Is Ethan a Vegetarian?

Several people have asked me at the proverbial “water cooler” at work: “What’s the deal with Ethan and his vegetarianism? Does he or does he not eat meat?”

This is a loaded question and is as difficult to answer as, “Does she or does she not dye her hair?” I checked all the publicity I could find that was written prior to the show. Ethan is listed as a vegetarian, which is why I pegged him to be out pretty fast. But Ethan has shown staying power, and it looks like he will be in the final four, if not the final two. More power to you, Ethan.

But I have not answered the question. Is Ethan a vegetarian? Yes. So what’s the deal with him and the things he has been eating?

I figured that even though I was a vegetarian for several years, and a vegan for two, at this point I am a quasi-vegetarian, I would ask someone who is a strict vegetarian, and had an article published in the Veggie Times magazine. He responded to my query that, absolutely yes, Ethan is a vegetarian. In fact, this vegetarian who has waxed vitriolic on Thanksgiving on his web site, confessed that if he were playing the game of Survivor, he would be eating chicken.

Survivor is a game, first and foremost. In order to win, you have to outplay, outwit, and outlast the other players. And you have to do things you would not do in the real world, like eating cornmeal mush (or rice), sleeping outdoors, not to mention going behind a tree to do your business. And because it IS a game, you have to go in knowing that some of the things you do in real life you will not be doing during that game. Ethan probably learned a valuable lesson, ironically from Kimmi of Survivor 2. Kimmi was adamant about her beliefs; she shoved them down her teammates throats, bonded with the animals and practically threw a challenge because she would not eat a cow brain. All this cost her. Ethan is a professional soccer player, he wants to win. He knew he had to give up his beliefs, shove them aside for 39 or 40 days if he wants to win. So Ethan knew he had to eat something gross, he did fine with the cow blood. He figured out that probably one reward would be chickens or something similar, after all, chickens have been rewards on the other two series as well. Why mess up a reward challenge, if the formula works?

And these chickens aren’t in the McNugget form. They have to get there somehow. Best not think of such things.

Ethan may have also gotten a glimmer of insight from Nicole on the Big Brother 2. She was a vegetarian, and a professional chef. And although she would not eat meat, she cooked it with no problem for the other houseguests. There was only one time she got into a conversation with anyone regarding her dietary habits, and that was with Will once on the hammock.

The other thing worth mentioning is a vignette that took place between Ethan and Tom. Tom won pancakes and ham in a reward challenge, and then felt sorry that Ethan would not eat the ham because of his religious reasons – well, not really “sorry” per se, but you know what I mean. (Jews and Muslims who follow their respective religions’ dietary laws do not eat pork products.) So Ethan showed he is a man of principles, he would ignore some of his beliefs, but keep the other ones, as a kind of compromise.

My guess is that when Ethan stopped playing the game, he went back to his beliefs, and is probably not eating any meat. But by doing what he had to do to play this game, Ethan has shown that he can indeed outplay, outlast, and definitely outwit the best of them. And he did all of this with kindness.

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