pig in tow. Homer and Bart chase her, but she pushes the pig off a slope. It rolls into a river and is shot into the air by a dam spillway's suction. At home, Homer is furious at Lisa for ruining his party, Lisa rebukes him for serving a meat-based dish. At breakfast the next day, Lisa runs away after Homer's choice of words causes Lisa to reach her breaking point, calling Homer a "prehistoric carnivore". Lisa succumbs to the pressure to eat meat and bites into a hot dog from the roller grill at the Kwik-E-Mart. However, Apu, an avid vegan, reveals that she has eaten a tofu dog, and leads Lisa through a secret passageway to the Kwik-E-Mart roof, where they meet Paul and Linda McCartney. Being vegetarians, the McCartneys explain that they are old friends of Apu from Paul's days in India. Apu then asks her what happened at home that made her run away. After a brief confession, he helps Lisa understand tolerance. At that moment, she realizes her intolerance towards others' views. Lisa recommits herself to vegetarianism, but she also realizes that she should not force her animal rights views onto others. On her way home, Lisa reunites with Homer, who frantically searching for her, apologizing for ruining his barbecue. Homer forgives her and offers her a "veggie back" ride home. Production Writing "Lisa the Vegetarian" was the first full-length episode David X. Cohen wrote for The Simpsons. His most prominent work for the show to that point had been the "Nightmare Cafeteria" segment in the season six episode "Treehouse of Horror V". The idea for "Lisa the Vegetarian" came to him while he was working on another script for the show. Cohen could not concentrate on his task because he was waiting for lunch, and on the back of the script he scribbled, "Lisa becomes a vegetarian?". Cohen showed the note to writer Brent Forrester, who liked the idea. Show runner David Mirkin then approved the story when Cohen pitched it to him. Mirkin had just become a vegetarian himself, and later noted that many of Lisa's experiences in the episode were based on his own. Writer Bill Oakley suggested the episode's barbecue scenes. Cohen's first draft contained a more philosophical argument between Lisa and Homer about eating meat, but Oakley told Cohen that the story needed something more specific to serve as the