Leather in vegetarian restaurants

October 29, 2009 6:04 PM

Is it rude to wear leather to a vegetarian restaurant?

So about a month ago, I decided to go to an Indian vegetarian restaurant in the neighborhood. When I was about to sit down, I took off my jacket to put it on the back of the chair and realized: it's made of dead animal. No one said anything or gave me any funny looks, but I wonder in a more general sense if this is considered a "faux-pas."

posted by Hoopo to clothing, beauty, & fashion (21 answers total)

I don't know about vegetarians, but I would guess any Hindus in the Indian restaurant might not be that cool with leather.
posted by maqsarian at 6:11 PM on October 29, 2009

No there is absolutely no problem with wearing leather in an Indian vegetarian restaurant. I'm an Indian (though not a vegetarian) and none of my Indian vegetarian friends (and/or Hindu friends) would think twice about someone wearing leather and often wear it themselves. Vegetarianism in the Indian context is more for religious reasons than anything else. In any case, people have no right to dictate what you wear to their restaurants, whatever their own moral convictions may be.
posted by peacheater at 6:21 PM on October 29, 2009 [6 favorites]

Nope, all a restaurant cares about is that paper you have in your leather wallet.
posted by Burhanistan at 6:24 PM on October 29, 2009

No, it's not rude. Don't worry about it. You don't need to obey any specific ethical code to eat at a restaurant.

Think about it in reverse: is it a problem for me to go to a non-vegetarian restaurant wearing my fake-leather jacket?
posted by medusa at 6:24 PM on October 29, 2009

I'm vegan and a lot of my friends are vegetarian/vegan and no one has ever brought up the fact that someone was wearing leather at vegetarian restaurant. A lot of the servers at my favorite vegetarian restaurant aren't even vegetarian and no one cares about that either. And if someone does say something, well, they're just being an asshole.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:27 PM on October 29, 2009

Actually the only time I notice people's clothing or accessories is when I like them, leather or not. And if I like something, I always give a compliment, leather or not.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:28 PM on October 29, 2009

A vegan noodle joint down the road from me has a sign in the window that says anyone wearing leather should not enter. So if there isn't a sign, I suspect the matter probably isn't important enough to the business owner that he or she would want you to leave.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:31 PM on October 29, 2009

I've been to a bunch of vegan and vegetarian restaurants both in NYC and Santa Monica, CA in which I've read either a leather belt or leather shoes or a leather coat and have never had a problem.
posted by dfriedman at 6:37 PM on October 29, 2009

If someone confronts you about it, which is very unlikely, you could always tell them it's secondhand leather. Then they might point out that, by wearing leather, secondhand or not, you're still contributing to a demand for leather and to a culture in which wearing leather is acceptable. This conversation is a lot more likely to happen in a vegan restaurant than in an Indian vegetarian one, though.
posted by box at 6:53 PM on October 29, 2009

Definitely not a big deal. Would be good for a Curb Your Enthusiasm sketch, though. :)
posted by Herschel at 7:06 PM on October 29, 2009 [7 favorites]

As a staunch vegan who wears no leather, no - no one will care at all, and it isn't rude. We're not as crazy as we've been made out to be. I get WAY more pissed off at the people protesting outside of planned parenthood than I would ever get upset about a person in leather at a vegan joint.
posted by Lutoslawski at 7:13 PM on October 29, 2009

no. no one will even notice. don't worry and enjoy your delicious veggie indian food!
posted by chickadee at 7:16 PM on October 29, 2009

Joining the chorus of "don't sweat it" responses. The most hardcore vegan restaurant that I know of in town has a big "NO FUR" sign...leather conspicuously unmentioned.
posted by Beardman at 7:41 PM on October 29, 2009

Indian and vegetarian here. Nope, it's not a problem. Like it's been said above, abstaining from meat is more a religious thing that applies to a certain segment of the population, and doesn't extend to things like leather. In fact, I have a devil of a time finding decent non-leather shoes in India...

Don't worry about it, and enjoy your meal!
posted by Tamanna at 7:47 PM on October 29, 2009

Sticky Fingers, a vegan bakery in DC, has a sign that says no fur, but nothing about leather (but one day when I when I was there, my wool coat fell on the floor. One of the owners went to pick it up and I saw her kind of recoil when she touched it).

I would say it's probably not a big deal for the most part, as long as you're not flaunting the dead-animalness of what you're wearing. Maybe head-to-toe leather with animal antlers sticking out of your coat is a bad idea, but a jacket? Few people are going to think twice. You're patronizing a vegetarian restaurant -- I think most proprietors are going to respect and appreciate that you're eating there.

Mostly, vegetarians and vegans don't really care what other people are eating or wearing (and don't quite get why people care so much about what they're not). But good for you for thinking about this.
posted by darksong at 7:54 PM on October 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

Hah! I would totally do this. One time a friend of mine (who was a vegan and a communist) was accosted by someone for wearing a leather jacket. It was funny.
posted by elder18 at 8:02 PM on October 29, 2009

Anecdotal evidence that it's probably ok: once when my cousin's husband went to visit family in India, he brought back leather jackets as gifts.

YMMV at other vegetarian restaurants, but I would hope nobody would be rude enough to make a big deal about it.
posted by dnesan at 8:39 PM on October 29, 2009

My thought is how would anyone even know if it was real or not? Most people can't tell the difference between a decent fake and actual leather.
posted by ishotjr at 9:01 PM on October 29, 2009

India has a large leather-goods industry. According to Wikipedia:
"Major [Indian] exports include petroleum products, textile goods, gems and jewelry, software, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures."

My mother, who was born in India and has been a strict vegetarian all her life, has never had a problem with leather. She prefers it to many other materials.
posted by pointless_incessant_barking at 12:47 PM on October 30, 2009

Tell them you're making compost in the pockets.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:35 AM on October 31, 2009

Not a faux-pas. Anybody who gives you shit should probably just stfu, even that vegan noodle place.
posted by beerbajay at 11:31 AM on October 31, 2009