Suppose when you had announced that you were the one who got the vegetarian meal, I’d started a conversation with you about vegetarianism. I mention that I looked into the possibility when I discovered my heart condition, but decided that the health benefits were equally present if I reduced my meat intake, but didn’t eliminate it. You reply that there were also moral issues at stake, both in killing conscious life and wasting planetary resources. I admit there was some truth to that, but that all monocultural agribusiness was destructive to the environment and that on some small farms, animals were raised ecologically and humanely. We continue in this vein on a topic that interested us both, and had no connection to my being white and you being Black. Would you have felt more comfortable and welcomed?