Sue Ellen Vegges Out

Summary
When Sue Ellen decides to stop eating meat, Muffy and Francine compete to be the best vegetarian. Can they successfully resist meat? Or was this a missed steak?

Plot
Sue Ellen tells the viewers about her new friend, a pig named Sally that she met a couple weeks ago. In fact, Sally means so much to Sue Ellen, that she helped her make one of the biggest decisions of her life.

Sue Ellen Vegges Out At school, everybody is celebrating Cinco De Mayo with a Mexican-style lunch in the cafeteria. Sue Ellen passes on any meat-filled dishes, and we learn that she has decided to become a vegetarian. However, her exact reasons are not made clear. Muffy overhears Sue Ellen and says she has been thinking about becoming a vegetarian as well, ever since Capri De Vapida switched to a vegetarian diet. Although Francine doubts her sincerity, Muffy becomes a vegetarian from that very moment. However, it quickly becomes clear that she can't handle not having meat in her life (even though Sue Ellen said nobody is forcing her to be a vegetarian). Muffy tries to order food from the mall's Chickin Lickin', only to find that there are no vegetarian dishes, and is very nearly tempted to eat her favorite roast at dinner. The next day, Muffy finds out Capri is now on a bologna diet, and is thrilled to go back to eating meat. When Sue Ellen tries to explain her vegetarianism isn't because of a celebrity's eating habits and for personal reasons, Francine interrupts her and says she knew Muffy couldn't last. When Muffy challenges Francine to do better, she does exactly that by becoming a vegetarian. Sue Ellen starts to become concerned that Francine and Muffy are only using vegetarianism for competition. Muffy tries various methods to get Francine to eat meat (from trying to lure her with double Bubsy Burgers to ordering meaty Chinese food for her). However, Francine survives every time. Muffy apologizes to both Francine and Sue Ellen and invites them both to a potluck the next day, where everyone brings a dish. Once again, Sue Ellen is concerned for Francine.

It turns out that Muffy plans to lure Francine into eating meat—she calls each of her friends in advance, making sure every dish at the potluck is meat-oriented. Sue Ellen and Francine arrive, respectively bringing sauteed breaded cauliflower and ratatouille to the potluck, which Muffy takes straight to the kitchen and throws away so nobody can eat it. Just as soon as Muffy tries to finish off Francine, Buster comes in with vegetables from the community garden (he was supposed to bring pizza with chicken and sausage, but his mom had no time to make it). Francine blows off Muffy's trap and ends up finding Ladonna's collared greens to eat, but they've actually been simmered in duck fat for three hours, making them non-vegetarian. As soon as Francine and Muffy start arguing, with Muffy declaring herself the winner, Sue Ellen has finally had enough. She angrily scolds them both for not being sincere vegetarians, and that they only used the entire thing as an excuse to compete with each other. She then reveals her reasons for being vegetarian: because she considers some animals friends, Sue Ellen lost her taste in eating them, and storms off saying she considers them to be better friends than Francine and Muffy. Almost immediately, everybody leaves the party, having 'lost their appetites', until only Muffy and Francine remain. Muffy apologizes and blames herself for this fiasco, but Francine cheers her up saying it's also her own fault. Both girls realize that they're still hungry, and they start eating the food at the party table.

The next day at school, a remorseful Francine and Muffy reveal to Sue Ellen their apology gift: some new vegetarian meals and a Meatless Monday at lunch once a week. The two, however, plan to eat double Bubsy Burgers after school.

Major characters

 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong

Minor characters

 * Ladonna Compson
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Binky Barnes
 * Sally
 * Burgers

Background characters

 * Fern Walters
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Molly MacDonald
 * Francis Haney
 * Rattles

Cultural references

 * The cafeteria has special dishes to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which is on May 5.
 * The plot is similar to a Simpsons episode "Lisa the Vegetarian".

Episode connections

 * On Cinco de Mayo, in the cafeteria, the mariachi music from "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary" can be heard.
 * This episode's title is similar to "Sue Ellen Chickens Out."
 * The frozen yogurt Sue Ellen Armstrong eats appears in "The Last Tough Customer."
 * This is the second time that Francine has given up a certain food in one manner or another; she attempted to fast through Yom Kippur in "Is That Kosher?".

Errors

 * Mrs. MacGrady was diagnosed with cancer on May 1, so she should not be working at the school on May 5 (Cinco de Mayo). (However, one must also note that the episode in which this was established has apparently been disregarded from canon in wake of the controversy associated with it)

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