to ditch their diets—and convictions.

And, these drunken, carnivorous vegetarians aren’t even honest about falling off the wagon. Close to 70 percent have kept their boozy burger-eating a secret. The next morning they go right back to pretending to be full-time vegetarians—at least until the next happy hour.

While most respondents did say they stand by their vegetarian principles even when they are crocked, George Charles, the founder of VoucherCodesPro, told the Morning Advertiser he was surprised by the results. He emphasized that people should offer more support for their drunken vegetarian buddies in times of temptation: “I think it’s important,” he says, “for friends of these vegetarians to support them when drunk and urge them not to eat meat, as I’m sure they regret it the next day!”

Friends don’t ever let friends go on drunken meat binges they will regret.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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