08/20/2026
We can abstain from doing a lot of things quietly, without making a big issue of it. When I was in Italy, I got sick and I was in hospital. It was a big hospital in Perugia. I explained that I was vegetarian and they all looked at me like I was from Mars. Then, the chief cook turned up, and he asked, "Why are you a vegetarian" My Italian not being good, I said the simplest thing I could think of. I quoted George Bernard Shaw and said, "Animals are my friends and I don’t eat my friends." After that the cook made delicious vegetarian food for me. The whole ward was full of envy! The point is, I didn’t need to give him a whole lecture on the evils of eating meat. It doesn’t mean he became a vegetarian, but maybe he went away and thought about it. And nobody was offended.
- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Photo: Australia, 2008
