Finally you also of course miss out on a lot of food and a lot of experiences. Most vegetarians will admit to missing meat sometimes, and particularly bacon. When all your friends are eating bacon butties and you are forced to have a salad this can be a bit painful. Likewise though you also miss out on many other foods you wouldn't even realize weren't vegetarian. Many sweets for instance use animal fat and meat to give them their consistency. Likewise many meals are prepared using animal fat to cook them in. Without highly strict research and regulation most vegetarians will likely end up eating something that has come into contact with meat every now and then as it is so ubiquitous. And when you find that you can't sample a dish from another culture, or the food your partner has proudly missed then you are indeed missing out on an experience.