Rigidity with vegetarian diet reelated to AS?

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Hi everyone!

I was diagnosed with Asperger's a couple of months ago, so I am just starting to figure out how my life is impacted by it. (I have always been impacted, obviously, but I didn't have a great explaination.) But, I started thinking about my vegetarianism. I have been a vegetarian for about 6 years, and I am happy with it. But, I am very concerned with not having meat or anything meaty near my food. For example, if I want to have a veggie burger somewhere if I am eating out, I get extremely tense, because I am afraid something with meat in it has touched the grill my veggie burger burger is cooked on if it has not been cleaned enough. Realistically, this could happen, but because I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons, it really shouldn't matter. I am not hurting any animals if my veggie burger comes into contact with a speck of meat. (Also, this happens if I eat anything grilled.)

This actually interferes with my life sometimes, because I get really tense eating at some restaraunts. One of my friends has pointed out to me that it doesn't make sense and has asked why I care so much, and I just don't know. So, I was wondering if this could be an Asperger's thing.

Any thoughts?

I don't have anything helpful to contribute but to say that I am the same way. I was vegetarian for years, and am vegan now, and I have always been bothered about cooking my things on meat grills or in meat friers or even putting my things on the counter where meat has been. When it comes to food, I eventually do everything to the extreme, and I often wondered if that was due to autistic rigidity.

I don't think it's necessarily AS related. My NT husband is vegetarian (for ethical and taste reasons) and is very like that. He was in a supermarket cafe and ordered some toast. The server picked up the already prepared toast with a pair of tongs, which she'd just used for picking up a sausage. He asked her to use another set of tongs, which she did, but then picked up the same toast again. He wasn't amused.

I was vegetarian for 10 years and, although that sort of thing bothered me, I would never say anything, due to lack of assertiveness. I now eat fish; strange as I was vegetarian for ethical reasons, but I missed the taste so much.

Here we go....another random thing someone has made up to associate with AS.

And, this is not so random. My vegetarian rigidity actually does interfere with my life, although to a fairly mild degree.

If threads like these bother you, just don't read them. Don't go on and slam the person who posted. In a world where I don't fit in with most people, one would hope that others with AS would be more supportive. Yet I have seen many posts in many threads with members getting slammed. That is really too bad.

Guys, chill.
Joe was probably just frustrated by the many 'if I do x do I have AS?' threads that pop up around here.
I'm not agreeing with her by saying that this is one of them.

It could be an autistic thing or an anxiety thing. I get so rigid about many things. I remember when I was so into communism that I looked at any person who remotely supported the Liberals (not liberals) or Republicans as basically, evil scum. I have since changed.
And I'm so against, well, the way society is going that any slight mention of a popular site, a slang word or something else will just make me groan.
What I'm saying is when we become so against things we don't want anything to do with it and recoil. It is taboo to us. I think so at least.

I would say that it is. I'm not that way with my food, but I do have things like that. It can be very frustrating both to us and the people around us. I suggest that if you have a day where it's going to really interfere with enjoying your meal, tell your waiter that you have digestive issues and ask him to please be careful about making sure that your food comes into as little contact with meat products as possible. I would also apologize for any inconvenience this causes and leave a nice tip.

Sorry! Didn't mean to cause a bust up, but I always wonder - is there anything Aspies don't have what NTs also don't?!

Littlelily-
Thanks for your support. I really appreciate it. The rigidity/black-and-white thinking that sometimes go along with AS were something that made me think about my rigidity around vegetarianism maybe being connected. (You were right about that.)


Pensieve-
Maybe it could be connected to anxiety. I think one thing that made me think it was connected to AS was how interested in Vegetarianism I was for awhile. (I read about it, posted about it on vegan message boards, etc.). I think it could have been "special interest-y."

Omega_Corns-
That's a good idea! Luckily, it is usually enough for me to ask the person I am having dinner with if it really looks vegetarian and (sometimes) if they will taste it for me. I know it's weird, so I try to keep the worrying about it to myself.

Joe-
That's okay! I'm sorry I got so defensive and mad. I understand what you mean about lots of threads wondering if ______ (whatever) is connected to AS. I am just trying to figure out little puzzles in my life. (I feel like so much has "clicked" for me now that I have been diagnosed with AS, so I am now figuring out what else might be related, not that it really matters a whole lot.) And, you are right that it isn't necissarily related to AS... I have talked to some rigid vegetarians online who probably don't have AS.

Thanks for your responses, everyone!

Nothing described here isn't an anecdote told dozens of times over on my vegan forums.
It's not a rigidity of belief involved in consistently living a particular lifestyle,
but a rigidity of action follow through due to those beliefs, for which Autistics might be more aptly-suited-

I'd bet an Autist, if he or she has an ethical/environmental/health objection to meat, is far less likely than an NT counterpart to eat meat just because everyone else was, or they like the way it tastes. I'm an ethical vegan myself and just tend to stay away from questions and threads about will power and how someone "caved" or "accidentally" ate something to which they supposedly-object- it's not a notion I can understand very well.

And being alarmed thinking of meat touching your food is perfectly-consistent with vegetarianism for purely ethical reasons-
I would imagine the mainstream might have a similar reaction to the thought that human meat had touched their meal:
they can't stomach the notion of consuming juices and particles of practices they find morally-abominable/gross.