About three years ago I eliminated anything that had a face from my diet. We’re talking beef, pork and chicken as well as creatures from the sea. If it has a nerve system of some sort, it’s not going to be found on my plate.
The decision to become a vegetarian was a long time in the making. I’d always hated cutting up beef and coming across a stray blood vessel. Icky. Really icky. The best poultry industry invention ever was the boneless chicken breast. This form of meat let me avoid looking at bones and imaging cute feathered critters running around the farmyard. Oh, and I was openly laughed at in Austria when I politely asked, in German, if I could have my trout brought to the table without its head. Europeans don’t seem to care much when their fish dinner is staring back at them. Freaks me out.
So following the path of my youngest daughter, who had been a vegetarian for more than a decade, I took the meatless plunge.
The goodness:
- I’m a cheap date. The cost of a plate of veggies along with a side salad beats the heck out of filet mignon on the menu price list.
- My long-time guilt about being a cruel human being has abated, at least where my eating habits are concerned. (Other cruel tendencies I have are best left for another blog post.)
- I’m doing my best to save the environment and feel good about myself for this. Do you sense smugness?
The badness:
- Restaurants in this part of Florida have a pitiful and well-deserved reputation for making life difficult for vegetarians. I've been to fabulous vegetarian-only restaurants in other states. Why can't I find one in the Tampa Bay area?
- I feel horrible for the anxiety I cause others who worry about what to serve me to eat or who worry about choosing a restaurant when we go out socially. Seriously, don’t worry about it. I am very, very good at finding something to eat and I am clearly not starving.
- I eat too many other fattening things, so the vegetarian lifestyle hasn’t made a lick of difference in the size of my britches. Bummer for my bum.
Biggest bad of all? The smell of a big, fat medium-rare steak or hamburger just off the grill. Don’t let any vegetarian feed you the line that a Boca burger is just as yummy as a beef hamburger. They are full of it.
My husband Frank eats meat, and I cook meat for him, family and friends because I truly have no desire to impose my food choices on others. I still wrinkle my nose if I come across something gross, but I’ll go ahead and throw it in the pan because I’m generally like cooking for people and want them to enjoy their meal.
One final confession: I occasionally snag a bite of Frank’s sirloin steak or pork tenderloin, and my mouth gets deliriously happy for just a moment before I imagine that cute little animal on The Simpsons bleating, “Lissaaaa, donnn’t eeeeatttt me.”
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Best place I have visited as a vegetarian: India. Lots of meat-free folks in this country with tons of menu choices. I was a happy, happy traveler. By the way, you cannot get beef in McDonalds in India — chicken or veggie burgers only.
Worst place I have visited as a vegetarian: Hong Kong. I couldn’t figure out what I was eating most of the time, and even the vegetable noodle bowl had unidentifiable meat products. Seriously, anyone who considers scrawny chicken feet something that’s menu-worthy needs to have his or her mind examined.
Websites to visit if you’ve got nothing better to do:
- Meatless Monday — A non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. Also check out the Washington Post article or listen to the NPR story about Meatless Mondays.
- American Heart Association Vegetarian Page — I fall into the ovo-lacto vegetarian category, if anyone gives a hoot. Love my cheese!
- GoVeg.com — A page about vegetarianism from PETA, so if PETA pisses you off, you might want to skip this link.
