“Nope, I’m Vegan. Never touch meat, fish, eggs or dairy.”

“So, that’s just a really strict vegetarian then is it?” He asked. Not really sure where this speed date would take him.

“Oh, it’s a bit more then that,” she replied, “you see, vegans want nothing to do with anything that comes from animals.”

She was very slender with big blue eyes, straight blond hair, and a slightly red nose from the chill in the air. To say he was attracted would be an understatement, but he only had 5 minutes to make up his mind and this vegan thing kind of threw him.

“You have not tasted meat in over 15 years?” he asked. “No animal products either, like leather belts or shoes?”

“That’s right,” she affirmed, “but it’s not so bad. There is a substitute for just about everything.”

“Ice cream?”

“Yep. It’s made from soy. Tastes good and it looks the same.”

“But there is nothing as appetizing as the smell of beef cooking over an open grill.” He could hear his stomach grumbling at the thought of juicy steaks sizzling on the barbeque.

She sighed and looked away. He was just another carnivore unable to understand how those poor animals were being exploited. She told her roommate this would be a bad idea. She wanted to find a like-minded guy, a vegan, who would share her love of veggies, cotton clothes and canvas shoes. She wanted someone she could bring to rallies and demonstrate with the Animal Rights activists against the cruel treatment and slaughter of animals.

“What about honey? Do you eat Honey?” he asked, hoping to find a chink in her armor, “Bees want to make honey, and no bees are killed in the making of honey.”

“No honey,” she said, and it was time to go.

He sighed and looked over to another table where a skinny nerdy looking guy was laughing it up with a real beauty, while he sat here with an animal lover on steroids. He liked meat, eggs, cheese, leather belts, and leather shoes. God put animals on the earth for man. They were to feed man, clothe man and to help man. He looked to God now, wondering why it was that all the whack jobs came to these speed dating meetings and no normal women ever seemed to show up.

Meanwhile, across the street at the steak house, sat two very normal women eating an early dinner together, talking about the impossibility of finding a normal man. They looked into the window of the speed dating meeting and shook with laughter at the poor losers inside. When they finished their meal, they each went home to empty apartments. One fed her fish and let her cat out, the other took her dog out for a walk.

On the way home, he passed his neighbor out walking her dog. He smiled and nodded politely. She smiled in return and kept on walking.