Can you get food poisoning from eating food cooked on a grill near meat if you are vegetarian for years? sudden body aches like flu next day

Hmmmm...?: If you are asking whether your food, touching meat on a grill, would make you sick, simply because you are a vegetarian, I'd have to say no. On the other hand, if several other people at your cookout got sick too, it could be food poisoning. Expect some vomiting and/or diarrhea. More likely, with your symptoms, the infection you've been exposed to is viral, not food-borne. Get rest and fluids!

Food contamination: It usually comes from poor food handling before grilling. For example cutting raw chicken on the same surface as veggies or handling raw meat and not washing hands when cleaning the veggies. However, veggies can be a source of food poisoning too. Fruit more often than veggies, but read about produce and listeria recently.

Not likely: Your symptoms do not sound like food poisoning. More like a viral illness.