Blending households often means blending lifestyles and habits.

This man lives with his vegetarian partner and their combined children under one roof.

He respects her dietary choices; however, not everyone in the house prefers fully vegetarian meals

So, he’s wondering if he’s wrong for not wanting to force the kids to follow her diet every time.

Read the story below to find out more.

AITA, forcing family to cook purely vegetarian meals to please one person.

My partner recently moved into my house with her two children.

The move itself was rushed.

It required that we both get rid of a lot of things and compromise on how we’re gonna use space.

We both had our own sizable homes.

Nothing unusual about two middle-aged adults with successful careers and teenage children.

This man understands and respects his partner’s ethical beliefs.

My partner is a vegetarian and she chooses that largely for ethical reasons.

I understand that. However, I don’t share her ethical beliefs, but I do try to respect them.

I reduce our meat intake, buy from farmers’ markets, and generally reduce the amount of animal cruelty and abuse in our diet.

There are definitely meals that she doesn’t like us to make in the house.

Especially things that generate strong meat-based odors.

Everyone in the household has a schedule for cooking.

Over time, I figured out which ones are no-goes and things I have to make outside.

I understand that some compromise is needed to allow everyone to be happy.

We have the schedule now where everyone in the house helps with cooking.

I cook two days a week. She cooks one day a week due to her busy schedule.

Our kids cook twice a week with leftovers on the other days.

Mostly it’s been working.

However, his partner insists that some meals by fully vegetarian.

The one sticking point we have that has proven really difficult is that she insists that some meals be fully vegetarian.

Even when some of the kids don’t want to eat vegetarian.

I’ve tried to get around this by cooking fully vegetarian meals.

And then adding some sort of separately cooked meat supplement.

I’ve also tried generating menus like tostadas or sandwiches where there could be both vegetarian and meat options.

Sometimes, not everyone is in the mood to eat fully vegetarian meals.

To be clear, we do cook some fully vegetarian meals, but sometimes, not everyone’s in the mood for that.

The meals we make are not just vegetarian side dishes.

We try to make fully incorporated vegetarian meals with options that are not just mac and cheese.

I don’t think we’re doing her a huge disservice by making meat sides.

He doesn’t want to argue about it, but he wants to know if he’s in the wrong.

So, my question is this:

AITA for not wanting to force the kids to eat vegetarian just so that some meals are fully “vegetarian”?

I don’t wanna get into a big fight about this with her.

But I feel like if the shoe was on the other foot and I told her that some meals had to be fully meat-inclusive, then that would be a dealbreaker for sure.

To be clear, I have never suggested this. Thoughts?

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

This person makes a valid point.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

A vegetarian reader speaks up.

Here’s an honest opinion from this one.

Finally, short and simple.

Successful cohabitation thrives on compromise, not control.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.