Sue Ellen Vegges Out

Summary
When Sue Ellen decides to become a vegetarian (meaning that she's no longer 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 while visiting a farm. 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 informs her friends that she's recently decided to become a vegetarian (meaning that she's no longer going to eat meat). Her friends are surprised by this and question her on it--while Sue Ellen doesn't tell them her exact reasons, she explains that she's actually thought about going vegetarian for a while. Muffy overhears the last part of what Sue Ellen says and claims 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--though Ladonna's happy that Francine likes them, she explains that they're not really vegetarian, as they were simmered in duck fat for three hours. 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 fight/compete with each other. She then reveals her primary reason for becoming a vegetarian: because she considers animals friends, Sue Ellen lost her taste in eating them, and storms off saying she considers animals 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, Francine and Muffy apologize to Sue Ellen for how they acted, and even though they've decided that vegetarianism just isn't for them, they've helped make more vegetarian dishes for the school cafeteria and have even introduced "Meatless Mondays" in the cafeteria each week.

Major

 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong

Minor

 * Ladonna Compson
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Binky Barnes
 * Sally
 * Bubsy Burger

Cameo

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

Cultural references

 * The cafeteria has special dishes to celebrate, which is on May 5.

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?"
 * Francine's sister Catherine giving her advice on being a vegetarian is a nod to "The Frensky Family Fiasco", where Catherine's revealed to be a vegetarian.

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