The Pitfalls of Being a Vegetarian in Iran

I'm a vegetarian, I admit it, and I have been so for the past twelve or so years. I am in a constant state of defense when I tell Iranians I am a vegetarian, which means that I don't eat meat, poultry or fish (although I eat most dairy products and eggs, if I didn't, I would probably die of starvation in Iran!), they are in a state of shock. I have to offer them scientific and other reasons for why I don't eat meat and it still doesn't satisfy them...

I have been on the road for two weeks now and am starting to feel very weak. I am now in Qazvin, one of the ancient captiols of Iran, yesterday I was in Tabriz, I couldn't even find a single restaurant that had felafel sandwich, everything on the menu was meat, meat, meat...A tradition from Imam Ali states that one shouldn't let one's stomach become a slaughterhouse for dead animals, but that seems to be what Iranians are doing with their diet. At least based on what is availabale in restauarants/fastfood places and in the homes I have visited (mainly middle class), it appears that Iranians eat meat twice a day. I am sure that in the past it was much less and they were healthier, I have been told that Iranians have a lot of health problems, some of the same problems that people in the West have from their fatty and meat-based diet, diabetes, heart problems, kidney problems, etc.. Very sad indeed, maybe one day they will discover their rich heritage of vegetable-based dishes again and go a bit lighter on the meat.

On the road, I go for days living off of bread and cheese, and the occasional omelet (if I can find one!), tomatoes, some fruit and that's about all. I constantly am hungry, but am full from bread. With the weather here getting up to 115 or 120 degrees farenheit (more than 40 degrees celsius!), I need all of the energy I can get to survive the summer here. I can't remember the last time I had a full meal consisting of cooked vegetables or legumes and other balanced foods on my plate. Well actually, in Qom I stayed with a lovely family who cooked delicious vegetarian Indian meals for me, so at least two days out of these two weeks, I have eaten well, otherwise, my body is slowly tiring and is longing for vegetable-rich nutrients. Inshallah, soon I will be back in Shiraz where I am staying with a lovely family who know how to cook vegetables, I love traveling in Iran, but I don't think that vegetarians can travel in this country for more than two weeks at a time without falling sick from lack of nutrients in their diet.