That's
me!
I succumb to the perversion of sarcophagy less than five times a year. I do this because I sometimes find myself in situations where it is impractical to abstain from meat. No vegetarian meals on the menu is the most common reason, but saving my friends the hassle of cooking an extra meal especially for me when inviting me for dinner is also what I consider a valid reason.
I also consume gelatine, a meat by-product, popular in candy and also used to purify beer. Note however, that the gelatine is used to settle the cloudiness of the beer and not a part of the finished product. Not that it matters much from an ethical point of view; animals have been slaughtered to produce the malty goodness, but still...
I have yet to find a brewery which uses gliadin instead of gelatine. Not that it matters much, since most of the beers I enjoy are neither purified nor filtered.
I allow myself these deviations from The One True Vegetarianism (whatever that means) because of practicality. I do not like the thought of me being part of the reason the poor sucker animals have been kept in small cages and stalls and transported long distances, but the lure of candy and beer is simply too much, and the No-Meat Revolution has yet to reach the bastions of many fancy french restaurants.
Sorry 'bout that, poor sucker animals.
People might be vegetarians for a number of reasons, and to any degree. One might not want to give up meat completely, but rather eat fish and chicken than animals they deem 'higher', like cows. Or one might be a half-assed vegetarian to avoid contributing to the food industry's mistreatment of animals.
But the argument would be equally relevant regarding any inflamed discussion over values, right?