Lisa the Vegetarian

"Lisa the Vegetarian" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons ' seventh season. This episode establishes Lisa's status as a vegetarian, an idea that was first hinted in the episode "Lisa's Wedding". The episode featured guest star Paul McCartney. One of Paul McCartney's stipulations for doing the guest spot was that Lisa's conversion to vegetarianism be a permanent one. Thus, it is an instance of continuity in the Simpsons universe that has been strictly held to.

Plot
The Simpsons visit Storytown Village, an amusement park for 1 to 7 1/2 year olds. They visit the park's petting zoo, where Lisa is enraptured by a cute little lamb. That night, Marge serves lamb for dinner, and Lisa cannot eat it. Her mother, trying to help, offers up chicken breast, rump roast and hot dogs instead; Lisa makes the connection between these dishes and their living counterparts, and rejects them. At school, her newfound vegetarianism becomes a problem, and the students are forced to watch a propaganda film depicting why meat-eating is a good thing (with the rather dubious assertion that cows consider eating humans). Reaction at home is no better, where she is mocked by Homer and Bart for rejecting meat, particularly since Homer is ready to host a barbecue complete with roast pig. Lisa brings meat-free gazpacho but is laughed out of the yard and into her room. Enraged, she returns, climbs aboard a riding mower, and drives away with the roast pig in tow. Homer and Bart chase after her, but she pushes the pig off a slope and they are too late. The pig rolls through bushes, into the river, and is shot into the air by a hydroelectic dam's suction. At that moment, Burns and Smithers are snickering over not giving money to an orphanage unless pigs fly. When they see the pig, Burns still decides to keep the money.

At home, Homer scolds Lisa for ruining his barbecue and sends her to her room, but she rebukes him for serving meat. They fight and she leaves the house. As she walks along, she finds the pressures to conform to an omnivorous society finally become too great, prompting Lisa to grab a hot dog off of the grill at the Kwik-E-Mart and take a bite. However, Apu, himself a vegan, reveals that she has eaten a tofu dog, and takes her through a secret passageway to the Kwik-E-Mart roof to meet Paul and Linda McCartney. One brief heart-to-heart later, Lisa is committed once more to vegetarianism, but is now also endowed with Apu's belief that one should not go pushing one's own views on everyone else. Thus inspired, she walks back home while Apu butchers the song Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band but finds Homer frantically searching for her. She apologizes to Homer, admitting she had no right to ruin his barbecue; he forgives her and offers her "a piggyback--I mean, a veggieback ride."

Cultural references

 * The pig that Homer roasts and blasts into the air, flying over the nuclear power plant, is a direct reference to the Pink Floyd's Animals album cover (see also Pink Floyd pigs).
 * I Spit on Your Grave, a notorious exploitation film, is listed on the billboard for the drive-in cinema.
 * The version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" that plays over the end credits is an original mix by the Simpsons staff that, when played backwards, contains snippets of Paul McCartney reciting a recipe for lentil soup – a throwback to an earlier gag. One of the backwards snippets says "Oh, and by the way, I'm alive." - a reference to the Paul is dead theory. The recited recipe can be found on the "Extras" section on Disc 1 of The Simpsons: Complete Season 7 (box set). The text of the recipe is at the SongFacts.com listing for "Maybe I'm Amazed" and also here.

Beatles references

 * Numerous references to the Beatles are present in the episode. Apu claims to have met Paul during the Maharshi period. The Beatles' visit to this guru in India was a big media story in 1967. Apu then claims to have been called "The Fifth Beatle" (mispronouncing it to rhyme with "Seattle"), a claim which Paul does not seem to agree with. The way Apu pronounces Beatles is a reference to how the antagonists in the movie Help! say it.
 * Paul McCartney asks, "She's leaving home?" referencing the song of the same title from The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
 * Lisa's remark: "Wow! Paul McCartney. I learned about you in history class" is a joke about the enormous cultural importance of the Beatles.
 * When Lisa asks Paul "Where's your wife Linda?", Linda appears and says "I'm right here - whenever we're in Springfield, we like to spend time in Apu's garden in the shade!" referencing the Beatles song "Octopus' Garden" from the album Abbey Road.

Reception
MSNBC listed the episode as their second favorite in the show. They called the “You don’t win friends with salad” song "one of those archetypal “Simpsons” moments, one in which the writers hit a joke so long that it goes from funny to unfunny and back to funny again."